Alsace 2021s and 2020s – A Late Arrival in the
Pinot Noir Pantheon

BY&nbsp;ANNE KREBIEHL MW&nbsp;|&nbsp;APRIL 25, 2023For years and years, Alsace was white wine country. Until recently, its
Pinot Noirs were hardly taken seriously, understandably so. A closer look
reveals that Pinot Noir has a long and ingrained history in the region. It had
a large presence in former centuries, steadily losing ground in the 20th,
but it never disappeared. Until recently, neither climate nor appellation rules
allowed the wines to shine. The planting figures tell their own story: 712ha in
1982, 1,016ha in 1992, 1,540ha in 2011 and 1,745ha in 2021. Currently, a good
proportion of Alsace Pinot Noir is destined for Crémant d’Alsace Rosé, which by law has to be
made from 100% Pinot Noir. Of today’s 1,745 hectares, a good 38% are used for
that purpose, as CIVA reports. Some of it is still vinified in large foudres
in an easy-drinking, fruit-driven style, but increasingly the wines are made
with real ambition. It took Alsace a while to emerge in this global arena, but some
of the wines are world-class Pinot Noirs of spellbinding beauty.<img alt="" src="https://s3.amazonaws.com/images.vinous.com/uploads%2F1682432362633-POSSIBLE+TITLE+PIC+-+15TH+CENTURY+TAPESTY+AT+THE+UNTERLINDEN+MUSEUM+COLMAR+-+UNKNOWN+ARTIST_copy+%281%29.jpg">A 15th-century tapestry by an unknown artist at the Unterlinden Museum, Colmar.An Easy-Drinking, 20th-Century Past The Pinot Noir that was bottled in the past was of a different nature –
even though fine wines were made in great vintages. Marc Beyer of Domaine Léon Beyer, renowned for
resolutely dry wines throughout the 20th century, has made Pinot
Noir since the end of the Second World War. Beyer still has Pinot Noir from the
top 1959 vintage in his cellar. He sheds some light on the style made in the
1960s and 1970s: “Pinot Noir has always represented 20% of our production. Even
in the 1960s, we produced quite a refreshing, young style, fruity, with short
maceration and no barrique. It was drunk chilled and was very popular in Alsace-style
brasseries we supplied in Paris.” Here is a mid-20th-century
assessment by Fritz Siegfried Solomon Hallgarten (1902-1989), a German refugee from
the Rheingau who became a wine importer and author in England, from his 1957
book Alsace and Its Wine Gardens. This mid-20th-century
assessment shows the strides that have been made since:

“I will also mention in passing the red wine from
the Pinot Noir which in colour is more rosé than red and should be drunk as a rosé wine slightly iced. I
hope that my suggestion will not raise an outcry – but this exception is
necessary for Alsatian red wines. I tried to drink it in the conservative way chambré – it is worth trying
when in Alsace – to know how it tasted like this, but it is not worth importing
and paying high duty when the finer French red wines are available at much more
advantageous prices.”Barred from Success The legal framework of Alsace was a real hindrance to the progress of Pinot
Noir. When Alsace grand crus were first delimited between 1975-1983 (with
further site additions between 1985 and 2007) there was just one cahier des
charges for the appellation Alsace grand cru. This meant that yields,
regulations and permitted varieties were the same for all 51 grand crus – with
some exceptions for, say, Sylvaner on the Zotzenberg – but Pinot Noir was not a
permitted variety. It was thus not necessarily planted in the best sites, with
notable outliers. At the time, this made sense. In the 1970s and 1980s, it was much
harder to ripen red grapes than it is now. The law changed fundamentally in
2011 when each grand cru was allowed its own cahier des charges, finally
presenting the possibility of getting Pinot Noir approved as a permitted variety
in certain grand cru sites. Applications went in for three grand crus: Vorbourg
in Rouffach, Kirchberg de Barr in Barr and Hengst in Wettolsheim. Pinot Noir
was allowed at long last for the 2022 vintage for the latter two – sadly, not for
Vorbourg. The reason is simple: the powers, namely the INAO (Institut National
de l'Origine et de la Qualité), want to assess wines made from these sites over
several vintages from a number of producers. This was possible for Hengst and
Kirchberg de Barr, where 12 and 7 estates, respectively, are making
site-designated Pinot Noirs. In the case of Vorbourg, only one estate has made
single-site Pinot Noir for many years, namely Domaine du Clos Saint Landelin,
run by the Muré family – real Pinot Noir pioneers.<img alt="" src="https://s3.amazonaws.com/images.vinous.com/uploads%2F1682347653718-Veronique+and+Thomas+Mure+wiht+their+Syrah_copy.jpg">Veronique and Thomas Mure with their Syrah. Time and Again The Muré siblings, Véronique and Thomas, run Domaine du Clos Saint Landelin today. They
report that their grandfather Oscar Muré, who took over the domaine with his brother
Armand in 1966, “was already interested” in Pinot Noir. “He was friends with
Domaine Tollot-Beaut in Chorey-lès-Beaune. He realized that in order to make
Pinot Noir you needed good genetics, and went there to get cuttings,” reports
Thomas Muré. “At the time, all the vines in Alsace had huge grapes. They were all bred
for big yields, and selection did not exist. After the Second World War,
everyone had to produce a lot because everyone was hungry and thirsty.” Véronique Muré adds that Pinot Noir
history survives in the village of Rouffach: “Looking at archives, we see that
before the German period [from 1871-1918] in the 1850s, Rouffach was known for
red wine. At the time, most wine was not bottled but sold in taverns.” She
quotes a local archival record which noted that “one could also have white wine
in Rouffach, and it is not that bad,” clearly showing the predominance of red in
this village. We must also note that Vorbourg is a mix of Jurassic and
Oligocene limestone with clay and sandstone – which should ring bells for any
Pinot lover.

