Any suggestions for this? How would 2002 Weinbach L’Inedits do? Those are my only Alsatian rieslings. No pinot blancs in the house. Do have plenty of German riesling and a few Austrians ('04 Pragers and an '04 Alzinger). Lots of red and white Burgs and a few Californis PNs (Copain and Melville).
Thanks in advance for any advice you can give!
Riesling for sure. I recently had choucroute over a few days, once with 2002 Weinbach Schlossberg GC CSC, and the second time with 2002 Burn Clos St Imer La Chapelle GC, and both were great. The Weinbach was less dry than I thought it would (based on my recollections of tasting this wine on release) but there was only a hint of RS (I was expecting a bone-dry Riesling). The Burn had significantly more RS but it worked well anyway. I’m sure Riesling from Germany/Austria could work too, but I’d try to err on the side of dryness, if at all possible. In case of doubt, visit a nearby retailer and grab whichever vintage of Trimbach Cuvée Frédéric Emile is available.
Exactly, the dryest Alsacian Riesling you can find…
A couple grams RS will appear too much with the acidity of the choucroute.
Florian
Randy, no cuvee fred? when are you eating, I’ll give you a bottle if we can rendezvous somewhere.
That’s incredibly nice of you, Maureen–huge thanks! I didn’t think we had any, but C actually looked at the wine inventory–wisely not trusting my memory–and as it turned out we’ve got a 2000 Fred. So, we’ll open that.
Alsatian gourmets used to declare that choucroute should be cooked in wine but eaten with beer, and I certainly don’t think it’s suited to really good wines.
How about the impossibly gaudy glamour of the choucroute royale? a bottle of champagne is shaken violently then embedded in very hot choucroute, the top eased off and the bottle allowed to ejaculate its contents all over the waiting dish.
I would think the l’Inedit would pair nicely.
By chance, we’re going to have choucroute tomorrow night, but I expect it’ll be a German trocken with it – too hard to find a really dry Alsatian these days (unless I decide to pull out the 1988 Z-H Rangen de Thann).
Riesling… though beer would be far more “classic”.
With that said, go for the middle ground - Cremant d’Alsace.
Riesling and pinot blanc are classic choices, but I’ve successfully matched Choucroute with white Rhones as well.
Randall, depending on what you have, the '04’s from Alzinger are drinking great right now (although that 2000 CFE also sounds very nice).
The Weinbach should work, it has enough age to amelorate the sweetness. Austria would work as well, if not as classic.
Alsace Pinot GRIS. Opulently slutty.
I agree that beer is best, but this is a wine board.
Dan Kravitz
Dan’s suggestions are great ones, and if we’d had a bunch of people over, I’d have compared old Zind-Humbrecht Tokay-Pinot Gris (as it was called back then) with Rolly-Gassmann’s from the same vintage; I’m holding them in reserve for a futre occasion. Instead, did 2006 Wormser Liebfrauenstift-Kirchenstück Riesling trocken from P.J. Valckenberg, which greatly exceeded my expectations (and I don’t mean that one bit as damnation through faint praise). This was sealed with a glass stopper and there was no problem.
Just FWIW - take a look here:
http://www.kloecher-traminer.at/content/sortiment_uebersicht.php4
… Styrian region KLÖCH is famous for their Traminer - from dry, half-dry to sweet.
(unfortunately the website seems to be only in German)
Hi,
I’ll say Alsace too, but I find Sylvaner goes much better than Riesling.
I think Sylvaner is a much under-rated variety.
Best regards,
Alex R.
We always drink Alsatian Pinot Gris with it
Alsace riesling, entry level not expensive—or Edelzwicker if you can find it.
I’ll get packed and be right there!
+1 everyone on the Pinot Gris
We were served that in Strassbourg