Nine of the 12 East Side Wine Group (EWG) members and guests Walter Page and Paul Harrie assembled at Yujean Kang’s for a dinner paired with all Gewuruztraminers. I have always maintained that Gewurtztramners work better with Yujean’s cuisine than any other wine. Yujean prefers red Burgundy and Riesling. I believe I made my point this evening.
Yujean prepared a special meal, with all courses off the menu except the tea-smoke duck, which I had requested. The meal was phenomenal, easily the best of the four EWG dinners I’ve coordinated there. As for the wines, they didn’t suck. Except for the Weinbach 2007 Reserve Personnelle, which was corked, and the Trimbach 2001 Seigneurs de Ribeaupierre, all the wines showed well, or better, with the older wines (1976, 1989 and 1994) all needing time to open up.
I had requested everyone bring high end Alsatian wines (which I defined as Zind Humbrecht, Weinbach, Trimbach and Mann; I know there are others, they are not easily found in Los Angeles), preferably not late harvest. All wines, except the two 2005 Mann’s and the 2001 Trimbach were popped and poured.
We started with the 2007 Pfeffingen Spatlese, an inside joke. The Pfeffingen was well balanced, with good acidity, and a little sweeter than when I had it seven months ago. It definitely stood out in this group, but the quality was there. When the 2007 Weinbach proved to be corked, I moved up the Mann 2001 Steingrubler, which, while good, was perhaps a little simple and would have benefited from more acidity. With these wines Yujean served chicken in kung pao sauce with minced chicken with white wine sauce and baby bak choy; and string beans with pork (I apologize for any misspellings of the food).
The second flight was the Zind Humbrecht 1989 Clos Windsbuhl and Zind Humbrecht 1994 Herrenweg. Both of these wines were dry (although the 1989 developed a hint of sweetness after it was open for a while), and developed in the glass. They both had very long aftertastes. If a formal vote had been taken, they would have been considered the top two wines of the nights. The 1989 has a measure of fame as the first white wine to receive a perfect score from Robert Parker. While I don’t think any of us would have scored it that high, it was a stunning wine that had aged well. These wines accompanied black cod with soy sauce and sesame and Chinese broccoli; and egg plan and soy sauce.
In the third flight, we started with the 2000 Zind Humbrecht Winzenheim. It was indice three, and perhaps a little diffuse, but would have been very pleasant to drink if not compared to the other wines. The Trimbach 2000 Seigneurs de Ribeaupierre is one of my favorite wines, sweeter and richer than normal for Trimbach. It was moderately sweet (I’d guess about two per cent residual sugar), and very easy to drink. I had hoped for an interesting comparison with the Trimbach 2001 Seigneurs de Ribeaupierre, more in the house style, but the wine was off. A few people thought it was corked, but most did not. Nobody rated it highly, a shame because other bottles I’ve had have been very good, and it would have been great to contrast the two vintages. I thought the Zind Humbrecht 2002 Rangen, indice two, had more stuffing than any of the other wines, tremendous class, with the 16 % alcohol not being noticeable. It made some of the other wines suffer in comparison, and probably would have been the third favorite wine of the night for the group. Accompanying this course were prawns with walnuts and a garlic spicy sauce; and tofu with lima beans, Chinese sausage, and mushrooms.
The fourth flight featured all 2005’s, the Steingrubler and Furstentum Vieilles Vignes from Albert Mann and Zind Humbrecht Heimbourg. The Mann’s were very different, with the Steingrubler more balanced and restrained, and the Furstentum sweeter and less full in the mouth. My WOTN was the Zind Humbrecht, which although labeled an indice three, was fairly sweet. It had incredible balance, and should develop into something special as it sheds some of its sweetness (if I can manage to save mine long enough to find out). Thank you Jeff Morris, once again, for recommending this wine. Yujean served tea-smoke duck with plum sauce, and lamb with kabucha sauce with this dish.
Finally, we had, without food at my request, the Hugel 1976 Selections de Grains Nobles (fuder 28) and Zind Humbrecht 1989 Herrenweg VT. Interestingly, both wines had less perceptible sweetness than the wines in the previous flight, a sign of the times and different wine making styles perhaps. The Hugel was full and rich and drinking very well right now, although it will age for many more years. The Zind Humbrecht was also full bodied, but not as much as the Hugel, impeccably balanced, and kept on developing, even as I left the restaurant.
What did I learn? Gewurztraminer is definitely the best wine to accompany Yujean’s cuisine. I also had been drinking my Gewurztraminers on the younger side (having nothing before 2000 in my cellar), but may start to age them a bit longer and let some of the sugar recede. Hopefully some of my EWG friends learned, although they may have already know, how good Alsatian Gewurztraminers can be.
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