Domaine Albert Boxler: Alsatian classicism

14 Jun 2016

Sommerberg in Niedermorschwihr

Boxler, plot by plot

And the code is in the letters...

Nobody could accuse Jean Boxler of neglecting his vineyards. The Sommerberg hillside where he has some of his finest plots ends in his back garden, and that's the way he likes it; Jean is a hands-on winemaker. And he is a passionate believer in site, not just his own little patch of Alsace, not just the grand cru vineyards where his finest wines come from, but individual parcels within those vineyards. An Alsatian grand cru vineyard can be a large and diverse thing, and Jean micro-vinifies the best parcels individually. When quality merits, he will also bottle them separately; appellation labelling restrictions don't allow the naming of these parcels, but Jean uses letters on his labels to indicate them. So for instance, Sommerberg D means the Duttenstein lieu dit in the Sommerberg grand cru, while Brand K is not breakfast cereal but the Kirchberg lieu dit inside the Brand grand cru.

The village of Niedermorschwihr where the domaine is based is a dramatic setting, buried in rural Alsace, with the Rhine and the German border 20 kilometers away. The Boxlers have been making wine here since 1673, though only bottling under their own label since the end of the Second World War when Jean's grandfather returned from a stay in the United States bursting with ambition. Since then, the domaine has grown to be one of the most respected in the region.

Jean comes across as quiet, patient, even self-effacing, but he is utterly dedicated to his winemaking. Where our other favourite Alsace producer Olivier Humbrecht at Zind-Humbrecht makes wines that are exuberant, idiosyncratic, and original, the wines of Boxler are pure, linear, very classical expressions of their Alsatian terroir - a perfect counterpoint. /NT

Offered subject to remaining unsold; available late July