Alsace Blanc, Marcel Deiss "Riquewihr" 2022
In Alsace blends represent the lowest rung on the totem pole in modern times. For centuries they've offered important representations of the region and protection against vintage vagaries, but today categories like Gentil and Edelzwicker that use multiple varieties are often the cheapest and least serious wines from most producers. Only 2 of the 51 Grand Crus in Alsace are permitted to blend varieties. Marcel's grandson Jean-Michel and great-grandson Mathieu march to the beat of their own drum, though. In the 80s Jean-Michel took over a vineyard in the Grand Cru Schoenenbourg with mixed plantings, and chose that approach as the way forward. He also believes 51 Grand Cru are too many, so self-classified 7 of his own vineyards as Premier Cru. Predictably, the INAO aren't members of the Deiss fan club.
We are, though, and this village bottling from Riquewihr in the Haut-Rhin exemplifies why. It's a mixture of co-planted Riesling and Pinot Gris from two vineyards and receives the could-only-be-French designation of sec tendre (tender dry) that allows for a drop of residual sugar. The wine drinks fiercely dry in its youth, and its body and framework of acidity promise a long shelf life. Biodynamically farmed and unabashedly Alsatian, the Deiss wines are standard bearers for what the future of Alsace looks like.
Rioja Reserva, Remelluri 2016
Telmo Rodríguez's motto is "the future lies in the past". Fitting words for a winery whose vineyards first produced wine in the 1300s. Named after a Count Erramel who founded a little village above the town of Labastida in modern Rioja Alavesa (uri is the Basque word for site- Erramel Uri became Remelluri), Telmo's parents purchased the property in 1967. Telmo studied winemaking in Bordeaux and worked for Trevallon and Chave before starting his own winemaking project in Rioja in the 90s. At the behest of their father, Telmo and his sister Amaia both returned home in 2009 to steward their family's property. Amaia studied cultural anthropology at Oxford and leads their viticultural pursuits while Telmo and his pal Pablo Eguzkiza make the wines.
Their Reserva bottling is simply one of the best examples of that style in a very big region. The 2016 is a blend of 83% Tempranillo, 10% Garnacha, 7% Graciano aged for 21 months in a mixture of French and American foudres and barriques. In the past we would never have been able to bring in the quantity needed to get a bottle to every club member, so when the opportunity presented itself we leapt headfirst. Enjoy!
