2012 Grasberg

One of the wine world’s great terroiristes, Jean-Michel Deiss tirelessly champions the merits of co-plantation (planting two or more varieties in the same vineyard) for making wines that express the site they come from rather than the variety they are made with (that said, Deiss’s few varietal wines are actually very good). With his very talented son Mathieu taking over winemaking duties in 2008, Jean-Michel has even more time to take his message to anyone willing to listen, and he’s making converts, as more Alsace wines from co-planted are appearing all the time. And yet he's also a staunch defender of rare, ancient Alsace varieties and biotypes, and is working closely with a study center to bring back many such forgotten varieties to the attention of local growers. The Deiss estate now makes about 120,000 bottles a year, with their Alsace Blanc their most commercially important wine.