Véronique and Thomas’s father, René Muré, took over
in 1976, and continued in the same
vein. He was friends with Tollot-Beaut, Denis Mortet and the Trapets in
Gevrey-Chambertin. The siblings report that even then, in the initial
discussions about creating the Alsace grand cru appellation, René Muré was already advocating for a Pinot Noir grand cru. “But it was refused then because, at that time,
nobody else was talking about Pinot Noir,” says Véronique Muré. They tried again to get permission for Pinot
Noir for the Vorbourg Grand Cru in 2001, the year in which Sylvaner was
exceptionally permitted as a grape variety for the Zotzenberg Grand Cru. “We
were the only ones asking for a grand cru for Pinot Noir. We did not have the
support of the other grand crus because it was too different to what they did,”
she remembers.

In the intervening 20 years, a lot has changed – not least the climate.
“People have changed, too,” says Véronique Muré. “My father’s generation studied in Rouffach
and did stages in Alsace. Our generation studied everywhere and worked
in other regions, which woke everyone up.” They intend to apply to INAO again,
but even if grand cru status for Vorbourg is a long game, decades of expertise
and dedication are undeniable. Today, a fifth of the estate’s vineyard is planted
to Pinot Noir. René Muré adds: “What I did not realize before is that climate change would be so violent
and quick. Now we have to rethink how to produce Pinot Noir, how to handle the
variety.“ Clearly, the family looks ahead. For some years now, they have also
produced Syrah. And they continue: “We just planted 0.05 hectares/0.12 acres of
Syrah on the top part of the Clos Saint Landelin,” says Thomas Muré.<img alt="" src="https://s3.amazonaws.com/images.vinous.com/uploads%2F1682347401718-Jacky+Barthelme+of+Domaine+Albert+Mann_copy.jpg">Jack Barthelmé, winemaker at Domaine Albert Mann, holding one of the limestone fossils found in his vineyards.More Pioneers There are other early plantings of Pinot Noir in what are now grand cru
sites. The grandmother of Sophie and Maxime Barmès was sent as a jeune fille, a kind of
au pair, to the Marquis d’Angerville family in Volnay. She came home in the
late 1950s with Pinot Noir cuttings which were planted in what was to become the
Hengst Grand Cru in 2006. These grapes constitute Domaine Barmès-Buecher’s Pinot Noir
Vieilles Vignes today. Henry Fuchs, of the eponymous domaine in Ribeauvillé, planted Pinot Noir in Kirchberg
de Ribeauvillé in the 1970s. However, the wine was
bottled separately only in the 2000s. The 2003 Rouge Comme Renard was the first
vintage matured in barrique.

