For the first part in this series see here.

Next stop on our French tour was the Alsace region. To get there, David & I took a train at about 8 am to Strasbourg, which got us there at about 11 am. We then did a little shopping for yet more wine for this evening’s mega tasting in Strasbourg (more on that in the next post) and had a quick lunch before heading out to Koenig.

Founded in 1960, Koenig is one of the oldest brands servicing the Kosher market. Emille Koenig started producing primarily for local consumption of the Alsatian Jewish community in Strasbourg.  In 2014, production of the Koenig brand was taken over by the Willy Gisselbrecht winery. The Gisselbrecht family has been producing wines since the 1600’s, and the current winery is about 90 years old and is located in Dambach-la-Ville in Alsace.

Claude Gisselbrecht, the owner, gave us a brief tour and some general stats. The winery produces about 900,000 bottles annually, of which 60,000 bottles are produced kosher (95% under the Koenig label).  Only 20% is exported (of which 10% goes to the US & Israel and another 10% to the UK, Canada, and other parts of Europe). Walking through the winery, you really get a sense for the tradition carried through here. Some of the original ceramic tanks and wooden vats are still in use at the winery (though not for the kosher runs, which all use stainless steel tanks).

Now we were ready for the tasting. The tasting room is so nice and homey — without pretense. I was actually reminded of the Disney movie Beauty and the Beast throughout my visit. I’m not sure if that movie is set in a region close to Alsace – but walking through this winery felt like one those sets come to life. Very charming.

Quite frankly, I wasn’t expecting the number of wines that we would be tasting. I had no idea that this many were produced. There are only four wines exported each year (Riesling, Pinot Gris, Gewürztraminer, and Cremant) – and I thought maybe they did another two or three for local consumption – but really that’s just the tip of the iceberg. Gisselbrecht produces about 18- 20 different kosher wines under the Koenig label, Reds, Whites, Sparkling, Dessert wines, etc. Basically any wine which is typically made in an Alsatian winery potentially is also made Kosher. As noted above, the VAST majority of this wine stays local to France. It’s a pity because, depending on the vintage, some of these wines can be great and provide excellent value. 

We tasted nine wines that afternoon (many of the other 2018’s are simply not ready yet, and the 2017’s were not easily accessible or sold out) and my brief notes are below. One note about the 2018 vintage in Alsace. Many wines lacked acidity. Unlike many other appellations, Alsace has strict guidelines against allowing any additives to the wines – even when “corrections” are necessary. In exceptional circumstances, a winery can apply to the governing board to allow them to add acid  – but it must be done only at certain points within the process – and it can take a VERY long time to receive – and certainly for the kosher labels, which get pushed out rather quickly, this was something they couldn’t wait for. Having said that, a number of the wines we tasted still showed quite nicely even considering the difficult vintage.