The wine region of Alsace produces

wine Wine is an alcoholic drink typically made from fermented grapes. Yeast consumes the sugar in the grapes and converts it to ethanol and carbon dioxide, releasing heat in the process. Different varieties of grapes and strains of yeasts are m ...

s under three different '' Appellations d'Origine Contrôlées'' (AOCs):

Alsace AOC Alsace wine or Alsatian wine (french: Vin d'Alsace; german: Elsässer Wein; gsw, label=Haut Rhin Alsatian, d'r Wii vum Elsàss; gsw, label=Bas Rhin Alsatian, de Win vum Elsàss) is produced in the Alsace region in France and is primarily whi ...

for white,

rosé A rosé () is a type of wine that incorporates some of the color from the grape skins, but not enough to qualify it as a red wine. It may be the oldest known type of wine, as it is the most straightforward to make with the skin contact method. ...

and red wines,

Alsace Grand Cru AOC Alsace Grand Cru is an Appellation d'Origine Contrôlée for wines made in specific parcels of the Alsace wine region of France. The Grand Cru AOC was recognized in 1975 by the INAO with subsequent expansion in 1983, 1992 and 2007.

for white wines from certain classified vineyards and

Crémant d'Alsace AOC Sparkling wine is a wine with significant levels of carbon dioxide in it, making it fizzy. While the phrase commonly refers to champagne, European Union countries legally reserve that term for products exclusively produced in the Champagne reg ...

for

sparkling wines Sparkling wine is a wine with significant levels of carbon dioxide in it, making it fizzy. While the phrase commonly refers to champagne, European Union countries legally reserve that term for products exclusively produced in the Champagne reg ...

. This region is the only

French wine French wine is produced all throughout France, in quantities between 50 and 60 million hectolitres per year, or 7–8 billion bottles. France is one of the largest wine producers in the world, along with Italian, Spanish, and America ...

region allowed to

label A label (as distinct from signage) is a piece of paper, plastic film, cloth, metal, or other material affixed to a container or product, on which is written or printed information or symbols about the product or item. Information printed dir ...

its wines based on variety (i.e.,

varietal A varietal wine is a wine made primarily from a single named grape variety, and which typically displays the name of that variety on the wine label.The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition, 2000.winepros.com.au. ...

wines).

Alsace AOC

Unlike most other French wine regions, there is only one AOC for most wines made in the whole of Alsace.INAO: AOC Alsace regulations, updated until January 14, 2007
, retrieved 2011-04-19 In 2006, 78 per cent of the Alsatian vineyards were producing wine under the Alsace AOC appellation.CIVA website
, retrieved 2011-04-22, with sublinks to UK, US and Canadian sites. Other French wine regions have numerous appellations within them, often designating wine from a particular town or, even, an area within a certain town. Alsace AOC wines are often sold with one of the varietal labels or similar designations that are allowed under the AOC rules. In some cases, a ''

lieu-dit ''Lieu-dit'' (; plural: ''lieux-dits'') (literally ''said-location'') is a French toponymic term for a small geographical area bearing a traditional name. The name usually refers to some characteristic of the place, its former use, a past event, ...

'', the name of a vineyard, is also displayed on the bottle. Neither the varietal labels or the ''lieux-dits'' are separate appellations; all carry "Appellation Alsace Contrôlée" on the label.

Alsace Grand Cru AOC

The

Alsace Grand Cru Alsace Grand Cru is an Appellation d'Origine Contrôlée for wines made in specific parcels of the Alsace wine region of France. The Grand Cru AOC was recognized in 1975 by the INAO with subsequent expansion in 1983, 1992 and 2007.

AOC, which is a separate appellation,INAO: AOC Alsace Grand Cru regulations, updated until September 28, 2007
, retrieved 2011-04-22. was not created until 1975. As of 2009, there are currently 51 ''lieux-dits'' listed as Grand Cru. All wines labeled with the Alsace Grand Cru designation must be produced from the noble Alsace varieties:

Riesling Riesling (, ; ) is a white grape variety that originated in the Rhine region. Riesling is an aromatic grape variety displaying flowery, almost perfumed, aromas as well as high acidity. It is used to make dry, semi-sweet, sweet, and sparkling wh ...

