Very few glasses of wine can jumpstart your senses like the monumental, livewire blancs of Jean Boxler. But while he is widely known as one of France’s greatest producers of white wines, he also makes a few cases of gorgeous Pinot Noir every year that count among our best-kept secrets.
      Tucked between prized rows of grand cru Riesling and Pinot Gris on the historic hill of Sommerberg, Jean’s miniscule holdings of Pinot Noir—not even half an hectare—provide him with an incredibly rare opportunity to channel his granite terroir through the lens of a red grape. When these vines were planted more than half a century ago by Jean’s curious predecessors, vignerons in Alsace perhaps approached Pinot Noir more in the spirit of experimentation than widespread cultivation. The region’s conditions were more naturally suited to white grapes like Riesling, Muscat, and Pinot Gris. But in recent years, with a warmer climate and increasingly ambitious growers, Alsatian Pinot has been turning heads with world-class results.
      Named for a high-elevation sliver of Sommerberg, Jean’s Wibtal bottling is high-toned, slightly savory, and staggeringly pure. I love bringing a bottle of this wine to parties because pouring a glass is like a magic trick—no one believes Alsatian Pinot Noir can be this good. Its elegance lends itself so well to lighter meats, roasted root vegetables, and even some fish, like grilled salmon filets or a traditional Alsatian choucroute de poisson. 
      Did I say Jean Boxler is one of France’s greatest producers of white wine? Let me revise that: he is one of the country’s greatest producers, period, and this sublime Pinot Noir is yet more proof.