However famous the chef and restaurant are, or the striker and their football team, making things work seamlessly is almost always a team effort. As well as the famous names such as Riesling, Gewurztraminer, or Pinot Gris in Alsace, there are a number of other grapes that help to support the wineries and restaurants of Alsace, playing minor, but also important roles in keeping the traditions in the kitchens, cellars and vineyards alive.
Grape growers in Alsace have been tending to vines on these slopes for many hundreds of years, and while consumer tastes, technologies and even the climate may change, this variety continues to this day. This has been incorporated into the rules and traditions of the Appellation d’Origine Protégée of Alsace to allow a range of grapes to be grown, but specifying certain production details to give consumers a high degree of confidence in the final product.
Here are some of the other varieties grown, or names of permitted blends, that can be found in Alsace.