My last article explained the many virtues of Alsace as well as a slight misgiving about some vignerons though, it must be said, Alsace has the highest % of organic producers in France. There are some great winemakers amongst them and I was able to visit two of them during my visit.

The first was Patrick Meyer of Domaine Julien Meyer in Nothalten. This was a step back in time for me as Patrick is based just two doors away from a house where I stayed on holiday many years ago. Indeed it was around the same time as Patrick made his first natural wines in 1992, one of the pioneers. He has improved the soils of his vineyards growing plants and flowers which are rolled into the soil when they reach 30cm in height. The soils are fine, full of life and even smell fresh.

Patrick showed us around hos cellars and we tasted many excellent wines. Some were collaborations with vignerons from around the country including Axel Prufer in the Languedoc, very good they were too. However, it was when we tasted the 2016 Alsace wines in the cellar and older vintages from bottle that the wines reached another level. Varietal wines were excellent, the Crémants too. The jump to Grand Cru however, brought amazing results. Layers of flavour, texture and complexity in every bottle.

The real surprise came with bottles which Patrick had opened not just days before but 2-3 weeks before. They were still fresh, still full of life – amazing. Despite having few wines to sell Patrick kindly found some bottles for me, I shall cherish them.

We moved on to Rosheim to meet Julien Albertus who runs the vineyards and winery of Kumpf-Meyer. I met Julien at Les Affranchis in Montpellier and was keen to meet him again and taste the wines once more.

Julien has moved the domaine on to producing some natural wines alongside the organic wines. They are in their early days and will improve on coming years but they are already full of flavour and life. The Pinot Noir and Crémants were the stars but these are serious wines and Julien is a real talent, an example of the the next generation after Patrick taking up the mantle.

Patrick spoke to me about the difficulty for young winemakers buying vineyards due to the high price of land in Alsace, so it is difficult for that generation to come through. However, Julien and  Catherine Riss, also based in Nothalten, are showing that natural wines of real quality will be made for a long time to come. Patrick and Julien are certainly producers to seek out alongside Binner, Schueller etc.