Dom.Zind-Humbrecht Riesling Herrenweg de Turckheim AC: Vin d’Alsace (13%) Turckheim 2002: Deep gold/burnished bronze color; intense honeyed/apricotty/peachy/R some gout de petrol/pungent some botrytis/Auslese-like beautiful complex nose; soft/ripe/lush/fat intense honeyed/apricotty/peachy/Auslese-like/botrytis/R some pungent/gout de petrol/Mosel valve oil some off-dry (0.6%-0.8% r.s.?) slight pencilly complex flavor; very long/lingering intense botrytis/Auslese-like/R/honeyed/apricotty slight gout de petrol soft/fat/ripe/lush rather complex finish; very much like an old German Auslese; a bit over-the-top but great to just drink.
A wee BloodyPulpit:
This was a huge/intense Riesling that I thought would not go very well w/ food other than simple cookies. I actually had it with a grilled kasekrainer sausage that really toned the wine down. I got the kasekrainer from DrFieldGoods Butcher Shop that Gabe had been making for a local SF restaurant. It was fabulous, as good as you can get in Wien. Kasekrainer is a Vienna street food that is made of pork like a kielbasa and contains chunks of Gruyere cheese and then lightly smoked over an applewood fire. When you cut into it or take a bite, the runny Gruyere oozes out onto the plate or down your chin. Good stuff and DrFieldGoods has nailed it…as good as I’ve had in Wien.
Tom
Great note, Tom! While ZH “house style” is off dry, that description sounds downright VT – though I think ZH made no VT riesling in 02? Perhaps this bottling benefited from some grapes that would ordinarily have been VT?
I love ZH and am typically especially impressed with its non-Grand Cru offerings.
Well, Kelly…back in the good ole days (by crackey) (ever notice how back in the good ole days for old folks things
were always better??) in the '70’s, pre-ZH, VT wines were simply late-harvest wines, a bit higher in alcohol, and always dry…
not even off-dry. Now that (favorite) niche is filled by ReservePersonnelle or some such designation.
Nowadays, VT is almost always off-dry to very sweet, with Selectionne des Grains Nobles reserved for the botrytis ones.
This one was not labeled VT, but certainly would have been such. A very rich Auslese-level w/ some RS. Clearly botrytis present.
Tom
Well, Kelly…my first real experience w/ the glories of great (aged) Alsace wine was the '59 A.Willm Clos Gaensbronnel GWT Vendage Tardive, more than a few btls
drunk in the late '60’s-early '70’s. And it was totally dry. A wonderful match to my favorite Weenies & Kraut.
I have mixed feelings at what Z-H did to the Alsatian wine industry. After being labeled the World’s most genius winemaker by Arpy and given
very high scores to Oliver Humbrecht, the style definitely shifted towards higher-alcohol, lower acid, more later harvesting,
lower acidity wines. I’m not convinced that those styles of wine can always turn into great old-bones. But I continue to be proved wrong by the older Z-H’s,
as I was by this '02. I wouldn’t, back in '04, be convinced this would turn into such a lovely wine.
Shows how much I know about wine!! Still learning.
Tom
I have been quite pleasantly surprised at the ability of Alsatian whites to age. Earlier this year I had a completely dry 1992 Weinbach “Furstentum” gewurz that was just amazing.