A deceptively simple and crisp pinot blanc

Alsace is a picturesque region on France’s eastern border whose wines reflect both French and German cultural influences in ways that can be rather confusing for American wine drinkers. This wine, for example, looks German due to its bottle and may scare off potential customers who associate this tall fluted shape with lightly sweet German rieslings. However, once it’s in the glass, this Alsace pinot blanc tastes decidedly dry and distinctively French.

One reason why the territory once known as the Elsass region of Germany and now known as the Alsace region of France has long been contested between the two nations is that it is a virtual Garden of Eden for fruit growers and makes truly exceptional white wines. This narrow strip of land along the western bank of the Rhine river falls under the rain shadow of the Vosges mountains, which creates unusually warm and dry growing conditions for the region’s northerly latitude. With gentle slopes that face the rising sun, the vineyards of Alsace produce grapes that consistently achieve a pleasing balance of ripe, orchard fruit flavors and refreshing acidity.

Alsace is most famous for its rieslings and gewurztraminers, but the region’s most planted grape is pinot blanc, a green-skinned relation of pinot noir and pinot gris. The Trimbach family of wine growers, now in its 13th generation, makes some of the finest wines of Alsace with a tireless dedication to vinifying their wines to complete dryness, where all grape sugar is converted into alcohol during fermentation. This pinot blanc is their most affordable offering and deceptively simple. Inviting scents of yellow apples and white peaches lead into an understated and elegant wine of brisk refreshment with a long and cleansing finish that is marvelous with shellfish. If you hadn’t seen its graceful German-style bottle, you might think you’re drinking a pricier white Burgundy.

Trimbach Pinot Blanc

Alsace, France

$17.79 13% alcohol

PLCB Item #82389

Sale price through June 30 - regularly $20.79

Also available at this N.J. locations:

Joe Canal’s in Lawrenceville, $18.99, lawrenceville.jcanals.com; Canal’s Bottlestop in Marlton, $18.96, canalswine.com; and WineWorks in Marlton, $19.98, wineworksonline.com.