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 Vintage1976 Label 1 of 68 
TypeWhite
ProducerTrimbach (web)
VarietyRiesling
Designationn/a
VineyardClos Ste. Hune
CountryFrance
RegionAlsace
SubRegionn/a
AppellationAlsace

Drinking Windows and Values
Drinking window: Drink between 1987 and 2003 (based on 235 user opinions)
Wine Market Journal quarterly auction price: See Trimbach Riesling Clos Ste. Hune on the Wine Market Journal.

Community Tasting History

Community Tasting Notes (average 93.5 pts. and median of 93 pts. in 6 notes) - hiding notes with no text

 Tasted by esh44 on 7/24/2019: A slightly tired bottle. Lots of very mature notes, and not as tense as this should be. Still quite drinkable, but disappointing given expectations. (1390 views)
 Tasted by tinybubbles on 6/18/2017 & rated 93 points: An engaging wine given its combination of acidity and aged sweetness. Yet somewhat disappointing in this iteration as the whole was undifferentiated (2038 views)
 Tasted by drwine2001 on 4/26/2017: Miscellaneous Wines from a France Trip-Burgundy, Alsace, and Paris; 4/20/2017-4/29/2017: Deep yellow color. At first when it was cold, petrol, herbs, and a very lean, lemony acidic core. As it warmed and opened, the typical dried peach came up as well as a bit of almond, and it had medium body. The most extraordinary thing was the unbelievable minerality and drive, which no doubt has carried this wine forward for 40+ years. Late return of petrol and perfume reminds you that this is old Riesling. This is an essence of dry Riesling structure after the fat falls away. Not for everyone, but I adored this ancient bottle which had been superbly stored. (3228 views)
 Tasted by dcwino on 11/12/2015 & rated 94 points: The darkest wine of the tasting. Medium expressive nose displaying ripe yellow fruit, apricot, dry apricot, burnt sugar, tea and celery. There is a vegetal note. Good concentration, good mineral presence, bright acidity and long finish with a hint of burnt sugar as the end note. Quite enjoyable. (3434 views)
 Tasted by ATBridge on 3/28/2015: At Everest in Chicago. The sommelier decanted this wine and it showed an incredible golden/amber/orange cool in the decanter. Initially quite tight on the nose. A bit of air awakens this beauty from its slumber. Really indescribable aromatics that include both sweet and savory overtones. A wine one could smell for hours before taking a sip--each time you go back there is something even more inviting. When you drink this wine it's immediately evident that it's a wine of incredible class and breed. Not a single facet out of balance. Words again fail to describe flavors and textures that seemingly only time can provide. I predicted at the initial pour that the last sip would be these best, and it was try. This wine needs plenty of air to show it's best, and well stored bottles should continue to provide great enjoyment for many years. (3143 views)
 Tasted by Rupert on 9/13/2012: Pebbles Dinner (Chez Bruce, Wandsworth, London): Lean, strong green pepper tone, fresh, intense, rather grand, lacking a bit of harm (4355 views)

Professional 'Channels'
By Antonio Galloni
Vinous, Trimbach: Riesling Clos Ste. Hune 1966-2010 (Oct 2016) (10/1/2016)
(Trimbach Riesling Clos Ste. Hune) Subscribe to see review text.
By Stephen Tanzer
Vinous, Mar-12, IWC Issue #10200 (3/1/2012)
(Trimbach Riesling Clos Ste. Hune) Subscribe to see review text.
By Jancis Robinson, MW
JancisRobinson.com (5/19/2009)
(Trimbach, Clos Ste Hune Riesling Alsace White) Subscribe to see review text.
By John Gilman
View From the Cellar, Nov/Dec 2008, Issue #18, Maison F. E. Trimbach Alsace’s Finest Traditionalist
(Riesling Clos Ste. Hune- Maison Trimbach) Login and sign up and see review text.
By Jancis Robinson, MW
JancisRobinson.com (1/27/2003)
(Trimbach, Clos Ste Hune Riesling Alsace White) Subscribe to see review text.
NOTE: Scores and reviews are the property of Vinous and JancisRobinson.com and View From the Cellar. (manage subscription channels)

CellarTracker Wiki Articles (login to edit | view all articles)

Trimbach

Producer website | producer profile on thewinedoctor.com.

U.S. Importer for stat sheets, etc.

Riesling

Varietal character (Appellation America) | A short history of Riesling (Uncork) | Riesling (wikipedia)

Clos Ste. Hune

A note on the Terroir by James E. Wilson (1998, University of California Press, Berkeley). You may want to consult pp 94-100 for color figures making the geology easier to comprehend. A copy of this seminal book should be part of every serious wine amateur's library!

