2012 Adelsheim Auxerrois

Even though we are too tired to cook a proper meal at the end of the day, we still have enough energy to drink some wine! Last night, we had a 2012 Adelsheim Auxerrois. A glass of white wine of an unpronounceable variety poured by James Morrison was my introduction to Auxerrois. We learned that James had poured me a glass of Clos des Rochers, a wine made in Luxembourg. We have enjoyed many bottles of the Clos des Rochers, enough that we have planted 945 Auxerrois in our vineyard. In reading the back label of the 2012 Adelsheim Auxerrois, I learned two things: (1) that you pronounce Auxerrois "oak-sair-wah" and (2) that Adelsheim helped to bring the grape to the United States from Alsace in 1977.

The third bit of information on the label was that Auxerrois is a cross between Pinot noir and Gouais blanc. This was something that I knew from reading an article on DNA typing done by U.C. Davis Professor Emeritus Carole Meredith. There are few growers of Auxerrois in the United States, besides Adelsheim the only other vineyard that we know of is Bel Lago in Michigan. Auxerrois does very well in cool climates so we are hoping that this variety will thrive in our vineyard.