Alright, as promised, I am going to consistently ask myself this question with every region I study.
Explain how wine law and regulation influence the style, quality, and price of wines in Alsace.
DipWSET Theory: It’s the Biz—Alsatian Wine Business
Author: stacy.louise
This Week’s Latest Wine Headlines: September 6—11
Hello and happy weekend. Hope everyone is doing well, staying healthy and happy. For my part, as I write this, Sonoma is still overcast with a mixture of ash and fog—that latter bit I’m actually grateful for for once, as I’m *hoping* it will help clear away the pollutants. For those of you near any West Coast fires who thought the world was coming to and end—well, so did I. The Napa Valley Register has a great piece enlightening us to the science behind that apocalyptic orange glow.
More local news: I recently wrote what (I think) is an interesting piece about how scientists can now “fingerprint” a wine’s DNA, which, in effect, can pinpoint the place of origin, thus basically making a scientific case for the idea behind terroir.
There’s quite a few pieces about the wine industry that came out this week, including the latest in wine shipping news, Pouilly-Fusse’s new premier cru status, and a notable NY sommelier announcing his retirement.
As always, there’s some great independent insight from the Blogs. This week I found a few great wine recommendations from around the world—time to stock up on those international varieties methinks.
Read on, have fun, and leave me a note to say hi. Cheers.
It’s the Biz: German Wine Business
True confession time: I’m starting my D3 studies ‘early’ because as I’m working through my D2, I’m finding that I need real life references as to how the D2—Wine Business—material works in today’s wine industry. It’s like fate that the below question came at the bottom of a newsletter from the Napa Valley Wine Academy. So, I’ve decided that, in an effort to connect the dots between D2 and D3, I’m going to ask this question of every region I study.
Explain how wine law and regulation influence the style, quality, and price of wines from Germany.
DipWSET Theory: Tasting Alsace Noble Grapes
Today I want to talk about Alsatian grapes—not Riesling-related. Riesling is accompanied by three other grapes in the “noble grape” category, namely Gewurztraminer, Pinot Gris and Muscat. These are the grapes that are permitted for Grand Cru wines (there are currently 51 Grand Crus in existence) and regulated wines such as Vendange tardive and Selection de grains nobles.
Let’s start with nobility…
DipWSET Theory: Tasting Germany—Not Riesling
Would that I could have a bottle of every single wine variety. I bet I could learn a whole heap that way (not to mention have a whole heap of fun). But, alas, the money tree seems to be in its dormancy. So the title of this post is a bit mis-leading, as I won’t be physically tasting through these wines, but more putting together what I can gather from my readings about the style and structure typical to these varieties, as it pertains to German winemaking.
Afterwards, I want to take a walk through a few of the other notable wine producing regions of Germany and talk about what non-Riesling grapes thrive best there and why. Sound fun? Totally. Let’s go…