Timuquana BYO (TCC): Very lovely and round and soft and fresh and bits of lemon. This is very much that almost honeysuckle and almost a hint more fleshy but with a nice elegance. Very fresh. Drinks well.
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5th of 6, opened 30 minutes, perfect cork and level, back on track particularly against poor bottle in 2018, elegant and chisselled with classic kerosene element on nose, just lacking a little volume in the mid palate to offset the ovely strong citrus element in the wine, fine length, purity and freshness, little upside but no rush. F+ (18).
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Darker in color than the Frederic Emile served alongside it although this was from a 750. It's drinking quite nicely. More caramel and a bit of orange peel and a nice semi-sweetness in style. Beautiful wine.
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{Bought by EB on release, tasted with EB, AW, TS} Mind-blowing. 100 point aromatics, 96 point palate. Regal, WOW wine, Aristocratic in the sense of refinement. [brief note]
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This wine was rich and ripe at first. In fact, it was too ripe and it took 3 hours for integrated acidity to develop to balance things out. After that it had very good length and reasonable complexity.
This wine was an 89 to start as it was flabby and had no length. Despite the deeper color, aeration really helped here! I would be drinking this vintage as it appears more advanced than well stored 199o's
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nice and fragrant, almost opulent, with lots of white flowers and honey on the nose. Good ripeness on the nose and beautiful. Good acidity here, with a lean palate.
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Had this in NYC at Momofuku Ko restaurant. Just an excellent wine with tension, verve that is juxtaposed by a touch of honey, stone fruit, and apples. In my opinion the acid and the texture of this wine is the clear main character as it brings you an almost entrancing and surreal form of pleasure and experience that is not common with most other wines. The wine can still go a long way and I believe will have further positive development with time. However if you can't wait, it wouldn't be a waste to try this right now either.
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Had my first taste after 30 minutes and the wine was a golden color, all the acid up front, blowsy and tropical with no minerality. Let the wine sit in bottle for a couple of hours and it had calmed down and become much more balanced. Minerality in heaps, great length, the acid still there but complimentary and not obtrusive. Slight petrol notes and citrus fruit in the background of this austere wine which is fine given the minerality.
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Colourwiese middle golden and in my opinion too old, but I have not big experience in riped CSH. Petrol notes similar to old German Rieslings. Mandarine, stewed apricot in the nose. In palate hardly fruit. With time a bit fresher but toomuch secondary and tertiary notes. I expected more freshness and precision. 92
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Dinner with Friends (Osteria Langhe): 96/06 flight. More nuance and complexity on the nose of the 96 with stone and orchard fruit along with some light honey and diesel notes. Really pretty and layered. The palate is a bit softer relative to the 06, but still quite fresh with good complexity and length.
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3rd of 6, opened 20 minutes, perfect cork and level, mid yellow and darker than previous bottles, attractive if atypical bouquet, broad and lacking balancing acidity and any pronounced minerality, flavour profile carries through to palate, the issue isn't length and persistence which are ok, it's more to do with a lack of balance and the zip one usually gets in Trimbach wines, the fruit even comes over as slightly blowsy, lacking energy and old, drink up. VGI (17)…..not a bad wine in itself just very disappointing for Clos Ste Hune in a decent vintage where one would expect the wine to develop and improve for 20+ years, indeed my last bottle of 92, a far less heralded vintage, was greatly superior at much the same age!
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SOM'd in AM and drunk over several hours the first night and over a few days later.
Mature golden in color. Petrol, and a haunting nose. More mature than I would expect, a little oxidative and nutty at first but it cleans up, with honeysuckle, ginger candy, orange preserves, and lime. Very fresh. It's precise, laser sharp and bone dry on the palate. This is the embodiment of power without weight. Forceful, yet incredibly clean and light on its feet. Like drinking rocks and mineral water. Mouthwatering acidity gives it a freshness and clarity that is impressive. This has great cut and finishes incredibly clean yet is simultaneously persistent and very long. A complicated, effortlessly beautiful wine.
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Wines of Good Hope: Summer 2017; 7/29/2017-9/14/2017 (River's Inlet, British Columbia): Ripe yellow apple and apricot on the nose predominate the classic Riesling petrol and rubber. Some nice white florals. Pineapple palate with big acid still. Very round and the finish is long and piercing. Paired this with Dungeness crab fried rice caught and prepared this afternoon.
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Good acid. Lemon, petrol, consistent and sharp. A nice example of aged Riesling. Nice bright fruit. Slightly tangy and nicely nuanced. Peaches and pears. Nice range.
