Alsace

For a variety of reasons, I've started trying to drink my way through Alsace. Of course, the most compelling reason is the unique expressions of Riesling, Pinot Gris and Gewurtztraminer one can find in the Northwest of France along the German border.There's Muscat too, but even Faller-Weinbach's version leaves me rather cold. As much as Pinot Gris finds a completely different profile in Alsace than it does in other settings, my real love affair with Alsace wine begins with Riesling.

The Chateau d'Orschwir Riesling Bollenberg 2006 is bone-dry with a nose of lime rind and ginger root. The palate presents grapefruit, fennil and tarragon, with mineral notes and an acidic finish that recalls white asparagus as the acidity dissipates.

The Marcel Deiss Riesling 2005 has an off-dry quality, married with acidity, that both recalls and confounds the impressions of Alsace Riesling left by the Chateau d"Orschwir. The nose presents candied ginger and lime, while the palate is full of ginger, lime and Lily of the Valley. The bracing acidity gives way to an ephemeral honeyed quality in the finish.

More full-bodied, the Trimbach Pinot Gris 2003, while its nose is spicy and citric, has a mouth-filling palate of bananas and baking spice, as well as thyme and a lanolin quality. While this wine is both fruit forward and off-dry, the finish is green, reflective of its Old World pedigree.

While the grapes are mostly shared with Germany, Alsace occupies its own ground stylistically. This is food-friendly wine, neither purely austere or overly honeyed.