Zind-Humbrecht Pinot Gris Rangen de Thann Clos St. Urbain Vertical

This was a truly memorable dinner. When seven of us (PY had to skip because she was ill) took a break from our Loire Odyssey to do this, most of us were expecting a good showing, but I think it is fair to say that we were all well and truly stunned by just how good the wines were.

We had three flights - one of three dry wines, one of three VTs (with a ringer thrown in), and a single bottle of SGN. All the wines were remarkably good. The Weinbach ringer served as a good point of comparison, because it carried a very different flavour profile from the Zind-Humbrechts. It was quite difficult to pinpoint really what set these wines apart. They all had orange / tangerine tones to them, but this was also shared by the Weinbach and many other Alsatian Pinot Gris. However, if pressed on terroir characteristics, I would say that each of the ZH wines had lovely balance of power and grace along with a serious streak of stony minerality that ran through their delicious flavours. While some were obviously weaker and others stronger, the quality across the board was stunning. This dinner probably saw one of the highest average scores I have ever noted down.

To crown it all, Vincent at the front of house and Francois in the kitchen really outdid themselves, producing some delicious food that paired brilliantly with the wine - white asparagus, lobster, foie gras, pork cheek and some lovely cheeses - this was an outstanding meal. It was both educational and immensely enjoyable. One of the best dinners of this year, or any year in fact. This will be hard to top.

• 1995 Zind-Humbrecht Pinot Gris Rangen de Thann Clos St. Urbain 94 Points

  France, Alsace, Alsace Grand Cru

  A brilliant wine. This was as good as I remembered it being a few months back, if not even better. It had such a wonderful nose, with layers of honeyed goodness unfolding in sweet, golden tones of mangoes and orange blossoms, spice and mineral, with just that little touch of citrus at the sides. A lush, hedonistic bouquet. One would have expected some sweetness on the palate after that, but it was really quite dry from the attack onwards. There was a lingering impression of the sweet honey and nectar notes on the nose, but these were ringed around a deep, tensile core of slatey mineral and fine acidity speared through a rich midpalate with flavours of kumquat and lime and zesty orange peel notes. With time, some umami inflections, almost enoki-mushroom-like notes, emerged to take their place alongside the fruit. This was such a complete wine - dense, packed with substance, yet still lithe and light, with a beautiful elegance and poise to it. It really hushed the table into silence. There was just a little impression of hollowness between the mid and backpalate at first, but that too filled up into a bright, brilliant finish dancing away with spice and sweet orange notes. Brilliant stuff and when paired with lobster, just brilliant, with both the wine and the lovely morsels of fresh lobster bringing out a juicy sweetness in each other that was an absolute delight to taste. This stood out even amidst the very strong line-up that we had on the night.

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• 1990 Zind-Humbrecht Pinot Gris Rangen de Thann Clos St. Urbain 95 Points

  France, Alsace, Alsace Grand Cru

  Wow. This was a very special wine. As good as the other Pinot Gris on the night were, this was probably my favourite of the lot. It had a beautiful nose, rather deeper and more developed than the 1995 that preceded it, with strikingly Vouvray-like notes of lanolin and pure red apple aromas arrayed amongst more familiar scents of honey and orange blossoms, sweet flowers and chalky mineral, and then nice, savoury notes of earth and meat and stewed mushrooms. Really complex, lovely stuff - and the palate was even better. It was just incredibly balanced, with a mindblowing purity and clarity to its citrussy grapefruit and lime zest zooming through fleshier flavours of lemon curd and orange. This was streaked with a gentle, yet insistent stream of stony mineral on the midpalate and an intriguingly saline, salted-nut nuance that floated around the whole package. What a complete wine - powerful, supple, complex, yet almost subtle in spite of its expressive flavours, and always punctuated with that amazing balance and definition. This was pitch perfect from its wonderful attack all the way into a long, powerful finish lined with more of those wet stoney mineral notes. A wonderful wine, drinking at peak. What a treat this was.

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• 2000 Zind-Humbrecht Pinot Gris Rangen de Thann Clos St. Urbain 93 Points

  France, Alsace, Alsace Grand Cru

  This was a very nice wine in its own right, just overshadowed by the stupendous 1995 and the even better 1990. This probably had the prettiest nose of the three though, with a lovely melange of malted honey with sweet citrus fruit aromas - think tangerines, sweet lemon and pink grapefruit - and then flowery orange blossoms and jasmine tea accents, along with some nutty, earthy notes, a little touch of white meat and a nice lilt of limestoney mineral. A beautiful nose, so complex that it almost beggared description. The palate here was also the sweetest of its flight, full of sweet honeyed tones and a clear stone-fruited profile, with apricots and nectarines along with some sweet apples. It was a fleshy, voluptuous wine, almost VT-like in its creamy feel and dulcet tones, but it was still very balanced. It just seemed to lack some of the effortless grace and sinuous complexity of the other two on the flight. Still though, this was delicious. It finished strongly too, with little nutty, earthy accents, more sweet honey and gentle wafts of spice and flowery perfume blowing around beautifully in the back palate. While drinking at something that seemed quite near peak at the moment, it will probably develop a little more with time. However, while excellent, I doubt this will ever hit the greatness of the best vintages. On the night, it was excellent pairing with white asparagus with a dressing of Hollandaise sauce and hazelnuts though which may have lifted the wine somewhat - a good reminder of how the great Alsatian wines are crafted to go with the cuisine of the region.

