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Wine-Pages Alsace Offline |  (762 page views) | | 4/11/2008 (St John Restaurant, London) |
| | - 2000 Domaines Schlumberger Gewurztraminer Les Princes Abbés - France, Alsace
A gentle, lightly perfumed gewurz nose. Light and gentle on the palate. A very refined and subtle gewurz. Good spot as an aperitif! (90 pts.)
- 1997 Rolly Gassmann Auxerrois Moenchreben de Rorschwihr - France, Alsace
A very rich nose with white chocolate and hints of banana and pineapple. Similarly rich and full on the palate, with lots of tropical fruit and creamy butteriness. I know Rolly Gassmann is usually a rich style, but this is remarkably rich for auxerrois. Might just be the richness, but this also feels just a touch sweet. It might have benefited from being a little further chilled. (88 pts.)
- 1995 Trimbach Riesling Cuvée Frédéric Emile - France, Alsace
A very taut, minerally nose, with a touch of petrol, but overall giving little away. On the palate this is drinking very nicely now as a lovely, direct, sparkling (as in diamonds sparkling - it wasn't fizzy!) riesling with a very fine acidity. But it's going to evolve into something more complex given time. (92 pts.)
- 2000 Léon Beyer Riesling Cuvée des Comtes d'Eguisheim - France, Alsace
A very pleasant, petrolly, creamy nose with nice white flowers. Quite lean on the palate. Mid weight. Very dry, but apparently not overburdened with acidity. Good balance. (88 pts.)
- 1994 Zind-Humbrecht Riesling Clos Häuserer - France, Alsace
A very crisp, dry nose: very direct and pure. Much wider on the palate than the nose would suggest. Very nice concentration. There's a touch of sweetness, but it's balanced by the integrated acidity. (92 pts.)
- 1997 Domaine Weinbach Riesling Schlossberg Cuvée Ste. Catherine - France, Alsace, Alsace Grand Cru
A very restrained, elegant nose, feeling a touch closed. Very pure, clean palate. Searing acidity, cut by a very, very slight touch of sweetness. (89 pts.)
- 1990 Trimbach Riesling Clos Ste. Hune - France, Alsace
Served blind. Very light and fresh nose with lemons and a touch of grapefruit. Very young riesling? Woah! Get the acidity on this! Remarkable. Quite a nice wide mouthful, but feeling far too young. (91 pts.)
- 1998 Trimbach Gewurztraminer Cuvée des Seigneurs de Ribeaupierre - France, Alsace
A precise, fairly full gewurz nose, feeling very correct. A bit simple. Nicely made but unexciting. (87 pts.)
- 1989 Zind-Humbrecht Gewurztraminer Clos Windsbuhl - France, Alsace
A very dry nose - almost drying out. Hmm, a bit oxidised actually. Very good palate: the oxidation I think has helped it by cutting the excesses of the gewurztraminer.
Actually very good with terrine of foie gras: the bit of oxidation really seems to help it with the food. (89 pts.)
- 1997 Hugel Gewurztraminer Tradition - France, Alsace
Rather slight nose - a bit gassy and a touch raisiny. On the palate, this is an archetypal Hugel gewurz: rich, well made, nothing overly exciting. Works well. Good solid Hugel.
Really not at all good with the foie gras. (89 pts.)
- 1998 Zind-Humbrecht Gewurztraminer Wintzenheim - France, Alsace
Restrained nose, feeling a bit dried and closed at the same time. Probably served a bit too cold. Very rose petally palate. Over-extracted and overblown, this exemplifies many of the worst aspects of Alsace gewurz.
Worked tolerably with the foie gras. (86 pts.)
- 1976 Hugel Tokay Pinot Gris Vendange Tardive Sélectionneé par Jean Hugel - France, Alsace
A very interesting nose with some pears and some oxidation. Possibly a bit closed? Seems unlikely. While it's very direct on the palate, it's really working very well and has plenty of interest. Huge concentration. Very enjoyable. (94 pts.)
- 1964 Hugel Riesling Reserve Exceptionelle Auslese - France, Alsace
This is hardly coloured beyond a relatively young riesling. Lovely, minerally old riesling nose. Very attractive, old riesling palate. It's perhaps lost its sense of terroir, but is still very much alive. Very dry on the palate, but not dried out. A really lovely old riesling. (94 pts.)
- 1976 Hugel Riesling Vendange Tardive - France, Alsace
Darker appearance than the 1964. Clear, mature riesling nose; quite smoky. Very full palate - remarkably so. A very good example of this wine (my third go at it, I think). (93 pts.)
- 1997 Zind-Humbrecht Tokay Pinot Gris Clos Jebsal - France, Alsace
Very good nose, promising a nicely elegant pinot gris. Very rich palate. Blimey, that's rich! But there's also a very pure streak of acidity. A very interesting wine. (92 pts.)
- 1998 Trimbach Pinot Gris Réserve Personnelle - France, Alsace
A very gentle, restrained nose with nice spicing. Almost a hint of tobacco on the nose. In the mouth, this is a very easy, balanced pinot gris that lacks to concentration of the Urbain ... and benefits from that. I have to say I really like these lower level Trimbach PGs. (89 pts.)
- 2002 Zind-Humbrecht Pinot Gris Rangen de Thann Clos St. Urbain - France, Alsace, Alsace Grand Cru
15%, indice 4
A rich pear and apricot nose with a lovely rich PG fruit character. Very rich and full on the palate. Very rich, full and sweetish, but with decent acidity. Nice concentration, but it's difficult to think that this is anything more than a plain good PG. (88 pts.)
- 1990 Zind-Humbrecht Riesling Brand Vendange Tardive - France, Alsace, Alsace Grand Cru
A remarkably un-riesling nose with some fairly obvious botrytis. Absolutely glorious nose, but very difficult to pin it down and identify its components. Lovely palate. Very fine and elegant with super restraint. Very fresh and lovely. (94 pts.)
- 1990 Zind-Humbrecht Pinot Gris Clos Windsbuhl Vendange Tardive - France, Alsace
Pear, apricot and kiwi fruit on the nose. This is fairly heavily botrytised; more so than I would expect in a VT. Really quite sweet on the palate. (92 pts.)
- 1997 Rolly Gassmann Gewurztraminer Oberer Weingarten de Rohrschwihr Sélection de Grains Nobles - France, Alsace
A remarkably pale colour. Delicate, gently sweet nose. Fairly elegant palate. A bit brutish on the finish. While the Zind Humbrecht Windbuhl VT was a bit on the sweet side, this goes the other way and actually doesn't really feel that sweet in the mouth. Really, not particularly exciting as an SGN. I've had better Gewurz SGN from Rolly Gassmann. (87 pts.)
- 1994 Albert Mann Tokay Pinot Gris Hengst Sélection de Grains Nobles - France, Alsace, Alsace Grand Cru
Quite a deep colour. Rather closed (to be charitable) on the nose, where there's heavy botrytis and not a lot else. Actually, it feels quite Sauternes-like on the nose, which I now recall is something that I've read before about Albert Mann's PG SGNs. Very simple on the palate. Sweet, but there is some remarkable acidity. But it's very far from lighting my fire and just feels very dull and simple overall. (82 pts.)
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