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Riesling SWAG 2017 (Restaurant Vlet, Hamburg / Speicherstadt): Medium, golden yellow color. Medium+ intense, developing nose. Surprisingly fresh and young, without the so common heavy petrol notes. Very mineral, fresh, some baked apple. Bone dry, medium+ acidity. Lots of pressure and tension, very precise, salty, clearly driven and dominated by minerality, yellow stone fruit in the back. Only a few signs of ageing and quite youthful. Very long. Has years ahead.
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Deep yellow color. Maderized aromas of dried fruits, bananas, almonds and some citrus. Ripe, high acid fruit in the mouth with very good depth and length. An usual combination of oxidation and acidity on the palate. Unfortunately, this 21 year old wine is on the downside of its drinkability but still has enough stuffing to make it somewhat enjoyable.
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2nd of 6, opened 30 minutes, perfect cork and level, essentially as my September 14 note, maybe slightly dryer and fresher, but I was slightly disappointed as a bit dull for a Clos Ste Hune, still relatively youthful. F+ (18).
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Alsace Riesling: Full bodied, ripe and mature full throttle character of Alsace. There's this peculiar note of marinated mushrooms and pickle. Rich wine with lovely complexity. Softer, bigger, rounder and wider than '08, but the accidity is still huge here. There's white truffle and baked apples on the nose. Creamy palate that is followed by the accidity. Excellent wine.
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Au nez c'est plutôt discret au départ - une pointe pétrolée mais surtout des arômes floraux. En bouche, on est sur les fruits blancs mûrs entremêlés de quelques abricots et clémentines, des fleurs blanches. La finale est légèrement acidulée sur les écorces d'oranges. Le tout change par contre à chaque gorgée, signe d'une grande complexité. La finale est belle, à l'image de ce vin intriguant et émouvant.
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(BYO Blind tasting) What a pity. This was badly oxidized. On the nose you could feel hints of petrol and dried fruit. The palate was just flat and oxidized. Hmmm, premox seems to strike other regions as well. This had been flawlessly stored.
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My 50th extravaganza (Chez moi): Brown colour, slightly oxidized. More dry and firm, more acidity here than in the 2000. It is a powerful, great vintage – but this bottle was going down
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Medium golden colour. Powerful nose combining smokiness with petrol and pineapple. On the palate a powerful and very long combination of pineapple, green apples, oranges and white peach pit and dried fruits. Petrol and smokiness also in evidence in the mouth. This doesn't seem to be a typical Ste. Hune, particularly on account of that smokiness and the dried fruit, but it is opulent while remaining completely dry. Bracing acidity. All in all a wonderfully complex wine well worthy of this magnificent Clos. It seems quite mature but judging from this bottle will hold for years yet.
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Tasted blind, this wine had a deep yellow center and clear rims. The medium+ intensity nose exhibited citrus, green apple, honey, and white stone. It fooled me into thinking it might be a Grand Cru Chablis.
In the mouth, this wine was rich and ripe but those elements were dominated by the crisp, mineral infused acidity (another element tricking me into thinking it might be Chablis). This wine had great balance and length. After 5+ hours of air, I felt like I was drinking liquid quartz.
I have heard there is some bottle variation with these wines. This is certainly the best bottle from this producer I have had. However, when they are on, they are quite something. This wine will easily last for 10+ years and may get even better!
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1st of 6, perfect fill, not decanted - pale straw, attractive and classy nose, flowers, kerosene and chalky minerality, medium bodied, very long and pure, complex, balanced, should still gain interest. At least fine plus (18/20).
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Peaked after about 90 minutes open. starts smoky with light petrol and lemon and matures into a beautiful, rich multilayered wine with strong petrol (in a good way) undertones. i would be happy to drink more
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Mature riesling (Riga): We had it after six German Auslese and Spatlese, so it didn't show itself as well as I hoped. Probably should have put it in the beginning of the tasting. Full yelow colour. White apple, acacia tree, boiled buckwheat on the nose. Palate of citrus, apples, very mineral, tight, long, lots of accidity. Good, but hope it will be great next time.
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Still light yellow. Subtle smokiness more than light petrol this time. Deceptively lighter weight up front, but my god, does this gain intensity and literally explode at the back of the mouth. Amazing focus and drive, picking up a faint quality of peach skin as it goes. Powerful, dry and noble in every way. This was my last bottle of this, and I opened it now because of scattered reports of oxidation, but I have to think that the acid in this bottle could have frozen it in time and preserved it for another 15 years. Hard to believe it was even better than a bottle we had in Alsace earlier this year. Thrilling-an essence of dry Riesling, and the last 3 bottles over the past few years have clearly been the best. I can only hope to run into it again some day.
