2020 Pinot Noir Comtes d'Eguisheim

The Beyer family has been making wine in Eguisheim since at least 1580. Domaine Beyer was incorporated by Emile Beyer in 1867 and moved to its current location in Eguisheim by Léon Xavier Beyer in 1902. Today, the domaine is run by Marc Beyer, a Geisenheim graduate, and his son Yann Léon Beyer, the winemaker with degrees in biochemistry from Strasbourg and oenology in Dijon. Yann Léon Beyer followed this with a master’s in business from Bordeaux and stages at Chapoutier and Louis Jadot. Yann Léon Beyer has been in full charge of the cellar since 2019 after joining in 2002. Throughout the 20th century, Domaine Léon Beyer was known for making resolutely dry wines. Marc Beyer explains that his father, Léon Xavier was a noted gastronome and sold his wine mainly to restaurants. At one point, the house supplied all the 3-Michelin-starred restaurants in France. “This has always meant 100% dry wine for ANY variety,” Marc Beyer emphasizes. “Even Pinot Gris and Gewurztraminer have always had less than five g/L of residual sweetness – aside from Vendanges Tardives and Séléction des Grains Nobles.” The house was the sole supplier of Alsace wine to Paul Bocuse for years. This involvement in fine dining lent the name of Les Écaillers, a bone-dry Riesling bottled to accompany a competition for oyster shuckers, or écaillers, in the 1950s. It is made from fruit grown in grand cru Pfersigberg. Like Trimbach and Hugel, Léon Beyer refused to use the grand cru designation for their top wines in protest at the generous delimitations of the sites. But like the other two, they have now relented, but the name of their top wines is still Comtes d’Eguisheim. Notably, these are only released with bottle age, and back vintages like 2011 and 2013 are still on the current list. The style is resolutely dry, and there is no doubt that the strengths of the house are its expressive, limestone-dominated Rieslings.