Alsace: Joseph Cattin Gentil

Alsace is unique among the French wine regions due to its German influences, which play an equal role in sculpting the area's language, traditions - and even its wines. Many of its slopes face east, benefiting from plenty of sunlight, as well as a very special variety of 'terroir' made up of granite, limestone, clay, loam, and volcanic soils. Alsace shares the River Rhine with Germany as a common border. Its summers are hot and sunny, and it is the driest region in France after Roussillon in the south.