Tried these three Alsatian wines over the weekend:
BottFreres GWT CuveeExceptional AC: Alsace (12%) Ribeauville 1988: Deep golden color w/ no browning; beautiful spicy/cinammon/nutmeg slight smokey/VixVaporRub/wintergreen some quiet/GET/lychee quite perfumed/complex bit herbal/pungent beautiful/Alsace GWT nose; slightly bitter/tangy spicy/cinammon/nutmeg/lychee/GWT gentle/subtle/smooth quite complex/mature GWT flavor; very long slightly bitter spicy/cinammon/nutmeg rather lychee/GWT complex finish; a lovely example of a fully mature Alsatian GWT; a subtle/quiet GWT. $10.40
Dom.Zind-Humbrecht GWT AGC: Hengst/Wintzenheim (MaD; 13.5%) Leonard et Olivier Humbrecht/Wintzenheim 1988: Deep golden color; light hair oil/lychee/GWT/ripe bit grapey slight earthy nose w/ a bit of complexity; soft/lush/fat very light/GWT/lychee very glycerined bit alcoholic/overripe rather simple/grapey slightly bitter flavor; med.short very light lychee/GWT simple/grapey lush/fat/glycerined finish; not nearly the complexity or GWT varietal character of the Bott; still a very alive wine but on the boring side. $22.39
Dom.Zind-humbrecht GWT Reserve (MaD; 13%) LeonardHumbrecht/Wintzenheim 1988: Med.dark gold color; lovely/fragrant strong lychee/GWT/slight hair oil bit spicy/cinammon/nutmeg slight smokey/valve oil rather complex nose; soft quite rich/lush/glycerined some lychee/GWT some spicy/nutmeg/cinammon bit complex/old GWT somewhat fat/soft flavor; very long some lychee/GWT slight hair oil ripe/lush/fat bit cinammon/nutmeg/old GWT bit complex finish; a lovely fully mature GWT & much more interesting than the Hengst but not up to the Bott.
$11.30 (A)
A another tedious BloodyPulpit:
This is a rant I’ve delivered any number of times over the last 10-15 yrs. It deserves repeating.
I fell in love w/ Alsatian GWT/Riesling back in the early '70’s, at the urging of PhilReich & ReneRondeau at LiquorMart in Boulder. The wines were tart/refreshing/good-drinking/cheap and went very well w/ my favorite weiners & kraut dish. Did I mention they were not very expensive?? Names like Trimbach/Hugel/BottFreres/A.Willm were always on my table. The Wilm ClosGaensbroennel '59 that I bought in KansasCity (at an astronomical price of $16/btl) around '70 opened my eyes to the glories of old Alsatian GWT. In the mid-late '70’s, my group bought 20-25 cases of the BottFreres GWT & Riesling, both the CuveeExceptional and ReservePersonalle of the '76 vintage. Around '73, we bought some 40 cs of the Dopff “AuMoulin” SchoenebergRiesling and EichbergGWT GrandCrus '71 at a stupid/silly price of about $3.99/btl. Those wines were still alive last time I had one of them some 10 yrs ago or so.
But then things started to change. In the early '80’s, Zind-Humbrecht upped the ante in Alsace. They started harvesting later, lower acids, higher alcohols/greater ripeness/higher extract/ often some RS. OliverHumbrecht was annointed the World’s “greatest genius” winemaker, and they started getting huge scores out of Monktown. The prices jumped an order of magnitude in those 10 yrs. The wines were dazzling & amazing and left you shaking your head in what Z-H had wrought. Alas, they did not go very well w/ my weenies&kraut anymore. Alas, more & more Alsatian winemakers, noting the success out of Monktown for the Z-H wines, started making wines more&more in that style. Gradually, Alsatian wines started to fade from my dinner table. I haven’t bought a case of Alsatian wines for my group in yrs & yrs. The last Alsatian wine that really jazzed me was an older (forget the yr) Trimbach GWT that I probably bought 8-9 btls at ArroyoVino. Anymore, when I want a great GWT loaded w/ lychhee & hair oil. I look, not to Alsace, but to the AltoAdige. Fits w/ my weenies & kraut to a T.
