Wine Review: Domaine Geschickt Pino Alsace 2017

Let me tell you something about apple pie: The perfect apple pie is just on the cooked side of raw in the middle. I’ll explain. Apple pie is supposed to taste like apples. Texturally, of course, you want a soft bordering on mushy oral experience as it were, but the taste (in wine speak the fruit condition) should be fresh off the tree tart and bright with that leafy, waxy, honey apple skin taste just barely lingering. Sadly, this is nigh impossible to do while also achieving a cooked apple texture.

That’s why, when you read apple pie recipes, something you could guess I do often, chefs and bakers spend a lot of time talking about which apple variety to choose. I am a firm believer in Granny Smith with a single Pink Lady mixed in. But that’s beside the point, I’m supposed to be here writing about wine, not apple pies. The reason that Granny Smith is my, and many peoples, apple pie apple of choice is because Granny Smiths have enough acidity to cut through the butter and the fat and the starches of a pie crust, even after having been stewed in their own juices for an hour.

This wine is the best apple pie I have ever tasted. On the nose, there is lemon, honey, and ginger, but persisting is a wonderful blend of Granny Smith apple and yeast. If you’ve ever had a good champagne, you know what I’m talking about. If you haven’t, stop reading and go buy some good champagne; this wine too while you’re at it.

It is that bread-y, yeasty, bordering on floral(-y) smell that is really only authentically smelled if your stick your nose in a jar of fresh sourdough starter—Scratch what I said earlier about champagne. Go buy a good bottle of champagne, this wine, and find a sourdough starter to stick your nose in, 4 hours after feeding preferred. (I’ll just collate a grocery list at the end).

Anyways, back to the wine: On the palate, there is a bordering on startling, lively mouthfeel (I’ll admit I did jump in my seat a little), but that high acidity never becomes overwhelming. It stays at this wonderful edge of your seat, open your eyes a little wider punchiness. The reason it stays on this side of battery acid is due to a combination of 18 months in neutral oak barrels during vinification and its crispy, saline finish. Think Alsace Albariño. Best of all, if you peek at the bottom of your glass there may be a few very tiny bubbles. There were in mine. Never forget: this is natural wine people! A little funk is welcomed.

Though perfect to drink on its own, this wine would pair spectacularly with sourdough toast (are you catching a theme) spread with a soft goat cheese and topped with sautéed mushrooms and thyme, if you aren’t a fan of goat cheese I would sub in a classic French triple creme. If you want to take it up a notch, pan fry your sourdough toast before you sauté your mushrooms, you’ll thank me.

About the wine:

Domaine Geschickt Pino Alsace 2017 $33 at Book + Bottle

Region: Alsace

Grape: Pinot Blanc, Pinot Gris, Auxerrois, Pinot Noir

Vineyard Size: 12 hectares

Soil: alluvial, clay, granite, limestone

Farming: organic, biodynamic

Harvest: by hand

Winemaking: spontaneous fermentation in old barrels with indigenous yeasts

Aging: in old oak barrels

Fining: none

Filtration: none

Added S02: 24 mg/L

Musical Accompaniment: Grass Stains, Laura Elliott; Dog Inside a Car, Fell Runner

Grocery List:

• Good Champagne (to really get that yeast-y, lemon-y note I’m talking about try for a Blanc-de-Blanc, but if you ask your local wine store *wink* for a good, yeasty champagne, they won’t disappoint)

• Domaine Gesickt Vin d-Alsace Pino, duh

• Sourdough Starter, 4 hours after a feeding (you have to know at least one friend in 2021 to who kept theirs alive, right?)

• Sourdough Bread (thank god for that one friend)

• Goat cheese (or triple creme)

• Mushrooms (Melissa Clarke, author of Dinner in French recommends a combination of shiitakes, oyster mushrooms, hen-of-the-woods, and crimini)

n.b., check back next week when I make a recipe out of the aforementioned cookbook Dinner in French by Melissa Clark, because I just picked it up and WOW