...The Upper and Middle Triassic strata contain dolomites [magnesium-calcium phosphates] interbedded anhydrite [anhydrous calcium sulfate] and gypsiferous clays [derived from calcium sulfate]. [comment -- soils derived from these minerals would be expected to have an acidic reaction]; the hard dolomites would help form the low hills of this terrain; They also contribute to the pebbly texture of the soil. The Lower Triassic is made up of sandstones and shales, with conglomerates and overall stratigraphic sequences, few classic caprock and slope landforms develop; rather the typical features are low, rounded hills. In addition to the alluvial fans, there are some Quaternary sheet washes of pebbles and sands from the Vosges mixed with the calcareous sandy/clay soils. ....the Ribeauville Fault Bundle opens up southward at St.-Hippolyte and continues [southward] to the Fecht fan delta at Colmar. The area contains a large numbe--more than a third--of the Grands Crus of Alsace. The detail of the geologic map [..... brings] out the patchwork nature of the faulting.


The cross-section of the sub-Vosgian Hills illustrates how the step faulting lowers successvely younger strata into place toward the Rhine fault. The fault blocks are between 100 and 150 acres (40-60 ha) in size. Coming through [like a] vivid patchwork, the dominant [.....] Triassic, [...] Jurassic, and [ ...] Oligocene [demonstrate] the sequence of the step-faulting.


Beginning with the tiny Kanzlerberg terroir at Bergheim, six Grands Crus are located in the [...] Triassic zone: Osterberg, Kirchberg, Geisberg, Rosacker, and Schoenenbourg, Clos-Ste.-Hune, andthough not a Grand Cru, is also on Triassic soils. [note--while Trimbach's Clos Ste.-Hune is not an AOC Alsace Grand Cru, there is little doubt that this wine could be so labelled if the Trinbachs chose to participate in the Grand Cru scheme.]jht


A write-up on this vineyard by Rare Wine Co's Manny Berk--ed. by jht

The Trimbach family’s tiny 3-acre Clos Ste. Hune .......... The Clos lies within the Rosacker grand cru. Yet, the Trimbachs label [the wines{ simply as Clos Ste. Hune, just as they have since 1919. They refer to neither Rosacker nor grand cru [..].

A Unique Terroir. Arguably the most perfect place in France to grow Riesling, Clos Ste. Hune stands apart from Alsace’s other top Riesling vineyards, which rely on steep slopes and heat-retaining granite or schist soil to bring their fruit to full ripeness. In contrast, Clos Ste. Hune’s 40-year-old vines are planted in cool, calcareous- clay soil with a gentle incline and a high percentage of limestone.

So, while other famous Alsace Rieslings can sometimes border on heaviness, Clos Ste. Hune balances its enveloping richness with an intense minerality, remarkable finesse and great structure. Thus, like a Raveneau grand cru Chablis, the more it ages, the more profound Clos Ste. Hune becomes.

One Master. Clos Ste. Hune has for more than two centuries [been made by] one of France’s greatest winemaking families. Staunch traditionalists, the Trimbachs reject their neighbors’ recent efforts to make sweeter, lusher wines. They continue to make Clos Ste. Hune as they did in the past: a cool, slow fermentation, a quick racking to remove the wine from the lees, no malolactic fermentation and a short period of aging in neutral wood foudre before bottling early to retain the fruit. The wine is then aged for an incredible five years in bottle before being released.

In [extremely exceptional] years, tiny amounts of Vendange Tardive are made, but they are different from other VT’s. They result not from botrytis but passerillage—dehydration caused by the sap returning to the vine's root system. They boast immense concentration and complexity, but only off-dry levels of residual sugar, as Trimbach vinifies them to be as dry as possible. Like other Clos Ste. Hunes, the VT’s are capable of immortality.

Unrivalled Consistency. But what makes Clos Ste. Hune most extraordinary is its consistency, having established a record of greatness over the last 86 years that is unequaled in Alsace. As Tom Stevenson writes in The Wines of Alsace, "I cannot think of any Alsace Riesling that could match its performance year-in, year-out over a span of, say, 40 vintages. It is the consistency of performance that establishes the greatness of a growth."

Even in average years like 1986, Clos Ste. Hune is stunningly aromatic, complex and capable of long development. Such a track record shows the advantage of this vineyard as a Trimbach monopole..... With only 500 to 600 cases made, and demand far exceeding supply, even current vintages of Clos Ste. Hune can be excruciatingly difficult to find. As for older vintages, these can be impossible [to find].

Exact position of Rosacker on weinlagen.info

France

Vins de France (Office National Interprofessionnel des Vins ) | Pages Vins, Directory of French Winegrowers | French Wine (Wikipedia)

Wine Scholar Guild vintage ratings

2018 vintage: "marked by a wet spring, a superb summer and a good harvest"
2019 vintage reports
2021: "From a general standpoint, whether for white, rosé or red wines, 2021 is a year marked by quality in the Rhône Valley Vineyards. Structured, elegant, fresh and fruity will be the main keywords for this new vintage."
2022 harvest: idealwine.info | wine-searcher.com

Alsace

Vins d'Alsace (Conseil Interprofessionnel des Vins d'Alsace)

Please see the AlsaceEntryGuide for more information how the wines of Alsace are entered and organized in CellarTracker.
Interactive Map on weinlagen.info

Alsace

On weinlagen-info

 
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