So, last week, I came upon this case of older Alsatian wines from which these three were taken. They illustrate exactly the point I’ve been trying to make over the yrs. Sadly, traditional Alsatian wines are a thing of the past. Save for a few stalwarts like Trimbach and a few others, Alsatian whites now longer have much of a role on my table.
The BottFreres was exactly what I look for in an older/mature Alsace GWT. It was, by far, the best of the three. The low-end Z-H was actually pretty good, but not in the same league of the Bott. The Z-H GrandCru was nice enough, still holding on well, but just didn’t have much interest to me. Dull as dishwater. No weiners & kraut or TarteFlambee for it. It’s enough to make a grown man cry. Alas…there are alternatives. Alas…they don’t come from Alsace.
End of rant.
Tom
Wrought is how I would describe too many Alsatian wines of the past 15? 20? years? I have found producers I like again, but it still feels like a region where I am guessing whether or not I will like what I find too often from vintage to vintage.
tom - this seems more about ZH than Alsace, right? i’m certainly biased, but the grand cru’s from albert mann are killer for <$40/btl. schlossberg has always been my favorite. clean, tart, refreshing…should check off most of the boxes you’re looking for. and mann’s pinot (the “grand h” cuvee) is awesome too. it’s tart, and firm - a mean and gnarly pinot, well worth the look.
also had a basic Weinbach riesling the other night at a company party and it was great for the price.
I guess it all depends on what you want out of a bottle - I opened two ZH Pinot Gris yesterday from Clos Windsbuhl (the '99 and 2001), paired them with a pork loin marinated in mustard & rosemary, and the wines were pretty deelish, and exactly what I would look for with that dish. In fact, the '01 was an indice 5, so if ever there was a case for Olivier going overboard on a bottle of wine, it would be with his “ripest” selection, and even that wine maintained a sense of balance.
I must say I do find Tom’s complaint about ZH wines being “different” than the Alsatian wines used to be a little ironic to say the least - here is a guy who seemingly champions any Cal-Ital wine produced, but when someone questions why anyone would by a more expensive version of a wine that doesn’t taste as good as it’s native Italian counterpart, his stock response is something along the lines of “You can’t compare Palmina’s Nebbiolo to a Barolo/Barbaresco, because that’s not what they are trying to do”. Yet because Olivier apparently had a different vision than Tom’s with respect to the wines he could produce, the state of Alsace is now dismal?
I can sympathize with Tom’s feelings, and have tasted some of the same things from Z-H wines that he describes here, but I’ve also had some older Z-H’s that were great. One size does not fit all.
I would also question how much influence ratings out of Monkton have on most Alsatian producers. There’s a lot of them, many not even imported to the US, and most not reviewed by anyone. There are also some that are imported and really good: Ostertag, Meyer-Fonne, Mure, Marcel Deiss, Bott-Geyl, Weinbach – the list goes on and on. Some of these guys make sensational wines. Some are rich and overtly sweet, but many are not. Even the overly sweet wines can be pretty damned good. We opened a wonderful 2000 Mure Clos St. Landelin Grand Cru Riesling the other night. Not sweet, tasted great, lots of character, lots of life left in it. Unfortunately I can’t find any to replace it. Wasn’t that expensive, I’m pretty sure.
When my wife and I visited Alsace a couple of years ago, I was struck by the sternness, I would call it, of the recent-vintage Grand Cru rieslings we were served at dinner. Tough wines, with a lot of promise for a long future.
I think it’s possible that Tom is simply bemoaning the fact that really great Alsatian wine is no longer inexpensive. That’s true of a lot of other wines, even CA syrah, but most especially great French wine. Why, Tom even served a great $160 Condrieu to his group the other night (reviewed elsewhere in these pages). You could easily purchase three great Alsatians for that price.
I think Tom just needs to buy more Alsatian! And maybe avoid Z-H. It’s easy enough to do.
