Highest appellation in the French wine-growing region of Alsace, which is one class above the normal AOC Alsace. The designation is "Alsace Grand Cru" followed by an indication of the site on the label. Although it was enacted as early as 1975, the first list of then 25 sites was not published until 1983. In 1992, a new regulation came into force, at that time 50 sites in 47 communes were classified. The size varies considerably, ranging from 3.2 at the Kanzlerberg to 80 hectares at the Schlossberg. An important prerequisite for the classification was, or is, above all the geological uniformity within a site. Since this does not apply to Kaefferkopf, probably the most famous vineyard in Alsace, it was only taken into account from the 2007 vintage onwards after decades of discussion.
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Serious sources on the internet are rare - and Wine lexicon from wein.plus is one such source. When researching for my articles, I regularly consult the wein.plus encyclopaedia. There I get reliable and detailed information.
Thomas Götz
Weinberater, Weinblogger und Journalist; Schwendi