LUXEMBOURG WINES - Luxembourg (3/9/2017)
Last week, while visiting our son who is taking a semester in Europe, we visited Bernard-Massard, a winery in Luxembourg. Thanks to Francois Stechen for helping to set this up and tho Hubert Clasen for leading us thru a tasting of the wines. Hubert took over the winery from his father in 1980 and now it is run by Hubert’s son Antoine. As Antoine was out of town, Hubert graciously stepped in to meet us. There were actually three wineries that we tasted. Hubert’s family winery is Domaine Clos des Rochers. It has been in the family for some time now. They also have a stake in Bernard-Marssard which is a larger winery that is run by Hubert and his family. Finally, Domaine Thill - Chateau de Schengen is a neighboring winery that is also run by the Classen family.
The winery facility itself is on the German-Luxembourg border directly on the Moselle river in Luxembourg. We drank in a beautifully modern tasting room with large picture windows overlooking the river. Hubert went thru a wide selection of his wines which was well appreciated. There is also a wine shop attached with an excellent selection of both their wines and wines that they serve as the importer to Luxembourg for. As I only had room to bring back 12 bottles (I ended up with 16), I only bought wines I tasted, but they had great pricing on their imports (compared to Ohio).
The tasting was done at a leisurely pace tasting in groups of one or two wines to emphasize terroir. The wines are listed in the order tasted.
Hubert was both knowledgeable and interesting. Overall, I was quite impressed with the wines. Based on prior reading, I was expecting a lot of average quality sparkling wines and while there was one like that, most were better and also still wines. Thanks so much Hubert for the education and the wines.
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2015 Domaine Clos des Rochers Auxerrois Blanc Grand Premier Cru Grevenmacher Fels - Luxembourg, Moselle, Moselle Luxembourgeoise
Light gold in color. The nose is steely and lemony. On the palate, a nice white floral note comes out along with steely lemons. Great acidity. Really enjoyable wine to start a tasting but would be even better with food. RS5-8% Not really noticeable except in texture. Long finish. The vineyard is known for their thin soils which make tight wines I am told, but this one seemed to be open and humming. Like a lot of visits on this trip, even the most basic 2015’s are really showing well. (87 pts.) -
2015 Domaine Clos des Rochers Pinot Blanc Grand Premier Cru Grevenmacher Fels - Luxembourg, Moselle, Moselle Luxembourgeoise
I am not going to rate this. Hubert insisted it was not a proper bottle. It did seem very tight and in fact, the price being reasonable, I bought a bottle to check in on in a few months to see. This on is light silvery gold in color. Thin bodied. Some lemons and the nose and palate with vigorous shaking. Bottled reasonably recently, so it may be suffering right now. I look forward to trying this probably this summer. -
2015 Domaine Clos des Rochers Pinot Gris Grand Premier Cru Grevenmacher Fels - Luxembourg, Moselle, Moselle Luxembourgeoise
This was really outstanding and much higher quality than I was expecting. Light silvery gold in color. The nose has limes and a very slight green gooseberry quality (if that makes sense) that is really fresh and nice. Much rounder than expected on the palate, this was raised in 3000L wood foudres. Plenty of pink grapefruit on the palate. Very nice acidity. Long finish. Clean but has some complexity to it that is not often found in Pinot Gris in general. (90 pts.) -
2015 Domaine Clos des Rochers Riesling Grand Premier Cru Grevenmacher Fels - Luxembourg, Moselle, Moselle Luxembourgeoise
Silvery gold in color. The nose has some white floral notes, grapefruit and minerals. On the palate, there is a tingly acidity at first. very precise wine. Great acidity. Open but it does seem like time will be a friend here. Nice yellow grapefruit with a mineral streak more similar to Alsace but not exactly. Long finish. (92 pts.) -
2013 Domaine Clos des Rochers Riesling Grand Premier Cru Ahn Palmberg - Luxembourg, Moselle, Moselle Luxembourgeoise
Green gold in color. The nose is interesting- lychee nuts and minerals. On the palate, it seems deep but then the mid-palate is hollow. It finishes with grapefruits and a long finish. Perhaps in an odd place right now, but lacks the precision and the exuberance to the other 2015 Rieslings. I suspect a vintage thing but I really don’t know. (88 pts.) -
2014 Domaine Clos des Rochers Riesling Grevenmacher Groärd - Luxembourg, Moselle, Moselle Luxembourgeoise
This really was the IMO the most interesting/best wine of the tasting. Gold/green in color. The nose has a “slate” quality although the soils contain no slate. Also slight citrus notes and minerals. Complex and nice. On the palate, there is a slightly noticeable residual sugar. Less than other wines but still good acidity. Grapefruits and “slate” notes. Long finish. This seems like it is built to age. Very nice wine. (92 pts.) -
2015 Château de Schengen Riesling - Luxembourg, Moselle, Moselle Luxembourgeoise
Silvery gold in color. This wine is not as precise as the Clos des Rochers Riesling. Still it is a nice wine. A nose of grapefruits and some peach. On the palate, a blowzy wine with less fruit. Grapefruits. Nice finish. Nice easy going wines, but not the acidity and precision I like in Riesling. (89 pts.) -
2015 Château de Schengen Pinot Gris - Luxembourg, Moselle, Moselle Luxembourgeoise
Light white gold in color. The nose is more about minerals. Creamy texture. Minerals and lemons on the palate. This is a solid Pinot Gris but lacks the excitement of the Clos des Rochers as well. Still, a fine quaff. (88 pts.) -
2014 Caves Bernard-Massard Millésimé - Luxembourg, Moselle, Crémant de Luxembourg
A nice enough Cremant wine. Made from Riesling and Pinot Blanc. Light golden in color. A fair amount of small to medium bubbles. The nose has some minerality and CO2 (think sparkling water). On the palate, this is semi-crisp and has a slight sweetness. A nice way to start a meal or toast to something but nothing profound. Of course, priced that way as well. (86 pts.) -
NV Domaine Clos des Rochers Crémant de Luxembourg - Luxembourg, Moselle, Crémant de Luxembourg
I liked this one a lot. Quite interesting. Light gold in color, a good amount of smallish bubbles. The nose has green apples which carry thru to the palate. Nice acidity. In many ways, like a sparkling Chablis. Nice finish. Very crisp and clean and enjoyable. (90 pts.)
I returned home with a couple of the favorites from the tasting but also what I was told is their top quality sparkling wine and a bottle of 2001 Late Harvest Riesling which I look forward to drinking. While Luxembourg wines are probably not the easiest sale in the market, they do represent a lot of quality for the dollar and it would be nice to see more in the market.
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