Unlike other French wine producing regions the wines of Alsace are named by grape variety - so learning about them is easy after wrestling with the intricacies of the other regions. Alsace is white wine country. Unlike their German counterparts next door, they are usually very dry. They are very aromatic and, fortunately for us lesser mortals, reasonably priced. You need to know three basic things - the varietals, the hierarchy of wines and the good producers.

With an exception here or there, most Alsatian wines are entirely made up of the varietal in question. The popular grapes here are Riesling, Gewurztraminer, Pinot Gris and Muscat. Occasionally a Pinot Noir or a Silvaner may crop up as well. Dry Alsatian wines are either Grand Cru or not. To be a grand cru, the wine must be either Riesling, Gewurztraminer, Pinot Gris or Muscat, or must come from one of fifty odd grand cru vineyards. If it is not, it'll not be called any cru, just Appellation Alsace Controlee.

Map of the Alsace region

The other two categories are rare but you may run into them now and then. In special years when the weather is right, the producers may release a special wine called Vendange Tardive (literally late harvest and pronounced van-dahzhe tahr-deev). To be so designated the wine has to be of one of the four varieties mentioned above, should be harvested in the same year and the grape should have a certain level of sugar content.

The other category is called Selection de Grains Nobles (pronounced say-leck-sayoh dey grah nobl). This designation is given to those wines with a very high sugar level and hence which are very sweet.
The big names among producers are Zind-Humbrecht, Hugel et Fils, Josmeyer, Domaine Schlumberger and Domaine Trimbach.

Think of the hierarchy of wine-growing geography in this fashion. At the top are regions - which are areas in France - Bordeaux, Champagne, Burgundy, Rhone Valley, Loire valley and Languedoc-Rousillion. Each region is further divided into districts. A district could further be divided into communes-which are communities that grow wine. Within each commune are Chateaux, vineyards, clos or properties.