Browse Tag

alsace

Seltz-er

[grapes]Albert Seltz 2001 Sylvaner “La colline aux Poiriers” “Vieilles Vignes” (Alsace) – Ripe pear and orange-cream popsicle, with a spiral, starchy palate that turns syrupy on the finish. A bit sulfurous, too. This is going nowhere interesting. (1/08)

Personnelle department

Trimbach 2001 Pinot Gris “Réserve Personnelle” (Alsace) – Piercing, crystalline pear through which has been thrust the sharpest imaginable diamond-tipped needle of acidity; this is like a rainshower of structured brilliance over a sea of fluffy, goopy pinot gris. That said, it’s not dry. This has to be one of the best Réserve Personnelles ever. (1/08)

Art Monk

Kreydenweiss 2002 Pinot Gris Mœnchberg “Le Moine” (Alsace) – Gorgeous, with metallic spiced pear lushness lashed by shattering acidity. There’s no lack of residual sugar, but nothing is out of balance. Intact, this has years of life ahead of it. (1/08)

White Willow

André Blanck 2004 Pinot Blanc Rosenburg (Alsace) – Gentle and somewhat timid, showing stone fruit and a little acidity, but not much in the way of a defining character or statement. Not that one should expect too much from pinot blanc, but still… (12/07)

Have you Hugged a Saint today?

[view]Hugg 2006 Riesling “Réserve Saint Jean” (Alsace) – If not dry, then very nearly so, with a straightforward filings-on-paper nose and a firm, slightly abrasive palate. All the elements are in balance, and it’s pleasant enough in the austere riesling sort of way, but it lacks distinguishing features. (12/07)

Johnnycakes

[label]Hugel 1997 Gewurztraminer “Hommage à Jean Hugel” (Alsace) – 375 ml. Very, very sweet, with a dark, quartz-like cylinder of metal surrounding…well, not a whole lot. The interior of the wine is wan and diffuse. Where’s the beef? Or, since it’s gewürztraminer, the pork? This wine promises a lot, but it just doesn’t deliver like it should. (12/07)

Friends, Romanus, countrymen

[barrel]Albrecht 2005 Pinot Gris “Cuvée Romanus” (Alsace) – Dense and heavily mineral-influenced, which turns the thick pear fruit smoky, perhaps even a bit musky. The balance isn’t bad for a pinot gris (that is to say: the acidity’s low, but not unforgivably so), but the wine makes up for it with strength of character. A little more complexity would improve things, but it’s hard to complain too much; this isn’t an overly aspirational wine, just a solid expression of the variety and the general terroir at a reasonable price. (12/07)

Huggy bear

[vineyard]Hugg 2006 Pinot Blanc (Alsace) – Pear and thin apricot, which are fine as far as they go. But why is this so sweet? Someone like Boxler gets away with this sort of residual sugar because their wines are so intense and laden with flavor. This, on the other hand, is a traditionally light-bodied pinot blanc, and the sugar just makes it taste insipid. (12/07)

Pretty in pork

[osterberg]After a post-rain evening stroll around St-Hippolyte, enjoying the views up the slope to Haut-Koenigsbourg, we arrive back at our gîte to find it full of Germans. Apparently, there’s a party downstairs in the caveau, and the courtyard is filled with Mercedes and BMWs. To judge by the noise, they certainly seem to be having a good time.

Léon Beyer 1993 Riesling Les Écaillers (Alsace) – From 375 ml, and a gift from the owner of our gîte, who apparently has quite a stock of them; he gave us another one the last time we stayed here. Unfortunately, this – like the last – has seen its day come and go. It’s quite faded, with oxidation and stale wax predominating. The acidity is vivid, and at the very heart of the wine there’s some nice apple skin and white plum, but it’s just too sour and old to be any good.

With a “light” dinner of bacon spätzle and veal (OK, OK, there’s a salad too…but it’s dressed with bacon fat), we need something a little better. Unfortunately, there’s no gewurztraminer at hand, and the closest thing I can find doesn’t really substitute very well. It’s fine on its own, but no match for the food.

…continued here.

Another Sipp

[vines]Sipp Mack 2004 Gewurztraminer “Vendanges Tardives” “Lucie Marie” (Alsace) – Lighter-styled, showing rose oil, cashew juice, and ripe peach. Moderately sweet, elegant, and smooth, this is the perfect style of VT to have (as the Alsatians do) pre-dinner, with foie gras, rather than afterwards as a decadent dessert. (3/06)