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Light/medium gold. Pronounced whiff of petrol. Tastes a bit tired at first. Some tropical fruit (pineapple) on the attack, and wet stone notes fanning out mid-palate. Rich, but the acidity doesn't carry through to the finish which makes it curiously short, flat, and non-linear. Shows its pedigree on day 2, however, maintaining the richness while releasing a vibrant core of limey acidity and minerality through the palate. Long, long finish. Laser-like focus and intensity. Like a snake that was coiled up, then struck. Could I have popped this too soon?
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From a perfect looking bottle purchased at a restaurant, this wine looked great with a bright, light gold green center and clear rims. The medium+ intensity nose took a couple hours to develop. It showed citrus, white stone, green apple, acacia flower, and almond paste.
In the mouth, this wine tasted ripe but had a silky texture that was buttressed by strong limey acidity. The white stone and zingy acidity helped give it outstanding length. This is a serious, dry wine that may not be for those interested in fat chardonnays. However, I thought it was excellent and still had upside. While drinkable, my guess is that this will improve for 5 or 10 and last for much longer.
This was a totally different experience that I had with the last bottle of this wine.
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Random Notes from Travels in France; 4/6/2012-4/14/2012 (Paris, Loire, Alsace): What a wine with which to start our stay in Alsace! Still light yellow. Citrus plus petrol aromatics. Absolutely dry. Perfect glycerine feel cut by incredible acidity without any harshness. Superb bottle. I'm sorry we could only spend 2 hours with it as it was still opening.
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An evening with friends (Chez Nous and Chez Panisse Cafe): Medium gold color. Muted personality with stone, acid and fruit all weighted down with the sherried/fusel character of a really old and not very distinguished Spatlese. Seemed to be trying to brighten up, but couldn't quite muster the strength. Deteriorated rapidly after the first 90 minutes of air. The consensus was that this bottle had suffered heat damage or poor storage at some point. Too bad.
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Much more glycerine and intense than another bottle earlier this year. Mature Riesling floral aromas and dry peach/lime fruit. This is the essence of dry white wine. Driving acidity which bores right through the palate into the brain. Fantastic showing.
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the color looked a little darker than I would have expected, leading me to joke about this bottle being "Ackered"... Classic nose of petrol, flint, a little ripeness, sweetness, and lots of lemon. Plastic notes came out later, with caramelized apple, oxidation, caramelized sugar and straw. Definitely pretty acidic on the palate.
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From a 375. Darker color than expected. Decanted 1.5 hours. Nose has some oxidation but also has white fruits, petrol, hint of fennel. Palate complex and changing, but the real strength in this wine is its acidity. Finish is mouthwatering. Overall a very enjoyable wine but does not blow me away especially for the price. Fully mature from a half. 91.
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I have not had many of these wine so I was surpised (tasting blind) how dark this wine looked. After the oxidized notes died down, the nose showed pears, wax, and white stone. It struck me more like a a semillon than a riesling.
After the wine had breathed for about an hour it started to freshen up substantially. The acidity became stronger, the finish became longer, and it started to show more minerals in the finish. I am not sure I caught this one at its best but it certainly seemed to benefit from aeration and it seem unlikely to get mcuh better with bottle age.
Subsequently, I drank another bottle of this wine that was much fresher. In reading the notes, it appears that this is not unusual. Maybe there is some serious bottle variation with this vintage?
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Dinner with Charles (Washington, D.C.): Very youthful color. Wonderful breadth of aromas-tea, dried peach, citrus, and rising petrol. This still has great acidity, although it is much tamer than 5 or 10 years ago. Medium weight, this did not strike me as one of the denser vintages of this wine; rather, this bottle showed quite elegantly, much more along the lines of the 1997. Moderately long finish. It has definitely matured since last tasted, but it does not currently hit the heights of other great, similarly high acid vintages such as 1990. Still, outstanding and classic dry Alsatian Riesling.
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A quick guess of white Rioja, then Dan said “no, we’re in Alsace.” The problem was the guesses then turned to 25-30 year old wines. After recently seeing a note on a dinner where John had a PremOxed ’96 CSH, I thought try this now. Well, if it was 30 years old, this might be acceptable, but this is not what one wants in a 14 year old CSH. C+
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Dinner with Yaacov, Mike and John (New York City, New York, USA): Deep color. Diesel nose. Too sweet and soft and tired. Bad cork or some other form of oxidation? I have only had CSH twice before, the 1979 and the 1997, and this bore no resemblance to those taut, mineral beauties. Too bad.
