Maison Hugel et Fils boasts the region's oldest foudres, the traditional wooden aging vessels of Alsace, this one dating to 1866.

Hugel et Fils, located in the pretty tourist village of Riquewihr, was one of the largest producers we visited on our three months of tasting in Europe's vignoble. I admit to adding Hugel to our itinerary almost solely for historical reasons, as Hugel has persevered through wars, regional skirmishes and phylloxéra since 1639, and is now in its 12th generations of family ownership. Hugel has made some significant contributions to the way that Alsatian wines are sold, including the introduction of the late harvest categories of Vendage Tardive and Sélection de Grains Nobles.

I had forgotten just how excellent their dry wines can be, especially the Jubilee range which are produced only in top vintages and exclusively from Hugel's 25 ha. of vineyards in the Grand Crus of Schoenenbourg (Riesling), and Sporen (Pinot Gris and Gewurztraminer) and the lieu-dit of Pflostig (Pinot Noir only). Like Trimbach and Léon Beyer, Hugel has refused to use the names of the Grand Crus on their labels, but they seem to not shy away from telling visitors that their top wines are all from Grand Crus, including the spectacular south-facing vineyard site of Schoenenbourg that dominates tiny Riquewihr. Schoenenbourg was featured in the July/August 2008 issue of La Revue du Vin de France. Many thanks to Mathieu Chalas of Hugel for the link to the article

The lovely (and no nonsense) Séverine Schlumberger on a perfect November day in Guebwiller.

Séverine is the 7th generation of the Schlumberger family to have inherited the unique situation (by Alsatian standards) of nearly 120 ha to make up the Domaines Schlumberger. An astonishing 50 of those 120 ha. are found in the Grand Crus of Kitterlé, Saering, Kessler and Spiegel, some of which are still cultivated by horse(!) of the Comtois breed, which are particularly calm at working the high, steep slopes. These 120 ha. supply Schlumberger with their entire harvest and the Grand Cru parcels offer wines that are classic with excellent typicité for the level of production. Spigel, Kessler and Kitterlé have sandstone bedrock seem to favor Pinot Gris and Gewurztraminer while Saering is a classic Riesling site. The cellars here have recently been renovated and Séverine indicated that re-investment would continue despite the current credit crunch with a new bottling room and a refurbished bottling line.

Sax, faithful winery dog, a pro and accompanied us on our Schlumberger tour.

Kuentz-Bas in Husseren-les-Château.

I'd been selling the wines of Maison Kuentz-Bas since my days with Quail Distributing in Omaha so I decided it was time to pay a visit. This small biodynamic (the 2007 vintage will be certified by Ecocert) négociant is located 8 km south of Colmar in Husseren-les-Château. Kuentz-Bas lays claim to parts of the Grand Crus Pfersigberg (meaning vineyard peach) and Eichberg (meaning oak hill) and glancing through my tasting notes, the Eichberg Gewurztraminer and Pfersigberg Riesling were by far my favorite wines.