It is a cliché and important that Alsace has changed hands so often, its identity is now both German and French. The region's wines reflect that diversity with most grapes coming from the East - Riesling, Sylvaner, Muscat and Gewurztraminer; the remaining contributed by Burgundy - Pinot Noir, and two mutations thereof, Pinots Blanc and Gris.

Overall the region is blighted by generous yields and some winemaking by numbers, but in Zind-Humbrecht and Gassmann we have the polar opposite of that approach.