I drink a lot of German Riesling, both sweet and dry. Petrol if not something I find to be splendid, it is certainly tolerable at a certain intensity. But my first exposure to Tribach’s Cuvée Emile is unlike any Riesling I have had . No sign of premox; just an overwhelming petrol nose. I’ve had austere white wine before, like young Les Clos, but the Emile seems to be completely devoid of fruit and is like liquid stone, at 10 years old. Help me understand what it is about this wine there is to be appreciated. Thanks.
Devoid of fruit?
Perfect!!!
I would like to know as well. There is a lot of petrol on the nose, which isn’t a good or bad thing in my book, just interesting. Other than that, there isn’t any flavor there. I’m fine with fruit, I’m fine with being bone dry. I’m fine with secondary, tertiary flavors. I don’t get much of anything from Trimbach Cuvee Frederic Emile.
Same thing happened to me with the '04. My TN from 2012:
Lemon, mineral, acid. This is absolutely fabulous. Acidity and smoothness all at once. Lovely and compelling. What a wonderful wine. Long finish.
Two years later it was far less interesting. This year it opened with a stink, that blew off, but then was completely flat. I guess its downhill slide is rather quick…
No. Its closed period is rather long. CFE typically shows pretty well for a year or two, then shuts down hard for a decade+ in most vintages.
The 2004 has never been a favorite of mine, but it’s a good CFE. The 2005 is actually quite fat for CFE, as is the 2006. They both lack the scalpel-like cut of the 2001. The 2002 is just barely starting to open back up. The 2001 is moving along much more slowly. I am eagerly awaiting the 2007.
So the '04 was great after 8 years, then shut down hard (for 2 yrs now) and should re-open? When should it re-open? I have a few bottles left but almost threw them away…
Another 5 years or so. Remenber that they release these later than most wineries.
Thanks!
And, according to Anne Trimbach, very comfortable going out of chronological order.
One hopes what Trimbach does will come seriously back into fashion, but fortunately there’s an old school wine type who never knew about the too-ripe Alsatian style of the 90s and that keeps the Alsace flame alive.
Given the current trends, I have a hard time figuring out why Trimbach isn’t much more popular.
I had a similar experience recently with the '07. No petrol, but austere and without much to say. A challenging wine.
Leon Beyer does. I had a Comtes d’Eguisheim 05 recently that was very similar to the FE 05 here described.
I have long liked and bought this wine. BUT, I have come to realize that it is often made in a contrived austerity to keep the brand’s characteristics going. I have grown to much prefer a Boxer (or Barmes-Buecher) grand cru riesling, with a little more richness.
Having said that, I do think that tight, clipped dry/austere style does need lots of aeration to show its best.
It is a product of a commercial style that dominated the Alsace market until the last 20 years or so, when more commercially consistent houses like Beyer, Hugel and Trimbach were the main brands anyone could find in a restaurant in the US or even France in the Alsace section. That style hasn’t been easy to make naturally in the last 15+ years…and things have to be done to ensure that consistent style. Those things are not necessarily consistent with making great wine, IMO.
And we ask yet again Stuart…give us the facts on what has been done. Last time you went down that road it was pretty much all made up.
And Boxler isn’t just richer. Boxler has notable and use changing residual sugar these days. The wines are not remotely interchangeable.
agreed…give me a gravel filled petrol river any day!
With most (not all) vintages, petrol showing on nose of CFE and the appearance of lean or no fruit is a long middle phase on the way to greatness. The 1995s are there now. I suspect 2005s are quite a ways from that.
Interesting for me in that I find petrol more often in mature Rieslings. It’s hard to imagine that much petrol in a 2005 CFE. That’s just strange based on my experience with other vintages, but I’ve not had the 2005. They usually have a very subtle, austere, slate like nose when young.