Browse Tag

alsace

Gresser drawer

Gresser 2002 Pinot Gris Brandhof “Vieilles Vignes” (Alsace) – Showing red-fruited (which pinot gris can often do), with strawberry and a blend of red, Rainier, and maraschino cherries, plus peach and tangerine. The fruit is fresh and vivid, and the wine is supported by a solid foundation of granite and marble. A medium-length, almost feathery finish brings out hints of fennel frond. This is a nice wine with good aging potential, but I suspect more could be wrested from these grapes. (3/06)

Transformation

[vines]Lorentz 2000 Riesling Kanzlerberg (Alsace) – From 375 ml. Assertive at first, but then strangely reticent as it airs, as if it’s shutting down hard (which is likely). Moderately mineral-driven, soft and floral, with a thin layer of fat. It’s long enough, and given the producer and the site I’m inclined toward the benefit of the doubt here; certainly, there’s little point in opening a bottle if it’s like this. (3/06)

White broth

[logo]Metté Bouillon Blanc Eau-de-Vie (Alsace) – Also known as fleur de molène, this is (if my investigations are correct) what’s known in English as mullein (Verbascum thapsus). It’s light, but quite floral and vividly spicy, yet a profound elegance remains throughout. It’s almost “pretty,” if one can call a 45-degree spirit that. (3/06)

Aspirin

[eguisheim]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. (3/06)

Take this wine and Schoffit

Schoffit 2004 Gewurztraminer Harth “Cuvée Caroline” (Alsace) – Quite sweet, and though there’s a dark black coal-like core of minerality, the sweetness overwhelms and overpowers this gewurztraminer, partially due to the lack of balancing acidity. The wine is full of flavor – Turkish delight, ripe peach, ginger – but, again, that flavor is subordinate to the wine’s sticky weight. Over the last ten years or so, Schoffit has shown a very disturbing but unquestionably increasing affection for this sort of product, and it has lessened the wines (though it has undoubtedly made them more popular among those who think wine’s best destiny is syrup). (12/07)

Sparr quality

[label]Sparr 2004 Alsace “One” (Alsace) – Good, basic Alsace spice, with pear and decent enough acidity for the mild sweetness. As reliable a party wine as you’ll ever find. (11/07)

Seigneurs moment

Trimbach 1996 Gewurztraminer “Cuvée des Seigneurs de Ribeaupierre” (Alsace) – Heat-damaged. A shame, as the remnants are dense and intensely-flavored. (11/07)

Wurz on paper

Trimbach 2001 Gewurztraminer (Alsace) – Thinning a bit, but none the worse for it, with a more linear spice route leaving bare a firm minerality underneath. Balanced and true. (11/07)

Rolly Gassmann 2003 Muscat d’Alsace Moenchreben de Rorschwihr “Sélection de Grains Nobles” (Alsace) – The rarest of all Alsatian wine styles. Succulent mixed flowers and perfume. Absolutely huge…and, yet, not, with the sweetness coming on softly, rather than assaulting with balled fists. There’s a balance and purity to this wine that’s almost shocking considering the grapes from which it’s made. The finish is rather endless, though why anyone would want this taste out of their mouth in the first place is beyond me. (10/07)