Alsace

Alsace is the odd one out in French wine: it labels by grape, not by place, and it makes some of the most unapologetically aromatic white wine in the country.

Sitting in the rain shadow of the Vosges mountains, on the German border, the region has passed between French and German control four times since 1871 — and its wines carry both influences. Tall, slender bottles like Germany's; bone-dry, food-driven styles more like France's east.

Four grapes matter most: Riesling for precision and age-worthiness, Gewurztraminer for perfume, Pinot Gris for weight, Muscat for pure aromatic lift. Since 1975, the best sites have carried Grand Cru status — 51 named hillsides, each required by law to name its grape on the label, the reverse of how Burgundy or Bordeaux do things.

The steep, terraced slopes above villages like Turckheim and Ribeauville are some of the most dramatic vineyard land in France, and a handful of those Grand Cru hillsides — sites like Brand — have been singled out for quality since the Middle Ages.