Community Tasting Note
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ricard Likes this wine: 94 points
April 1, 2023 - Very light colour. Translucent. Exotic nose of pineapple, melon, passion fruit. Intense acidity. Such a lip-smacking delicious wine, zesty and buzzing with energy and life. Long and lingering. Limes and lemongrass. I'm changing my mind about Pinot Gris!!
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4 Comments
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David Strange commented:
1/11/24, 12:28 AM - Forgive me for asking such a long time after you tried this, but what do/did you think about ageing this? It was five years old when we tried it, and that is starting to push the limit of a lot of Pinot Gris. As a long-time drinker and serial disappointed tick when I've tried ageing them, Pinot Gris does not age. No matter what Olivier Humbrecht says, the man has disappointed me far, far too many times for me to try with his wines again, it just doesn't age.
This had a lot of exciting fruit, there was good acidity - it certainly was not flabby - and there was not a hint of dirt or decay to it. It was bursting with life and energy. Will it last another five years? Ten? What do you see happen to it if one does age it?
If your answer is, "It was too long ago", fair enough. I am really interested in your views, though, as you were so *visibly* surprised not only that it was good, but also that you liked it. I know you don't do the bullshit-thing, so you were not trying to butter me up, I was just very surprised by how taken with it you were, hence my interest!
I should add, very few Pinot Gris are like this or as good as this. Some may be nice, big, expansive drinks when they are young but, off the top of my head, I cannot think of one quite like this. Francois Sorg is a vastly underrated winemaker and, much as I liked being able to afford a couple of bottles, it seems a crying shame that this costs less than thirty coins in the insanely over-priced UK market. -
ricard commented:
1/11/24, 1:42 AM - Morning old stick. I do remember this wine very clearly. It was truly delicious. My instinct is that no, I would not age this wine more than 8 years. I would expect the peak to be 5, which is perhaps why it's so luscious, balanced, lively and expressive at this point. The *ingredients* for ageing are there (acidity, fruit, residual sugar), but the wine is too subtle and delicate for long-term evolution that brings new depths and richness worth waiting for.
So I would buy good vintages and drink them at 3-5 years to get the most life out of the wine.
I felt very privileged to taste it and I would seek out more PG from Alsace, and certainly this winemaker. I was told there is "good" PG in Australia but I won't be going down that road. Apparently also Oregon does good PG, but again, unless I get a very good reference, I will ignore this tip. -
David Strange commented:
1/11/24, 2:19 AM - Morning Ricard, thank you for replying! Yes, I agree, 3-8 years (minimum and) maximum. It was such a delicate, refined, minimalist Pinot Gris, as I said there are very few like it in Alsace. Meyer-Fonné’s is a bit like it, but (like EVERY SINGLE ONE of them) fatter. Most, indeed all, I can currently think of, apart from real cheapies that have none of the verve, style or class of the Sorg, are a lot fatter. Even though Jean Boxler is a genius, his Pinot Gris simply isn’t as lively and as god-damned drinkable as this.
Francois Sorg is a brilliant, sadly undiscovered talent. Everyone who really knows Alsace passionately is aware that he makes the best Muscat in Alsace. It is scintillating, pure and crystalline as well as floral and elegant. Quite stunning. What fewer people know is that his Riesling (especially), Pinot Gris and Ge-wurst-traminer are also spectacular.
Do you know what impressed me most about this wine? That you liked it! I felt I had done so well bringing something you would expect to hate and yet you were clearly quite delighted by it. I think we’d agree that it is not the *most* stunningly serious drink in the world. But delicious? Absolutely! ‘Delicious’ counts for a lot.
With regard to your last two points: Don’t go down there and that is a safe choice. -
David Strange commented:
1/11/24, 2:31 AM - One last thing, this was for the Bugger Burgundy tasting (god, wasn’t that Nuits prosaic?). Almost all Bourgogne Blanc of passable quality costs more than the Sorg, I would suggest they have the same cellar-life, and I would further suggest that the Sorg is better than Bourgogne Blanc of similar or greater price. In this regard, it fitted the theme really well.
Sure, you can get Bourgogne Blanc of higher quality, but they really cost much in the way of folding and, no matter how much you pay, exactly how fine is a BB ever going to be?