From: Alsace, France
Varietal: Pinot Blanc
Tasting Notes: This 2021 Alsace Pinot Blanc is just flat-out delicious. It is made from 50-year-old vines from a vintage that produced “some nervy, aromatic dry wines” (yes to all of that) and from the famed Domaine Schoffit. Citrus, white florals, just-ripened pear, stone fruit, and a hint of almond bounce prettily from the first whiff, all underscored by a notable wet stone mineral streak that carries to the palate. Nervy but without any searing acidity on the palate, this Pinot Blanc is charming and will become a new favorite.
Pairing: Aperitifs like canapés, verrines, and other small puff pastries, seafood that includes oysters and Dungeness crab, straightforward recipes that feature white fish (like the recipe we’re sharing below— go light on the spice), clams, or mussels main courses, and tarte flambée are easy go-to’s. Other great ideas include serving this with soft cheeses, crab and avocado salad, white pizza with mushrooms, quiche Lorraine, shrimp Pad Thai, grilled chicken with garlic and tahini sauce, pasta with creamy pesto sauce, sandwiches, crudités, fresh fruit, cold roast chicken and pork, and deep-fried foods.
Corn and Cod Green Curry
By Ali Slagle
About. Many thanks to the importer Vintage and Vine for the following information.
“The Grand Cru wines of Bernhard Schoffit are World Class wines. They are always rich but never heavy, and combine a full body with genuine varietal and terroir character. Bernard Schoffit made a historic contribution when he, after years of negotiations, bought 6.5 of the 18.8 ha of the southern-most Grand Cru of Alsace, the volcanic Rangen. At that time, the vineyards were neglected and mismanaged. Today, it is a vineyard on par with the likes of Montrachet and Chambertin.” —Alsace-wine.net
“The wines are compelling in a rather quiet way, understated but so convincing.”
— Anne Krebiehl MW, Vinous Media, April 2024
Bernard Schoffit was a pioneer in Alsace's greatest Grand Cru, Rangen de Thann. The domaine started by Bernard's father, Robert at 10 hectares, is based near Colmar. Thirty years ago and after years of negotiation, Bernard embarked on an ambitious program of buying vineyard land in the central part of Rangen, including the Clos St Théobold which faces due south. Through sheer determination and ambition, he reclaimed all 6.5 hectares, a good part of which had been abandoned because it was too steep to work.
Today Bernard is still very active in the vineyard, though he has now formally passed the reins to the third generation, his son Alexandre. And from these incredibly steep and rocky slopes, with extremely low yields, Alexandre is making simply extraordinary wines from each of the Alsace Grand Cru varieties together with remarkable examples of Chasselas and Auxerrois from very old vines in their original family holdings near Colmar.
Altogether, Rangen represents about 1/3 of the family’s vineyard holdings of 18.8 ha, but requires about 2/3 of the family’s time to work these incredibly steep slopes. And the yields here are as low as half those of most other Grand Cru vineyards.
Schoffit's 6.5 ha is almost 30 % of Rangen and makes it the largest holder of this prestigious Grand Cru, just ahead of Zind-Humbrecht. Their plantings are made up of 40 % each Riesling and Pinot Gris, 15 % Gewürztraminer and 5 % Muscat.
In this terroir Pinot Gris moves into conversation about the ‘world’s greatest white wines’ with the smoky notes coming both from the terroir and the variety imparting a rare energy and intensity to the wines without excess alcohol or sugar and with perfectly pitched acidity.
Today, the Schoffit domaine of 18.8 ha includes vines in Colmar as well as Thann, along with a very small (0.2 ha) but prized holding in the granite terroir of the prestigious Sommerberg Grand Cru in Niedermorschwihr. The conversion of the estate to organic is complete in 2022 with all wines being certified organic while the conversion to bio- dynamic is well under way with official certification in progress enabling the estate to communicate that they are both organic and bio-dynamic for all vineyards. No fruit is purchased for any wines made at Schoffit.
