A great crémant like Jean Boxler’s, which marries three Pinots—Noir, Blanc, and Auxerrois—is so spirited, so complex, you’ll want to invent occasions to celebrate. It’s racy, slightly toasty, and wildly three-dimensional, like a burst of sunny citrus on a dreary winter day.

Grand cru Riesling is arguably what Jean does best, even though his whole lineup surpasses expectations. He is fussy about his grand cru fruit: if it’s not the finest, or from the oldest vines in the parcel, he declassifies it (which also elevates his regional bottlings). Sommerberg is a cool site notable for its granite core, which translates to precision and verticality in the glass.

The year 2021 was a bit rainier in Alsace, conditions that can lead to more tension in the bottle, especially from a stony terroir like Fronholz. This vintage is exceptionally salty and mineral, with lean aromatics more evocative of stone than fruit—it might fool you for an oyster wine. Let it!

Ostertag unveils a different side of Pinot Gris with this cuvée, one you might not expect. Pinot Gris is a rounder variety than its Riesling counterpart, but Fronholz’s terroir blasts through, resulting in a dry blanc that glimmers with all the bits of quartz and white sand found in its soil.

Vinified in ancestral foudres that have seen well over a century’s worth of vintages, this Pinot Blanc is far more pedigreed than it needs to be. “Luminous,” according to my notes from a visit last summer. It achieves what the Kuentz-Bas house style is all about: capturing the most classic expressions of traditional Alsatian grape varieties.

If you see “Trois Chateaux” on a Kuentz-Bas label, it means the vines are from either a single vineyard or a grand cru site, representing the domaine’s finest bottlings. Eichberg boasts a clay and limestone terroir that leaves a powerful mark on its Riesling vines. You’ll want to open it alongside richer dishes, or ones that take the longest to make, those that deserve a layered and complex bottling to match.

Félix Meyer’s Riesling Réserve combines a few plots of vines, some from sandstone, some from granite, with a dose of declassified grand cru Riesling as well. Crisp and zesty, it’s stimulating enough for an apéritif, but generous enough for your main course.

Sporen is a grand cru site with heavy clay soil that might stick to your boots if you stepped foot in it. This soil density translates to a Gewurztraminer with longevity, finesse, and balance—with none of the trappings you’d predict from this intensely aromatic variety, only the perks.