Pierre Sparr Schoenenbourg Grand Cru Riesling 2021

The Sparr family has been working Alsace since 1680, and Pierre himself took the reins at twenty and became one of the region's early champions of estate bottling, a conviction that the place should be named on the label. The 2021 Riesling opens on lemon peel, apple and licorice with a flick of flint, then turns tropical with papaya and pineapple as it sits in the glass. Minerality does the structural work here, framed by a lemony acid and a racy, dynamic body. This is Alsace with nothing sweet-talking you into liking it.