Albert Mann was another Pinot pioneer. Current winemaker Jacky Barthelmé reports that Mann planted Pinot Noir in the Hengst and Pfersigberg
Grand Crus in 1963. “He decided to plant Pinot Noir in his best terroirs simply
because he loved to drink red wine,” Jacky says, who still makes wine from
these vines. It was in the early 2000s that the domaine started bottling the
Pinot Noirs from Hengst and Pfersigberg separately, giving rise to the Pinot
Noir Grand H and Grand P bottlings. But the domaine is pioneering in other
ways, too. They started experimenting with barriques in 1991, and by 1993, all
Pinot Noir was matured in barrique. By 2009, all Pinot Noirs spent 18 months in
barrique. They started trialing whole bunch vinification in 2003 and now use up
to 50% whole clusters, lending their supremely elegant wines a lovely floral
lift. Experimentation is not limited to the cellar: they plant different massal
selections and clones on varying rootstocks. Two sites that are bottled
separately are also worth highlighting: Clos de la Faille, planted in 1998, just
southwest of Hengst, and as the name suggests, situated alongside a faultline
on a mix of limestone and Triassic sandstone conglomerate, the other side of
the faultline is granite. Some parts are planted at a density of 7,000
vines/ha, others at up to 13,000 vines/ha. Then there is Les Saintes Claires, planted
about 20 years ago, a parcel on the hillside between Altenbourg and the
Mambourg Grand Cru, just below the Furstentum Grand Cru, on limestone. Barthelmé believes this
site has the greatest potential for Pinot Noir. 

Domaine Albert
Mann now has 5 hectares/12.36 acres of Pinot Noir, of which 4.5 ha/11.12 acres
are on limestone. The half hectare not on limestone is destined for Crémant. Ten
years ago, they had 3.5ha/8.65 acres of Pinot Noir. Over the past four years,
they grafted over 20-year-old Pinot Gris vines in the Hengst Grand Cru with
cuttings from La Romanée and Romanée-Conti sourced from Liger-Belair and DRC as
well as cuttings from Méo-Camuzet’s private selection. They will also plant a
new parcel of Pinot Noir in the Steingrubler Grand Cru with different massal
selections from the Clos des Épenots in Pommard, and sites in Gevrey-Chambertin, Germany plus
their own selection. Anyone doubting the seriousness or the
professionalism at work for Pinot Noir in Alsace should come here to witness it.<img alt="" src="https://s3.amazonaws.com/images.vinous.com/uploads%2F1682432322691-Paul+Fuchs+at+Domaien+Henry+Fuchs_copy.jpg">Paul Fuchs, owner and winemaker at Domaine Henry Fuchs in Ribeauvillé, in the morning sunlight of his tasting room.Pinot Fever Domaine Albert
Mann is by no means alone when it comes to Pinot Noir enthusiasm. None other
than the grand seigneur of Riesling, Pierre Trimbach, declared during my
visit: “Pinot Noir and Riesling
are the future for Alsace.” Trimbach now has 8 hectares/19.77 acres of Pinot
Noir and plans to replant Pinot Gris and Gewurztraminer parcels to Pinot Noir in
the Altenberg de Bergheim Grand Cru. And here are more examples, from north to
south: Mélanie Pfister in Dahlenheim planted more Pinot Noir on a
limestone-sandstone site in 2022, so did Christian Beyer of Domaine Emile Beyer
in Eguisheim. Jean-Christophe Bott of Domaine Bott-Geyl will graft Pinot Gris
vines over to Pinot Noir in the Furstentum Grand Cru. And Schlumberger planted
Pinot Noir on the limestone of the Saering Grand Cru.

