Any Experts on Old Alsatian Wine?

I just received my mystery 3-pack from Garagiste’s “German Cellar” offer. It has one German Riesling, an Alsatian Muscat, and what appears to be an unlabeled Alsatian Beerenauslese from an unidentified varietal. Can anyone tell me what I have here?

Not sure on that wine but wouldn’t the commercial sale of an unlabeled wine (also with no importers strip and surgeon general’s warning) be illegal?

As far as I can tell, the third bottle is labeled “Osterreich”. I’ll hazard a guess at Austrian (Österreich).

Good call. Not sure how I missed that.

That’s what I was thinking. This is a pretty interesting little 3-pack. Post notes when you taste them. Sounds like it’ll be a fun experience.

Well look at this – an actual tasting note (in French) on the Hugel:

http://www.oenoalsace.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=1115&Itemid=26

Via Google translate:

Exceptional Reserve Muscat 1967 - Hugel et Fils (Riquewihr)
The year 1967 was a very good vintage, wet and cold spring followed by a hot and dry summer. The September rain resulted departures rot, precipitating the start of the harvest on October 9. Reported average yield of the region 81hl/ha. The Gewurztraminers are particularly well this year, as the wines of the hill. 1967 Hugel Muscat is a late harvest produced the marly limestone soil with gypsum Grand Cru Schoenenbourg, a great wine with powerful minerality. The nose is fresh, with notes of cassis, raspberry, dried mint leaves and a hint of smoke. The mouth is rich, mineral complex and an incredible youth. The soil is revealed in the long finish. A remarkable wine that we tasted at the table in October 2008 to the delight of the participants. Hugel ripped Muscats du Schoenenbourg in 1973 and replanted in 2005, announcing a future muscat Jubilee. Excellent.

Wait, you bought a mystery three pack of a “German Cellar” and you got one bottle from Germany, one bottle from Alsace, and one bottle from Austria? Are they geography challenged or are they using a map from World War II? I guess it’s nice that they decided to include at least one bottle from Germany.

I wonder if Alto Adige would also count in that selection?

Aha!

Then so.

Actually it looks like the lighter print on the diagonal says “Exceptionnelle”

It’s a case of “German exceptionalism.” [wink.gif]

I think the email said the collector was German, not all the wine.

well, I have a German cellar, and it is overwhelmingly French.

Fair enough.

A caution on the muscat: late-harvest muscat is the most difficult of all the late-harvest Alsatian varieties (even sylvaner is more amenable), and it can turn stewed and vegetal even in the best cases. Very, very few people even ever try it. So this is a bit of a rarity, though it’s seen more often in these days of a much warmer climate.

I haven’t had the '67 Hugel, but I’ve had some from the early '70s, and mostly they didn’t exactly reward aging. They weren’t dead, but they tasted like slightly fragrant, slightly dilute riesling of considerable age. Expect that and you may be rewarded. Or not. At this age, it’s really up in the air.

Thor,
Nice to see you here.

Holy $hit…it’s Thor. Good to see you out here in CyberSpace again, Thor. We’ve missed you the last few yrs!!!
I would tend to agree w/ you on the LateHrvst Alsatian Muscats…they don’t, as a rule, seem to age all that well.
It’s pretty much a crap-shoot on this '67.

Tom

I love trying unusual older wines, and hope you have some fun experiences. But I just searched Garagiste Mystery German, and found a Snooth thread saying these were $268/3 pack. I find that very expensive for what look like “fun to experiment if cheap” wines.
So we have an Austrian BA (unknown producer, unknown grape)from a vintage where the Austrian Wine Board says no botrytis.
An old Hugel Muscat
Is there a producer in small print on the '66 Mosel? What is the word after vineyard- Nabor? Natur ? Any indication it’s Riesling? I know these things weren’t so standardized pre-1971.
Anyway, I love his request to “not send these to auction”
Hope they turn out to be good.

Thanks. Yes, it was a somewhat costly gamble, but I like adventure. The Riesling is from a producer named Schweiszthal, and it is labeled “Natur,” which was the predecessor to the term Kabinett (roughly speaking).

my three pack is below; one riesling, two gewurztraminer. the Schloss Vollrads has some seepage which appears recent. so that is annoying. Anyway, since two are from Alsace, sticking it here.