The CWB Weissburgunder-Off

Two Pinot Blancs / Weisser burgunder

• Paul Schneider, Alsace: Domaine Paul Schneider
• Ökonomierat Rebholz, Pfalz: Das Weingut Ökonomierat Rebholz: Oekonomierat Rebholz

After a family road trip to Germany and Alsace last summer, I thought it might be interesting for the kids to start trying wines in pairs to develop both their palates and technical knowledge.

We had stocked up extensively on Alsace whites and returned with a bootful of elegant fluted bottles. The Pfalz wine had been purchased in a Justerinis markdown sale for about a 50% discount.

I make no secret of struggling with Pinot Noir generally and find I much prefer this ancient, finnicky grape in its Blanc and Gris mutations. Across the border in Germany it is known as Weißer Burgunder which translates as “White Burgundy” (but is not the grape of white Burgundy, as that is Chardonnay).

The Alsace Pinot Blanc actually contains 50% Auxerrois blanc, a local grape that is a cross of Gouais blanc and Pinot, the same ancestry as Chardonnay.

Paul Schneider Pinot Blanc, 2023 (€9.50, cellar door)

50% Pinot Blanc 50% Auxerrois

Grown on marly-limestone and sandstone

12.5%

Médaille d’Or Colmar / Colmar Gold Medal

They say:

Located in Eguisheim, birthplace of winegrowing in Alsace, Domaine Paul Schneider is set up in the old tithe barn of the Provost Marshal of Strasbourg’s cathedral dating from 1663.

Our vineyards extend over 14 hectares with outstanding soil and exceptional micro climate, which benefits our region, giving rise to the whole range of wines of Alsace including three Grands Crus (Eichberg, Pfersigberg, Steinert), two Crémants (white and rosé), late harvests but also Selection of Noble Grapes

All our wines are vinified in a rigorous manner which combines traditional method and modern technology in order to preserve the typicality of our house. The handpicked harvests are pressed in a pneumatic press; the vinification is pursued in temperature controlled stainless steel tanks and the aging process is carried out in nearly a century old wooden barrels. All this know-how allows us to offer you great character wines which exalt at best their soil and explode in flavor!

Winegrowers from father to son since generations in the picturesque half-timbered house dating from 1663; Paul and Monique as passionate winegrowers made this beautiful story of the family grow. They knew how to pass the value of a winegrower to their son, Luc who now leads the domaine with his wife, Fabienne. Recently their daughter Claire has joined the wine-producing company and takes charge of the commercial development.

I say:

bright gold: ripe yellow apple, citrus and honeysuckle with musky melonskin: fresh, plush and ripe with yellow stone fruits, poached pear and melon with some late harvest character and baking spice . Saline, complex and savoury. Very harmonious and balanced.

Very Good.

Drinks nicely on first pouring; improves with aeration and will gain complexity from cellaring.

Match with pork rillettes, hard yellow cheese, tarte flambee or roast fowl.

Weingut Ökonomierat Rebholz Weißer Burgunder trocken 2018 (£20, reduced to £10, Justerini & Brooks)

100% Weißer Burgunder

12.5%

fermented and aged in steel, minimum intervention, resting upon fine lees until bottling, no fining and the lightest of filtrations

They say:

A great name in German wine circles and the leading estate of the Pfalz, Okonomierat Rebholz represents the region at its most uncompromising, precise and pure. If the Pfalz is often known for producing full-bodied, fruit forward wines, Hansjorg Rebholz’s wines come as a crisp pure breath of fresh air.

The Rebholz style aims to be as transparent a translation of vintage and site as possible; the house style, honed now over three generations, is bone dry, crystal clear, pure and unadulterated.

Possessing some of the finest vineyard sites in the Pfalz on a smorgasbord of different soils, Hansjorg and his team craft a broad range of wines.

I say:

deep gold; baked apple, lemon curd, tangy peach skin and blossom; fresh, clean and pure with yellow stone fruits, honey, a zip of lime zest, green apple and savoury cashew; saline and mineral, poised and precise.

Good.

Drinks nicely on first opening; opens up with aeration and at a peak.

Match with seafood, lighter starters and white meat.