The wine region of Alsace produces

wine Wine is an alcoholic drink made from Fermentation in winemaking, fermented fruit. Yeast in winemaking, Yeast consumes the sugar in the fruit and converts it to ethanol and carbon dioxide, releasing heat in the process. Wine is most often made f ...

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

Alsace AOC Alsace wine or Alsatian wine (; ; ; ) is produced in the Alsace region in France and is primarily white wine. Because of its Germanic influence, it is the only ''Appellation d'Origine Contrôlée'' region in France to produce mostly varietal w ...

for white,

rosé A rosé () is a type of wine that incorporates some of the wine color, 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 Macerati ...

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 Institut National des Appellations d'Origine, INAO with subsequent ...

for white wines from certain

classified Classified may refer to: General *Classified information, material that a government body deems to be sensitive *Classified advertising or "classifieds" Music *Classified (rapper) (born 1977), Canadian rapper * The Classified, a 1980s American ro ...

vineyards and

Crémant d'Alsace AOC Sparkling wine is a wine with significant levels of carbon dioxide in it, making it fizzy. While it is common to refer to this as champagne, European Union countries legally reserve that word for products exclusively produced in the Champagne r ...

for

sparkling wines Sparkling wine is a wine with significant levels of carbon dioxide in it, making it fizzy. While it is common to refer to this as champagne, European Union countries legally reserve that word for products exclusively produced in the Champagne r ...

. This region is the only

French wine French wine is produced throughout all of 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. French wine traces its history to th ...

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. Labels are most often affixed to packaging and containers using an adhesive, or sewing when affix ...

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 ''location-said'', "named place") is a French language, French toponymic term for a small geographical area bearing a traditional name. The name usually refers to some characteristic of the plac ...

'', 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 Institut National des Appellations d'Origine, INAO with subsequent ...

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 ...

Muscat Muscat (, ) is the capital and most populous city in Oman. It is the seat of the Governorate of Muscat. According to the National Centre for Statistics and Information (NCSI), the population of the Muscat Governorate in 2022 was 1.72 million. ...

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 pinkish-gray hue, accounting for its name, but th ...

and

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

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 approximately 8,0 ...

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 Vendange tardive ("VT") means "''late harvest''" in French. The phrase refers to a style of dessert wine where the grapes are allowed to hang on the vine until they start to dehydrate. This process, called passerillage, concentrates the sugars ...

(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 for producing sparkling wine 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 ...

(secondary in-bottle fermentation), mostly from

Pinot blanc Pinot blanc () or Pinot bianco 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 wh ...

grapes, but it may also contain

Pinot noir Pinot noir (), also known as Pinot nero, is a red-wine grape variety of the species ''Vitis vinifera''. The name also refers to wines created predominantly from Pinot noir grapes. The name is derived from the French language, French words fo ...

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 France, but is now grown wherever wine is produced, from England to New Zealand. For new a ...

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 ( Commonwealth spelling) or liter (American 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 metres (m3). A cubic ...

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 Sparkling wine production is the method of winemaking used to produce sparkling wine. The oldest known production of sparkling wine took place in 1531 with the ''ancestral method''. Pressure and terminology In popular parlance and also in the ...

" 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