Alsace

Wines of Alsace - the cream of the crop

Just behind the German border, from Strasbourg in the north down to Thann in the south, lies Alsace. Here, where wine growing was already practised in pre-Roman times, monastic orders created a centre of viticulture that was unparalleled in Europe until the 16th century. Even then, the winegrowers in Alsace recognised that the key to the success of an entire region lays in binding rules for all winegrowers, as laid down centuries later by the "Appellation d'Origine Contrôlée" (A.O.C.).