Another famed estate with an impressive track record for Pinot Noir –
especially from the lieu-dit Altenbourg on iron-rich marl on top of
limestone – is Domaine Weinbach in Kaysersberg. Eddy Leiber-Faller, who now
runs the domaine with his brother Théo and mother Catherine, says that they now have four different
single vineyards planted to Pinot Noir, making just 900-1,500 bottles each, a
total of 3 hectares/7.41 acres, including the Schlossberg. They plan to plant Pinot
Noir on the east-facing limestone Marckrain Grand Cru. They also bottle a Vogelgarten
lieu-dit separately – here it is called Jardin aux Oiseaux – as does Domaine
Kirrenbourg and Domaine Amélie &amp; Charles Sparr. Careful readers will now
have caught on that the Weiss Valley, where the granite Schlossberg Grand Cru
switches to the limestones of Furstentum, Mambourg and Marckrain Grand Crus, seems
to be a sweet spot for Pinot Noir. This is where the Altenbourg and Vogelgarten
lieux-dits are. Remember these names. I believe the initial two grand crus
for Pinot Noir, Kirchberg de Barr and Hengst, are just the beginning. As Jacky
Barthelmé says: “The future of Pinot Noir grand cru will be very different.”<img alt="" src="https://s3.amazonaws.com/images.vinous.com/uploads%2F1682347389463-Melanie+Pfister+of+Domaine+Pfister_copy.jpg">Winemaker Mélanie&nbsp;Pfister at Domaine Pfister.Vintages Before we move on to other reds in Alsace, a brief word on the vintages:
2021 was hugely challenging for Pinot Noir. Paul Fuchs did not make his
top wine Rouge Comme Renard, and Trimbach did not make their Cuve Sept. However,
the hot, dry 2020 vintage brought forth stupendous wines. This took an
ingenious approach in the vineyard. Jacky Barthelmé formed a shade-lending tunnel
of canopy in every second row by allowing the shoots to intertwine. Charle
Sparr, instead, utilized shade from dense plantings and very high canopies. The
2020 Pinot Noirs are ripe but do not lack freshness.More Exotic Reds I am also happy and excited to report that experimentation with other
red grape varieties is rife. It is no longer a secret that Domaine du Clos
Saint Landelin makes lovely Syrah, as some other growers do as well. Paul Fuchs
has planted some Gamay on granite in Ribeauvillé. In parcels with very little topsoil on the Schlossberg
Grand Cru, where Riesling is in danger of suffering from dry stress, Eddy
Leiber-Faller has grafted some Riesling over to Syrah and Grenache. Leiber-Faller
believes that Grenache is even more heat-resistant than Syrah. This choice
makes a lot of sense to him: “The Schlossberg is very Mediterranean. Even
before climate change, we had almond and fig trees,” he says. He expects the
first small harvest in 2023 and a normal crop in 2024. Charles Sparr of Domaine
Amélie
&amp; Charles Sparr is just as adventurous. Over the past five years, he
progressively grafted his Gewurztraminer holdings over to Pinot Noir, Syrah and
Nebbiolo. Next year he will plant two Corsican red varieties, Sciaccarello and
Nielluccio, in the Mambourg Grand Cru. Charles Sparr is clear: “For me, the
great future for Alsace is to have more reds.”

As a self-confessed fan and inveterate drinker of Pinot Noir, I was
excited by these Pinot Noirs. Having tasted previous vintages of some of these
wines, I can see how they become more honed and elegant every year. I wonder if
the Pinot Noirs grown on limestone could easily be picked out in a Burgundy
line-up, as the best practitioners by now have accumulated years of experience.
While I visited the top domaines, there is still a chasm between most Alsace
Pinot Noir and the wines reviewed here, but the signs are clear. There is world-class
Pinot Noir of density, elegance and sinuousness in Alsace that will make any
Pinot-lover swoon. The 2020s reviewed in this report avoided the jamminess apparent
in some Burgundies of that vintage. The 2021s result from the most stringent
sorting. They touched me with their slenderness and purity. What is more, they
still do represent value. Alsace really does have a place in the global Pinot Pantheon.
Watch this space.

All the wines were tasted at the domaines in a trip spanning late
January and early February 2023.© 2023, Vinous. No portion of this article may be copied, shared or re-distributed without prior consent from Vinous. Doing so is not only a violation of our copyright, but also threatens the survival of independent wine criticism.<hr> You Might Also Enjoy<a target="_blank" href="https://vinous.com/articles/alsace-2020s-and-2021s-just-like-janus-apr-2023">Alsace 2020s and 2021s: Just like Janus</a>, Anne Krebiehl MW, April 2023 <a target="_blank" href="https://vinous.com/articles/alsace-the-2017s-and-late-released-2016s-feb-2019">Alsace: The 2017s And Late-Released 2016s, Part 2</a>, Ian D'Agata, February 2019 <div><a target="_blank" href="https://vinous.com/articles/alsace-luxembourg-2017s-and-late-released-2016s-jan-2019">Alsace &amp; Luxembourg: 2017s and Late-Released 2016s, Part 1</a>, Ian D'Agata, January 2019</div>

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