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Fine Rhines

It's no easy task tasting wines in the French region of Alsace, which borders Germany and Switzerland. The akers are so generous a standard visit involves about 20 wines. If you are a note-taking taster like me, that means a hand-cramping three or four pages in the notebook - per winery visit. And almost always, the hospitable owners pluck a 20- to 25-year-old treasure from their cellar library to show visitors how superbly Alsace wines age. Unlike in Bordeaux, where producers typically make only one or two wines, most makers in Alsace craft 20-30 varieties each year.

Alsace is one of the only regions in the world devoted almost exclusively to white-wine production. In Alsace, they dabble with juicy raspberry-scented pinot noirs, called spatburgunder, or 'late Burgundy', but their virtuosity lies with four white-grape varieties: riesling, pinot gris, muscat and gewurztraminer. These produce wines that can be categorised into three styles: regular, better-than-regular and late-harvest.

Regular wines are easy-drinking and typically made from grapes grown on lesser quality sites. Better-than-regular wines can be designated as 'reserve', which has no legal definition, or grand cru, produced according to strict regulations from one of 51 vineyard sites deemed to be of superior quality. In Hong Kong, much of the wine we receive from Alsace is grand cru.

Late-harvest wines are sweet and produced from grapes that are richly concentrated through the activity of noble rot (Botrytis cinerea). There are two types of late-harvest wine, vendange tardives (VT) and selecion grand nobles (SGN) and both are typically produced from pinot gris or gewurztraminer grapes. SGN is the sweeter of the two and is produced only a few times per decade, when the vintage conditions allow intense concentration of the grapes.

Alsace is one of the only regions in Europe to label wines according to grape variety, making them easy to order; wine from Alsace is traditionally bone-dry, except for late-harvest styles. In recent years, however, producers have noticed that wines with a hint of sweetness are more successful in shows and with at least one very influential critic. Mention the creeping residual sweetness levels in Alsace and views are vehemently voiced. Almost all producers claim to dislike the trend, but many are compelled to meet the market taste for sweetness as a matter of economic survival. As winemaker Albert Beyer puts it, 'People ask for dry, but love sweet.'

I was fortunate to visit some Alsatian producers recently, many of which have bottles available through Hong Kong importers. Rene Mure produces lovely riesling from its Clos Saint Landelin Grand Cru site (Onereddot, tel: 2408 8320). Marc Beyer of Leon Beyer has dry, restrained wines, featuring the superb Comte line (Jebsen, tel: 2923 8777). Lucien Albrecht produces a very good pinot noir, Weid 2003 (Watsons, tel: 2526 2832). Josmeyer's wines are full-flavoured but crisp, the Riesling Hengst Grand Cru being a stand-out (Cottage Vineyards, tel: 2395 1293). Bestheim, the third largest producer in Alsace, produces an easy-drinking range of cremants - sparkling wines - (Maxford Wines, tel: 3102 3900). Willy Gisselbrecht offers an excellent riesling in the Schiefferberg Grand Cru, a stony, restrained mineral style with a light spicy note (Ficofi, tel: 2404 3895). Ostertag's Fronholz Gewurztraminer Vendange Tardives is spicy, complex and elegant (Berry Bros & Rudd, tel: 2110 1680). Alsatian winemakers unanimously called 2007 a dream vintage, so stock up.

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