2017 Chasselas Vieilles Vignes

Though the Schoffit estate is most famous for its rich, complex Rangen wines, it is also “Last of the Mohicans” when it comes to the Chasselas variety in Alsace, of which they make a standout example. Chasselas is reduced to 75 hectares today in Alsace, when it was roughly 1,000 hectares back in 1969; it has disappeared not primarily because of poor or uninteresting wines (though the less successful wines can be very insipid) but rather because it is an irregular producer (unlike Sylvaner, which produces regularly every year), as well as fetching very low prices for both grapes and wines, thus making the cultivation of Chasselas anti-economic. At Schoffit they are lucky in that they own very old Chasselas vines (75 years and counting), which helps make a far more concentrated and refined wine than the rest of Alsace (and Colmar, where the Schoffit winery is situated, was always the cradle of high-quality Chasselas vines in Alsace). This year I was especially smitten with some of the lower-priced wines from this estate, though wines from grand crus like the Rangen and the Sommerberg never fail to impress.