2018 Domaine Wassler Riesling, Grand Cru, Alsace, France   

The Wassler family has made wine in the Alsatian town of Blienschwiller for seven generations. Alsace, in the northeast of France on the border with Germany, is a cool climate region that produces mostly white wines including the famous Rieslings. The Wasslers farm four terroirs: "Pfilntz" is a south-facing, clay-limestone soil vineyard that produces Riesling; "Fronholz" is a classic Alsatian terroir with low yields and evening sunshine that produces fine Pinot Gris and ample and delicious Gewürztraminers; Grand Cru Winzenberg is a granitic terroir that produces pure mineral Rieslings; and finally Grand Cru Frankstein, also granitic, with shallow, stony soils that produce structured and acidic wines. Domaine Wassler is in its first year of organic certification and will be fully converted by 2021. The estate produces fresh, dry wines to express fruit and flower aromas, and old-vine wines that are from single terroirs, including the two Grand-Crus.