Paul Kubler Panetier Blanc 2023

"Les Panetiers" — the bread-makers — nods to the early 1900s, when the Kubler family were bakers as well as winemakers. It is 90% Pinot Auxerrois with 10% Pinot Gris, hand-harvested, whole-cluster pressed for five hours, then fermented and aged on lees in old oak foudres. Pear, apple and white flowers ride over the toasty, brioche note the name promises, with the crispness of the variety and a delicate mineral line beneath. Bottled as Vin de France, but Alsace to its core.

The Kublers are in Soultzmatt, in the Vallée Noble, a side valley of the Haut-Rhin against the Vosges. The Petit Ballon peak is six kilometres away, so warm days and cold nights swing hard, ripening the fruit while holding its acid. The vines root in pink Triassic sandstone and Jurassic limestone, weathered into sandy alluvium, sandstone and limestone soils.

Jean Kubler arrived from Switzerland in 1620. For three centuries the family baked bread and grew grapes side by side, until the 1930s. Philippe came back in 2002 after Beaune, Colin-Deleger in Chassagne-Montrachet, Denis Dubourdieu in Bordeaux and a spell at Cloudy Bay. He plants dense, 5,000 to 7,500 vines a hectare, and crops 40 to 55 hectolitres.

Serve it cool with the food the house suggests. Asparagus, a vegetable tart, mussels, quiche or a creamy cheese. Philippe wants wines that murmur rather than shout, and this is one.