TN: Two Alsatians...(short/boring)

WINE TALK
1

After two GWT’s went down the drain, these two survived:

  1. Dom.MarcelDeiss Tokay-PinotGris Bergheim (14%; MeBaD) 1991: Med.dark gold color; very fragrant/floral/spicy/PG/mango/apple bit earthy lovely/complex/mature nose; soft very rich/lush strong mango/apple/pineapple/floral/spicy/PG slight earthy/smokey complex/mature flavor w/ no signs of oxidation; soft lush/rich/ripe strong pineapple/mango/tropical fruit/floral/spicy bit cinammon/earthy/smokey complex finish; a beautiful fully mature/complex PG w/ no signs of oxidation.
  1. Dom.JosephCattin et Ses Fils GWT AC: Alsace GrandCru Hatschbourg (13%) Voegtlinshoffen/Slctd by MichaelGordy 1986: Med.gold color; beautiful spicy/old GWT/nutmeg/cinammon slight herbal/smokey/pungent rather floral/tropical fruit quite complex old Alsatian GWT nose; soft very rich/lush quite spicy/nutmeg/floral/fruit cocktail beautiful/complex flavor; very long/lingering quite spicy/nutmeg/old Alsatian GWT/floral/fruit cocktail very complex beautiful finish; a spectacular example of old Alsatian GWT w/ absolutely no signs of oxidation or maderization.

A wee BP:

  1. These two were from my discovered stash of wines stored under uncontrolled conditions, standing upright, for 18-20 yrs. Corks on both were sound & moist clear thru. They were amazingly good mature Alsatians and seemed to have been perfectly stored, but we know better. Both were left in stoppered btls overnight on the counter and were just as good this morning as last night w/ no signs of oxidation. Amazing.
  1. As I taste thru this stash of mostly decrepit wines, I’m amazed to find that the survival rate for the whites seems to be better than the reds. Makes no sense at all.
    Tom
2

Tom, when you say “moist” do you mean “not dried out and crumbly”? Always an interesting discussion of lay down vs. standing up for storage.

3

What I mean is the cork is soft & resilient all the way out to the end of the cork. As you know, if you pull a cork
and leave it around for a month or so, it dries out & gets pretty hard. In some of the corks, they are dried out for the
last 1/4’th or so, but mostly soft & squishy.
I will occasionally have corks, of wines lying on their sides, that are moist throughout and crumbly and full apart to the corkscrew.
Tom

4

Were these both dry wines…? (you don’t say)

The Alsace sweet/sweetish wines can go on forever without oxidizing.

5

The Joseph Cattin Alsace Grand Cru Gewurztraminer usually averages 30 g/L of RS which to me is off-dry. Amazing that it aged so well. I will definitely have to reconsider whether or not to open up my 07, 08, 09, 10, 11 and 12 Alsace wines or age them even longer.

6

The PG seemed pretty much dry. The GWT was pretty rich & seemed a bit off-dry.
Tom

7

To me, this is probably the most important criterion in evaluating Alsace wines/notes about them. It amazes me that people can write notes finding fruits notes from Costa Rica to Haiti to Florida…and, yet, not mention whether that wines is dry or sweet.

I buy both dry and sweet (and determine by how they come accross to me, not mainly the r.s. levels), but I make sure to record what they are, so when I want to enjoy them i’m not surprised.

Sadly, I think that the consumers’ inability to know this about a particular wine has made the difficult to sell in the US Alsace wines even more difficult in recent years when more wines come off as sweet.