Wine & Spirits - August 2020 - 41

YEAR'S BEST ALSACE WINES
89 | Dom. Schlumberger

glow of youth, a voluptuous riesling to enjoy
now, and structured to age for a decade or
more. § Vintage '59 Imports, Washington, DC
277768

$18

2018 Alsace Les Princes Abbés Gewurztraminer (Best Buy) ^ Soft and ripe, with
perfumed notes of mint and herbs, this is a
mildly sweet and gently tannic white to serve
with pork loin roasted with apples. § Maisons
Marques & Domaines USA, Oakland, CA

94 | Trimbach

PINOT BL ANC
277679

87 | Willm

$15

2018 Alsace Réserve Pinot Blanc (Best
Buy) ^ A gentle, floral aperitif wine, this is
clean and fresh, with a touch of banana to
the scent. Serve it chilled. § Monsieur Touton
Selection, NY

PINOT GRIS
277621

95 | Domaine
Zind-Humbrecht

$44

2017 Alsace Roche Roulée Pinot Gris ^ This
wine's silken concentration and grace make it
compellingly delicious. After our panel tasting, I gave the half-empty bottle to a friend
who responded back with a question: "Why,
if I don't like rich chardonnay, do I like this
so much?" I could tell him it was the frost of
2017 concentrating the yields on the vines, a
natural enrichment of this wine grown in the
gravelly valley-floor sites Olivier Humbrecht
farms in Turckheim. Or that Humbrecht's
farming-certified organic since 1998 and
biodynamic since 2002-focuses the vigneron's scientific mind and his Master of Wine
perspective on an intuitive understanding of
his vineyards. Or maybe it's just that this particular mode of creaminess is built differently
than the sort my friend finds in the wines he
dislikes. Here, the plump white-peach sweetness is powered by the drive of the savory
pinot-gris tannins. That combination lasts
with a freshness I remembered a day after
tasting it, making me want the bottle back. §
Kobrand, Purchase, NY
277769

94 | Trimbach

$47

2014 Alsace Réserve Personnelle Pinot
Gris ^ At six years of age, this wine's stamina
is apparent from its initial fresh scents of
ripening pear straight through to the Meyer
lemon acidity in the end. It's as compellingly
delicious as raw honey, without the sweetness
but with the same cool feel of the captured
sun. This is a selection of the Trimbach family's top pinot gris parcels, including fruit
from the Osterberg grand cru. Its vibrant
richness could match a duck-liver terrine, or
apples and Comté. § Taub Family Selections,
Boca Raton, FL

277767

93 | Trimbach

$33

88 | Dom. Schlumberger

$23

88 | Wolfberger

$22

2016 Alsace Réserve Pinot Gris ^ This
wine's fresh-cut apple flavors have precision, its brisk clarity and purity building
toward delicious richness, with a lanolinlike creamy note that brings to mind aged
sheep's cheeses, like Ossau-Iraty. A beautiful
and vibrant expression of pinot gris. § Taub
Family Selections, Boca Raton, FL
277635
2018 Alsace Les Princes Abbés Pinot Gris
(Best Buy) ^ With its apple richness and gentle
toasty flavors, this pinot gris ends clean and
lightly sweet. It's silken and a little green, a
white for a leek-and-bacon quiche. § Maisons
Marques & Domaines USA, Oakland, CA
277628
2018 Alsace Pinot Gris (Best Buy) ^ This
wine's broad and luscious golden-apple flavors are almost cloyingly rich, its Creamsicle
smoothness kept in line by crisp apple acidity. Chill it for chicken pot pie. § Kysela Père et
Fils, Winchester, VA

RIESLING
277803

94 | Mélanie Pfister

$65

2016 Alsace Grand Cru Engelberg Riesling ^ Domaine Pfister is based in Dahlenheim, west of Strasbourg, in the northern
Bas Rhin of Alsace. Mélanie Pfister took over
the domaine in 2006 and, as of last year, her
family added her name to the labels. While
her father had farmed without chemicals and
without tilling, he has lately been working
with her to gain organic certification for the
domaine, including the two acres they farm
at Engelberg, near the limestone quarry in
the middle of the grand cru. Pfister allows
this riesling to ferment spontaneously, then
ages it in tank, allowing the fruit depth to
show unencumbered. What at first feels cool
and hay-like turns toward brisk yellow apple
and a lasting richness of toasted pineapple,
the wine crackling with acidity that keeps
driving that length of fruit. This still has the

$400

2014 Alsace Clos Sainte Hune Riesling ^
This is Pierre Trimbach's 35th vintage of Clos
Sainte Hune, which he now makes with his
nephew, Jean. Located within the Rosacker
grand cru in Hunawihr, the Clos is the family's most prized vineyard site, 4.12 acres of
vines, the oldest planted in 1951, growing
in muschelkalk, a fossil-flecked limestone.
Protected by the height of the Vosges mountains and by the stone wall that surrounds the
vines and helps trap the warmth of the sun,
riesling thrives in this site. The 2014 vintage,
from a relatively cool ripening season, has
enough acidity and mineral power to catch
in the back of your throat, and yet the wine
is saturated and elegant, making that tickle
a signal to sit up and take notice. What's
remarkable about this riesling is the precision of its flavors and structure, sustained
in the midst of its bold intensity. The chalk,
lemon pith and white cranberry purity of
that flavor is youthfully reticent, delivering
hints of what this will become with age. § Taub
Family Selections, Boca Raton, FL
272717

94 | Domaine Weinbach

$65

94 | Domaine
	Zind-Humbrecht

$108

2017 Alsace Cuvée Ste-Catherine Grand
Cru Schlossberg ^ The Faller family's winery
is based in the Schlossberg grand cru, and
their domaine includes a parcel of old-vine
riesling in the middle of the slope, which they
have farmed under biodynamics since 2005,
their wines now Demeter certified. That
parcel provides the Cuvée Ste-Catherine, a
wine that Tasting Coordinator Corey Warren
praised for "the deep complexity and nuance
in its fruit," describing the wine's intensity of
lemon flavor, from the juicy pulp to the pith
and peel. It's as powerfully fragrant as it is
searingly acidic, bright and juicy enough to
fully incorporate that acidity into a beeline
of flavor. You could drink it now with salty
cured ham, or 20 years from now as a wine to
contemplate. (W&S 10/19) § Vineyard Brands,
Birmingham, AL
277619
2017 Alsace Grand Cru Rangen de Thann
Clos Saint Urbain Riesling ^ The altitude
at Rangen de Thann, rising to 1,575 feet,
delays budbreak, while the steep volcanic
slope provides air drainage, both of which
protected this vineyard from the frosts of
2017. The 55-year-old vines at this southernmost vineyard in Alsace provide one of
WINE & SPIRITS

AUGUST 2020

41
https://www.taubfamilyselections.com/producers/trimbach/-reserve-pinot-gris
Wine & Spirits - August 2020

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