Alsace 2022 Reds: Continuing Their Trajectory

BY ANNE KREBIEHL MW | MAY 07, 2024

It turns out that wild boars have a predilection for Grenache. They devoured all of Eddy Leiber-Faller’s fruit in 2022. And yes, you are reading an Alsace report, where the chief red grape is Pinot Noir, of course. The Grenache was grafted over on a small parcel of Riesling vines in the granitic soils of the Schlossberg Grand Cru. This would have been the first fruit from these new grafts had it not been for those picky marauders (who will never eat Riesling, which is far too tart for their liking). Apparently, they have quite a weakness for Gewurztraminer, too. Who can blame them? Leiber-Faller intends to put up an electrified fence.

Stormy spring clouds paint a moody yet vibrant light across Grand Cru Hengst - one of the first grands crus approved for Pinot Noir in Alsace.

The Rise and Rise of Pinot Noir

The latest figures from the CIVA, the Comité Interprofessionnel des Vins d'Alsace, state that Pinot Noir now accounts for 13% of total Alsace plantings—2,011 hectares. In 2021, that figure was 1,745 hectares—11% of plantings. There is market demand for the variety; all of the region’s growers echo this. Séverine Schlumberger reports planting four further hectares of Pinot Noir in Grand Cru Saering, also deciding to grub up Riesling and Gewurztraminer in the Bollenberg. Now, the only two varieties Schlumberger grows on this limestone site are Pinot Noir and Muscat. Frédéric Hugel says: “In the past five years, we have doubled our sales of the Classic Pinot Noir.” Christian Beyer of Domaine Emile Beyer is planting more Pinot Noir in the Sundel parcel of Grand Cru Pfersigberg in Eguisheim. Antoine Sorg (of Domaine Bruno Sorg, also in Eguisheim) notes: “Each time we take out a parcel of Riesling or Gewurztraminer on the plain, we replant with Pinot Noir.” Pinot Noir ripens early and is better suited to the site than Riesling and more in demand than Gewurztraminer. Charles Sparr of Domaine Amélie & Charles Sparr in Wettolsheim believes that by the end of this decade, Pinot Noir will account for 30-40% of Alsace production.

Since Gewurztraminer also prefers richer soils compared to Riesling, it is not surprising to find Pinot Noir on such richer sites of marl, clay and limestone with more topsoil cover – but it must be noted that Pinot Noir does work on granite, too. When vinified carefully, granite-grown Pinot Noirs can have a translucent, stony, red-fruited tenderness and a more austere character than limestone- or marl-grown Pinot Noirs, which might easily blend into a line-up of Burgundies. Lovers of Pinot Noir will know that Pinot can shine on various soils – while acknowledging that heavenly marriage between this grape variety and limestone – which in Alsace can be both from the Jurassic period, as in Burgundy, or Triassic.