Alsace Part 2: Edelzwicker and Gentil

The French Alsace labels its wines by varietal name like most new world wines. Because of its revolving door history of being French, then German, then French again, and so on through the centuries; the German influence is probably the reason why, since German wines are so labelled as a rule. Exceptions prove the rule though, right? Germany, to the dismay of many of us, offered up plonk by the name of Liebfraumilch under several well advertised brands for decades in America and elsewhere and the wine buying public often stopped right there in their exposure to German wines, short of trying the great estate Rieslings for which Germany is known.

The Alsace is known for great white varietal wines like the great whites of Germany only drier. The greatest of these may be Gewurztraminer. Most every Alsatian producer offers a proprietary white (house) blend utilizing both estate and purchased grapes since this wine will both represent the brand in the marketplace and will be a volume seller. These have gone by the names Edelzwicker and Gentil and they are most definitely not Liebfraumich. Both words imply nobility in origin and Edelzwicker traditionally topped Gentil in the claim. Today both terms are less prevalent and when used, are largely interchangeable.

In the store currently we offer Kuentz-Bas 2009 Alsatian White Blend, an example of this kind of wine but using neither name. The wine is primarily Sylvaner along with three other white grapes and is notably light and off-dry. This is another historical change. Such wines in the past were usually Pinot Blanc-based and drier. The trend in Alsatian winemaking now appears to be a less dry style coinciding with Germany's effort to produce drier wines.

Try Kuentz-Bas with a 10% discount ($14/btl) by mentioning this article and let me narrow my audience further: If you like great Italian Pinot Grigio, you just might like this Kuentz-Bas.