Domaine Albert Boxler

2023 Alsace AOC Pinot Blanc

This Pinot Blanc opens on a saline, coastal register: lemon rides over oyster shell, with hints of smoke and gunmetal adding a mineral-tinged steeliness, while a thread of jasmine lends lift. On the palate the wine shows beautiful weight, a wash of jasmine and a hint of lees draped over an otherwise baked-lemon profile, coasting toward a satisfyingly salty finish. A wonderful example of the strange Alsatian style of Pinot Blanc—that is, cut with Auxerrois!—giving a surprising weight on the palate. That’s helped by the unexpectedly high body, a testament to the farming here, and the seriousness with which the Boxlers treat every variety they tend. And the finish … the finish just sings. It’s almost like a very beautiful apple juice but if it had a higher top-note of verbena and iced tea. For food pairings, think briny and classic: raw oysters, mussels marinière, or bacalao will play right into its hands.
France
White
Biodynamic Wine
Vegan

Region:  Niedermorschwihr, Alsace

Appellation:  Alsace AOC

Varietal/Blend:  Pinot Blanc, Auxerrois

ABV:  14.0%

Vineyard & Vine Age: Organic estate vineyards (certified for over twenty years). Precision-farmed entirely by hand. Vines as old as eighty years, only replanted (with selection massale) on an individual basis as needed. Boxler always harvests when the fruit reaches its own natural maturity (resisting the trend to pick earlier to guarantee fully dry ferments) and may therefore contain some degree of residual sugar in the final wine, depending on the vintage. No fertilizing, ever.

Cellar: Hand sorted fruit goes into one of three pneumatic presses for an obsessively careful pressing that can last from four to twelve hours, fractioning out various pressures to blend back in or omit from each wine according to its needs. The juice is then patiently cold-settled before being racked (gravity-fed) into old French oak foudres (never into new oak, Boxler's foudres range from five years of age to over a century old). Fermentation occurs naturally with indigenous yeasts. As a rule, the wines remain on their lees unless at some point in the span of ageing they begin to taste reductive, at which time they'll rack the wine off the lees and return it to the foudre to finish its élevage. The wine is bottled after 11 months in foudre with a small SO2 addition to ensure purity. The wines are never fined and receive a very light filtration only when necessary to guarantee quality.

(NB: The identical ageing regimen and vessel size is used for every Boxler wine to provide more objective comparisons between each vintage and terroir, vertically and horizontally. The only exception is that the Gewurztraminers, Vendanges Tardives, and SGN's age in stainless steel as opposed to oak).

CSPC:  128372

Winemakers Note:  []

What the Critics are saying:  []

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Domaine Albert Boxler
2023 Alsace AOC Pinot Blanc

Region:  Niedermorschwihr, Alsace

Appellation:  Alsace AOC

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France
White
Biodynamic Wine
Vegan
This Pinot Blanc opens on a saline, coastal register: lemon rides over oyster shell, with hints of smoke and gunmetal adding a mineral-tinged steeliness, while a thread of jasmine lends lift. On the palate the wine shows beautiful weight, a wash of jasmine and a hint of lees draped over an otherwise baked-lemon profile, coasting toward a satisfyingly salty finish. A wonderful example of the strange Alsatian style of Pinot Blanc—that is, cut with Auxerrois!—giving a surprising weight on the palate. That’s helped by the unexpectedly high body, a testament to the farming here, and the seriousness with which the Boxlers treat every variety they tend. And the finish … the finish just sings. It’s almost like a very beautiful apple juice but if it had a higher top-note of verbena and iced tea. For food pairings, think briny and classic: raw oysters, mussels marinière, or bacalao will play right into its hands.

TECHNICAL INFO

Varietal/Blend:  Pinot Blanc, Auxerrois

ABV:  14.0%

Vineyard:  Organic estate vineyards (certified for over twenty years). Precision-farmed entirely by hand. Vines as old as eighty years, only replanted (with selection massale) on an individual basis as needed. Boxler always harvests when the fruit reaches its own natural maturity (resisting the trend to pick earlier to guarantee fully dry ferments) and may therefore contain some degree of residual sugar in the final wine, depending on the vintage. No fertilizing, ever.

Cellar: Hand sorted fruit goes into one of three pneumatic presses for an obsessively careful pressing that can last from four to twelve hours, fractioning out various pressures to blend back in or omit from each wine according to its needs. The juice is then patiently cold-settled before being racked (gravity-fed) into old French oak foudres (never into new oak, Boxler's foudres range from five years of age to over a century old). Fermentation occurs naturally with indigenous yeasts. As a rule, the wines remain on their lees unless at some point in the span of ageing they begin to taste reductive, at which time they'll rack the wine off the lees and return it to the foudre to finish its élevage. The wine is bottled after 11 months in foudre with a small SO2 addition to ensure purity. The wines are never fined and receive a very light filtration only when necessary to guarantee quality.

(NB: The identical ageing regimen and vessel size is used for every Boxler wine to provide more objective comparisons between each vintage and terroir, vertically and horizontally. The only exception is that the Gewurztraminers, Vendanges Tardives, and SGN's age in stainless steel as opposed to oak).

CSPC:  128372

Winemakers Note: []

What the Critics are saying: []

Giovanni Autuori
Calgary + Alberta South

T: 403-971-1898

E: giovanni@vinoalvino.ca

Joe Gurba
Edmonton + Alberta North

T: 780-203-5284

E: joeg@vinoalvino.ca

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TECHNICAL INFO

Country:  France

Region:  Niedermorschwihr, Alsace

Appellation:  Alsace AOC

Climate: 

Altitude: 

Soils: 

Varietal/Blend:  Pinot Blanc, Auxerrois

Fermentation:  Spontaneous fermentation with native yeasts in old oak puncheons.

Ageing: 

Vineyard & Vine Age:  Bull Swamp and Manilla vineyards in Baw Baw Shire. The vines were planted in 1961 and and 1964 respectively.

ABV:  14.0%

Produced Cases:  50

CSPC:  128372

Calgary + Alberta South

Andrew Stewart

403-604-0408

andrew@vinoalvino.ca

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Edmonton + Alberta North

Joe Gurba

780-203-5284

joe@vinoalvino.ca

Saskatoon + Saskatchewan South

Kerrie Gavin

306-290-0277

kerrie@vinoalvino.ca