Muscat Muscat ( ar, مَسْقَط, ) is the capital and most populated city in Oman Oman ( ; ar, عُمَان ' ), officially the Sultanate of Oman ( ar, سلْطنةُ عُمان ), is an Arabian country located in southwestern Asia. It is s ...

Pinot gris Pinot Gris, Pinot Grigio (, ) or Grauburgunder is a white wine grape variety of the species ''Vitis vinifera''. Thought to be a mutant clone of the Pinot Noir variety, it normally has a grayish-blue fruit, accounting for its name, but the gra ...

and

Gewürztraminer Gewürztraminer () is an aromatic wine grape variety, used in white wines, and performs best in cooler climates. In English, it is sometimes referred to colloquially as Gewürz (; although this is never the case in German, because "Gewürz" me ...

grape A grape is a fruit, botanically a berry, of the deciduous woody vines of the flowering plant genus ''Vitis''. Grapes are a non- climacteric type of fruit, generally occurring in clusters. The cultivation of grapes began perhaps 8,000 years ago, ...

s. These wines can be produced as

late harvest wine Late harvest wine is wine made from grapes left on the vine longer than usual. ''Late harvest'' is usually an indication of a sweet dessert wine, such as late harvest Riesling. Late harvest grapes are often more similar to raisins, but have been ...

s and labeled either

Sélection de Grains Nobles Sélection de Grains Nobles (SGN) is French for "selection of noble berries" and refers to wines made from grapes affected by noble rot. SGN wines are sweet dessert wines with rich, concentrated flavours. Alsace wines were the first to be described ...

(SGN) or Vendange tardive (VT).

Crémant d'Alsace AOC

Crémant d'Alsace is an ''Appellation d'Origine Contrôlée'' for sparkling wines. It was granted AOC status on August 24, 1976.INAO: AOC Crémant d'Alsace regulations, updated until February 20, 2002
, retrieved 2011-04-20. It is made using the

traditional method The traditional method is the process used in the Champagne region of France to produce Champagne. It is also the method used in various French regions to produce sparkling wines (not called “Champagne”), in Spain to produce Cava, in Portu ...

(secondary in-bottle fermentation), mostly from

Pinot blanc Pinot blanc is a white wine grape. It is a point genetic mutation of Pinot noir. Pinot noir is genetically unstable and will occasionally experience a point mutation in which a vine bears all black fruit except for one cane which produces white ...

grapes, but it may also contain

Pinot noir Pinot Noir () is a red-wine grape variety of the species ''Vitis vinifera''. The name may also refer to wines created predominantly from pinot noir grapes. The name is derived from the French language, French words for ''pine'' and ''black.' ...

and

Chardonnay Chardonnay (, , ) is a green-skinned grape variety used in the production of white wine. The variety originated in the Burgundy wine region of eastern French wine, France, but is now grown wherever wine is produced, from English wine, Englan ...

grapes (Chardonnay may not be used in the two other Alsace appellations). Rosé Crémant d'Alsace is made exclusively from

grapes. Crémant d'Alsace is a significant part of the wine production in Alsace, with 18% of the region's vineyards used for this purpose. 223 942

hectoliter The litre (international spelling) or liter (American English spelling) (SI symbols L and l, other symbol used: ℓ) is a metric unit of volume. It is equal to 1 cubic decimetre (dm3), 1000 cubic centimetres (cm3) or 0.001 cubic metre (m3). ...

of Crémant d'Alsace, approximately 30 million bottles, were produced in 2006. The history of sparkling wine production in Alsace goes back to around 1900, when Julien Dopff is said to have applied the " champagne method" to his own Alsatian wines with satisfactory results.''The International Wine of the Month Club Newsletter'', Vol. 9 No. 3
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References

External links

The Official Alsace wines home page
, retrieved 2011-04-22.
Wines, villages and terroirs of Alsace
, retrieved 2011-04-22. {{DEFAULTSORT:Alsace Wine Region Alsace wine AOCs