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• 1983 Zind-Humbrecht Pinot Gris Rangen de Thann Clos St. Urbain Vendange Tardive 93 Points

  France, Alsace, Alsace Grand Cru

  This was the oldest and most unusual of the wines we had. The nose started out with a bit of funk, rather reminiscent of hard cheeses, and little petroleum scents, before opening up into slightly sweeter aromas of chestnuts and red apples, along with some nectar and honey nuances that in turn gave way to hints of earth and stony mineral. Very subtly complex stuff. Any sugar on the palate had dropped off completely, leaving behind an almost completely dry feel, with a minerally spine and little drift of sweet spices dancing around a core of apple flesh and pear fruit. It was creamily textured, with a soft acidity integrated with the fruit, so that while not the freshest wine on show, there was nevertheless something tantasilingly mouthwatering about this. What really impressed me most was the finish though. It was all about minerality here. Long, profound, it pulled away in a zen-like show of depth, power and lightness, with a wonderful little twist of bittersweet, stony accents. A lovely wine, probably approaching the end of its life, but a real pleasure to drink. This was the least expressive, or even outwardly delicious of all the wines on show tonight, but it was very impressive in its own quiet way.

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• 1998 Zind-Humbrecht Pinot Gris Rangen de Thann Clos St. Urbain Vendange Tardive 94 Points

  France, Alsace, Alsace Grand Cru

  This was a brilliant wine at a brilliant place at the moment. It had a beautiful nose with wonderful honeyed glow to its deep aromas of apricots, marmalade and orange blossoms shaded with spice and mineral hints, a profound nose which had the most classically "Pinot Gris" aromas of all the wines we had. Wonderful stuff. The Palate was all heady, seductive goodness as well, coating the mouth in velvety layers of honeyed figs and sweet apricots, Pear William and tarte tartin flavours, all with those little drifts of spice and honey again - just layer after layer of yummy goodness. Beautifully integrated, and perfectly balanced, it was not the most complex of the wines we had, but probably the most delicious. Not to say it was facile or simple though. With time, little nuances of orange peel, sugarcane and water chestnuts started emerging on the midpalate. The wine finished with quite a flourish too, with marmalade tones and maple syrup and just the tiniest suggestion of rosemary and thyme alongside those sweet spices that ran the length of the wine. At a brilliant place, this was beautiful both with a savoury dish of Iberico pork cheek with a mustard rub as well as a selection of matured cheeses.

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• 1996 Domaine Weinbach Pinot Gris Vendanges Tardives 95 Points

  France, Alsace

  An amazing wine. This was a completely different animal from the Zind-Humbrechts on show - it was almost a cross between a Vouvray and a Sauternes on the nose, with a wonderful sweet glow reminiscent of malted honey and treacle aromas, but it also had a nice earthy, white meaty nuance going on alongside amazing scents of dried figs and apricots, and distinctly savoury smells of preserved guava and sour plum notes, all this sprinkled with a hint of spice. Wow. Just amazing complexity. The palate was wonderful too. Lots of honey on the attack, along with pure, juicy flavours of peaches and red apples on a bed of chestnuts and orange blossoms. Perfectly balanced and integrated, there was a lightness and purity here that one got on the dry Zind-Humbrechts, but not quite so much on their VTs, which were a lot more about depth and power. Past the midpalate, a more savoury, earthy character emerged to underpin the sweeter fruit, just before the wine moved into a creamily textured finish with delicious orange marmalade, kumquat and dried fig notes. Amazing stuff, especially with the food on the table. This stood out somewhat from the lime-up, but it was an incredibly complex jewel of a wine. Lovely stuff, just right for drinking now.

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• 1989 Zind-Humbrecht Pinot Gris Rangen de Thann Clos St. Urbain Sélection de Grains Nobles 95 Points

  France, Alsace, Alsace Grand Cru

  From a 375ml, this was a remarkable wine to end a remarkable dinner. As complete a sweet wine as I have had in a long time, it was only its stunning youthfulness in spite of over twenty years of age that kept it from being a truly spectacular wine. Even then, it was lovely, opening with a kaleidescope of complex aromas on the nose, from a clear ring of Oolong tea at the start, to a bit of caramel and dried apricots, to coffee grounds and toasted nuts, and then sweet spices in the guise of cloves and cinamon scents and, finally, little bit of lanolin floating around - such an unusual, intriguing nose. The palate was marked with an absolutely lovely sense of balance and purity, melting languidly into layers of dried figs and marmalade, orange peel and sweet tangerines, with a nice dance of sweetness and bright citrus juiciness keeping the wine so very alive and energetic. With all those orangey flavours, it was almost reminiscent of a Grand Marnier flamed over Crepe Suzette as it swept into a long finish with amazing flavours of brown sugar and malted honey seasoned with sweet cloves. Truly delicious - this was a haunting wine that left such an imprint on the memory. Wonderful now, but one could not help feeling that it has some way to go before it sheds its puppy fat entirely and unfurls into something truly special.

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