“People discover wine in many different ways; touring a wine region, attending a trade tasting, at a restaurant or retailer.  My recent nirvana moment was discovered while frequenting one of my favorite wine bars, Terroir, where I was offered a 2001 Auxerrois from Rolly Gassmann of Alsace.

 ”I was skeptical at first not because of the wine maker – Rolly Gassmann is one of the stars of Alsace – but because of the vintage, and because the varietal is a sleeper grape that most people don’t pay attention to.  I was immediately converted by this white though.  It had a rich, unctuous texture and aromas of violet and dried rose petal.  It was not only complex and still going strong after 8 years, but showed the potential to mature well into the next decade.

“The moral of this story is that it is often worth taking a bit of a risk on wines from a lesser known region or varietal, especially one made by the hands of a 5-star producer.”

  Rolly Gassmann’s 2001 Auxerrois retails for about $27 a bottle, and can be found using Wine-Searcher.  Michael Green has worked in the wine trade for over 20 years, and most recently began hosting WINE DOWN in New York City.