This is a somewhat ironic post as I am a new generation Alsace fanatic and feel exactly the opposite of Tom – I love the sweeter higher alcohol riper Alsacian Gewurz, Pinot Gris, Auxerrois and Sylvaner wines and find that they go excellent with all different sorts of cuisines. Many Rolly Gassman, some Z-H, some Weinbach, Barmés Beucher, Bott-Geyl, Domaine Rieflé, etc. fall into this category. However, I am not so much of a fan of the drier higher acid styles especially for Pinot Gris and Gewurztraminer.
Riesling is an exception. I have had me plenty of Trimbach, Ostertag and other drier Alsacian Riesling and their purity is astonishing. I have had drier Alsacian GW and PG as well and can see where Tom is coming from. I just don’t think that it brings out the best of those two particular grapes which are very lush in general. Same for Pinot Blanc and Auxerrois and Sylvaner.
While there is no doubt that the commercial success fueled the changover in Alsacian style, it doesn’t mean that the style Tom likes cannot be found. He’ll just have to look for different producers that revere the traditionally more steely and flinty acidity driven Alsacian wines that the fatter riper ones I like.
I love alsace wines, visited three times in last couple of years, and there’s still lots of good stuff there, many different styles still exist, you just have to hunt around to find what you like - climate change has certainly had some impact, but often that’s been for the better
The outrageously good 2010 Deiss wines have just hit port. (with the '12 entry level wines)
They’ll be in my warehouse next week.
The 2010s should not be missed by any fan of Alsatian wine, for all styles of wine dry to “sweet”.
It may be the best vintage of a generation, according to several growers whom I esteem greatly…
LOUD DISCLAIMER: I sell Deiss.
I like ZH, but would never confuse it for Trimbach. Totally different animals. If you like Trimbach, buy Trimbach. I also love the wines from Albert Mann, esp. the Schlossberg. And for an under the radar producer try Paul Blanck. Should be just the style of wine you are looking for - again, love their Schlossberg.
Yes, there are many mediocre wines from Alsace. And, yes, there are a lot of guys who have changed their styles. But, there are some really good ones. Like in every other wine region of the world, they don’t come looking for you - you have to find them.
Just from Schlossberg alone, Rieslings from Blanck, Mann and Weinbach are anything but “dismal”. And Rieslings Brand and Sommerberg from Boxler? What’s not to like?
While Blanck’s wines are/were drier (I stopped bringing them in a few years ago), the higher end wines were often marked with notable botrytis. Occasionally it worked, but more often than not for me, it just didn’t. Perhaps they aren’t waiting for late fall mists to hit their vineyards now. I suspect that more than almost any other French region, the styles are a moving target. Two years ago I tasted Mark Tempe’s then-current releases and found them all far too sweet for my tastes. The most recent releases are drier, and I love them.
Jim, I visited there in 2011 and did not taste any botrytis in their grand crus (Schlossberg and Furstentum). I bought some of each and brought them home and really have enjoyed what I have had. I have not seen any of their grand crus in the US. I will look for botrytis the next time I taste one the wines I have left.
I used to get some of their GCs, and a cursory look through our POS shows the last GC vintage I sold would have been 02. Based on your experience, it might be that they’ve dialed back the later harvests, which would certainly be more likely to be compelling wines (to my tastes). I’ll have to keep an eye out for them again.
“But then things started to change. In the early '80’s, Zind-Humbrecht upped the ante in Alsace. They started harvesting later, lower acids, higher alcohols/greater ripeness/higher extract/ often some RS. OliverHumbrecht was anointed the World’s “greatest genius” winemaker, and they started getting huge scores out of Monktown.”
I believe this is not correct. Olivier was handed the reins in 1989, and the wines prior to that were not made in the fashion noted above. I recall an almost bone dry taut 1988 riesling Rangen we had 10-15 years ago. And the 1989 wines were clearly different animals. My understanding is that it was not a gradual change, but one that took place the year Olivier took over. but then again, I’m not an expert on this kind of ancient history.
this is not to say I disagree with your premise in general… (the dots being my ode to RParker)