Auxerrois Blanc

Auxerrois is an Alsace white with a name that causes constant confusion, because Cahors calls Malbec by the same word. They are unrelated. The white Auxerrois is a full sibling of Chardonnay: both come from a crossing of Pinot and Gouais blanc, which makes it one of a large family of Burgundian varieties born of the same pairing.

In Alsace it is rarely named on the bottle. It is almost always blended into wine labelled Pinot blanc or Edelzwicker, and it is legally allowed to be, so a great deal of what people drink as Alsace Pinot blanc is partly or mostly this grape. It is also grown in Luxembourg, in Germany and in the Niagara peninsula in Canada.

The reason it is blended is that it complements Pinot blanc precisely. Auxerrois is lower in acidity, riper and fuller, with a soft texture and a note of pear and honeysuckle, sometimes slightly spicy. Pinot blanc is fresher and more neutral. Alone, Auxerrois can be broad and flat in a warm year, so the blend is a genuine improvement rather than a way of hiding it.