Emile Beyer Tradition Pinot Blanc d’Alsace 2016

Christian Beyer is the consummate Alsace producer fashioning superlative Riesling, Pinot Gris, and the region’s most popular wine, Pinot Blanc. The 2016 Emile Beyer Tradition Pinot Blanc continues Beyer’s hot hand with the grape. The 2016 Tradition exudes Christian Beyer’s charm and acumen with Alsace’s ubiquitous Pinot Blanc, offering an inviting floral nose and round, tender fruit flavors reminiscent of ripe apples and Bosc pears mixed with a delightfully fresh minerality. Christian Beyer once again captures the tender side of Pinot Blanc in his 2016 Tradition along with Pinot Blanc’s racy, mineral-driven underpinning that renders this wine so easy to drink and pair with a variety of foods. Although easy to understand and enjoy, Beyer’s 2016 Pinot Blanc remains more than just a good quaff as it offers subtle minerality as counterpoint to the wine’s soft fruit flavors and intriguing notes that seem to always be delightfully ever-evolving in the glass. We suggest affording the 2016 Emile Beyer Tradition only a moderate chill (40° F), although some will prefer the wine at slightly warmer temperatures. Enjoy it as you like, as optimal drinking temperature always varies with climate and from one palate to the next. Enjoy!

Emile Beyer’s Tradition Pinot Blanc always offers plenty to like, with or without food, and with no other vintage is this more true than with the outstanding 2016 Tradition. The wine’s flavor, balance, and overall inviting manner make it easy to pair with a wide variety of cuisines and dishes, even foods that are typically difficult to pair with wine. Traditional Alsatian favorites such as Choucroute Garnie (ham, pork ribs, and sausage cooked in sauerkraut and served with spicy mustards), Quiche Lorraine, leek tarts, country pâtés, and pork roasts always provide tasting accompaniments to Christian Beyer’s balanced, flavorful Tradition Pinot Blanc. Equally rewarding are lighter, heart-healthy selections such as baked or grilled cod, flounder, grouper and monk fish. Seafood salads, mussels, scallops, and fish chowders supply additional first-rate accompaniments. And, Emile Beyer’s 2016 Tradition Pinot works wonders with cuisines and vegetables that are often difficult to pair with wines, such as Pad Gra Prao (Thai Chicken with Basil), Chicken and Broccoli in a garlic sauce, Asian noodles, and stir fries made with vegetables such as asparagus and Brussels sprouts. So, be daring and experiment! In the ideal world, one has a bottle of Emile Beyer’s 2016 Pinot Blanc to serve as an aperitif, a second bottle to accompany whatever you plan on serving, and the rest of the case awaiting the next occasion. Bon Appétit!

Domaine Emile Beyer and nearly five centuries of history in Alsace remain intertwined. Since the year 1580, at least 14 generations of the Beyer family have cultivated vines in the picturesque village of Eguisheim, unquestionably one of the greatest wine communes in Alsace. Each successive generation of Beyers, profoundly rooted in the vineyard and land, have in turn passed on their passion for wine to the next generation. And we the consumers are the beneficiaries. Moreover, since the coming of age of Christian Beyer, the domain’s present guardian, Beyer’s wines have ascended to an even higher level of quality.

Under the present leadership of youthful Christian Beyer, the venerable domaine of Emile Beyer cultivates 17 hectares (37.5 acres) of prime vineyards in Eguisheim, including two grand cru sites, from which Beyer fashions exceptional wines. “Giving happiness, with elegant wines: this is what I take pride in doing,” is Christian Beyer’s mantra, and by all accounts Beyer succeeds in doing just that year in and year out, almost in defiance of the vagaries of each vintage. From estate vineyards, Beyer produces an enviable portfolio of wines, which include outstanding Pinot Blanc, Pinot Gris, Riesling, and Gewürztraminer. Muscat, Sylvaner and Pinot Noir also figure highly in the mix. In short, there is no dearth of fine wine from Domaine Emile Beyer.

Alsace is quite possibly the most picturesque wine region in all France. It is an enchanted land of beautifully restored half-timbered houses, flower bedecked balconies and window boxes, and of course vineyards. Alsace is bounded by the Vosges Mountains to the west, which block out the dreary maritime weather that plagues so much of the rest of northern France, and the Rhine River and Germany to the east. On account of its favored position and corresponding climate, Alsace is the sunniest province in northern France. This extra sunshine makes Alsace an ideal spot for the cultivation of the vine and the production of premium white wines from Pinot Blanc, Pinot Gris, Riesling, and Gewürztraminer – the vast majority of which are made dry – and increasingly fine red wine from Pinot Noir. Robert Parker Jr. has called the wines of Alsace “some of the greatest white wines produced on the planet,” and some of the most pleasurable and hedonistic, too.