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Lunch at Hof Van Cleve (Belgium): Sour milk on nose and huge acidity that blocks out all flavors. I know this is a '96, but the acidity on this is crazy.
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Full yellow color and somewhat nutty initial aromatics made me worry that this was shot, but thankfully, this was not the case. Distant peachy tones were followed by more a mature Riesling nose and strong lemon zest. Full bodied, dry, tremendous acidity, and the most impressive part was an endless finish with clinging minerality. Outstanding with time in hand. Compared to recent bottles of the '97 in particular but even the '98, this is a big, densely packed Clos Ste. Hune. While its acidity is still formidable, it has ameliorated a great deal over the past 5 years.
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Light golden in colour. Nice aromatics of baked apple, tons of minerals, and lemon oil. Almost herbal on the palate with more minerals, piercing acidity, light citrus and a floral element. Was perfect with shellfish.
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very nice, and drinking well from half bottle. Lovely aromatics - sea weed, beeswx, big time minerals...everything one expects from CSH. Very nice. Drink now or hold.
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Golden color. Great nose of wet stones, petrol, tons of minerals, shellack with hints of caramel and string beans. Seems perfectly aged with delicious flavors of limestone, petrol and minerals yet retains its backbone of steely acidity. Finishes quite complex with this incredible hard rock and mineral intensity. This wine really has "grip." Tremendous with oysters and crabcakes. Wow.
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Surprisingly mature with petrol and cider notes - not to the extent of the last bottle I had but enough to make me wonder if it's the wine rather than a bottle issue. Citrus and mineral with a juicy, tense acidic core. Enjoyable.
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Darker-than-correct color. Still the mineral core and citrus of CSH, but missing the precision and focus. Not totally funky, but clearly not a proper bottle.
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Shows a wonderful purity with petrol, orange, and apricot notes - very front heavy for such a young CsH. Great mineral backbone to the palate with a welcome tang and lemon rind character. Quite rich with great length. Should age just splendidly.
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Big mineral nose with a shellac quality. Hints of citrus flower. Lots of weight and body, melodious acids and a slight green tea quality. Lots of power on the finish. Very balanced, a pleasing softness in the middle as well. Time really brings out mineral. Primary elements all lined up, this is an excellent young wine.
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Mineral-driven nose offers classic petrol with great depth and a weighty impression, along with underlying orange and apricot fruit notes. Youthful and weighty on the palate with great purity and an austere, gripping acidity. Balanced throughout with great length and tangy persistence, almost liqueur-like. A really good match with roasted pork loin in a lighter whole-grain mustard sauce.
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Despite my certainty that this would be too young, it was too tempting to pass up trying it at this stage of its development. And, in fact, it seemed to be at a funny, "in between" stage. Still pale in color with the faintest hint of gold. Slowly unfolding austere Riesling nose, nothing floral or petrol about it, and never really burst out of the glass. On the palate, rich weight, lemony fruit with a tight core of acidity, but little development of complexity. The biggest difference I noted compared to a bottle 2 1/2 years ago was that there was much less searing acidity apparent now than then. As a result, the wine was less of a laser beam; in fact, back then it had a profile reminiscent of young Austrian Riesling. Promising length and finish on tonight's bottle. Verdict? Too young (unfortunately, I was right for a change)! I still have great faith in this wine, but would not touch one for another 5 years, and I do wonder if it will develop the complex fireworks of other great vintages or "just" continue down the pathway of excellent, eminently ageworthy Riesling.
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Dinner with Herschel and Anne (L'Osier): Any concerns about the match with my oysters went away when they brought me a glass of '96 Clos St. Hune without my asking (or paying). Just a nice thought? Or second guessing the Cordier recommendation? The Clos St. Hune was a perfect match, with great acidity, good riesling steeliness, but the generosity that only comes out in Alsation riesling. No petrol, but mineral galore. Great wine.
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This was a lovely wine. A light crystaline golden yellow. Dry and very rich with an oily texture. The nose displayed apricot and some petrol. This is a wine just starting to come into its own which was one of BHV's concerns. Starting to show a minerally backbone (which I'm sure will become more pronounced with time) and complex notes of pear, peach and lemon zest. 93 points.
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1/13/2024 - MC2 Wines Likes this wine:
Timuquana BYO (TCC): Very lovely and round and soft and fresh and bits of lemon. This is very much that almost honeysuckle and almost a hint more fleshy but with a nice elegance. Very fresh. Drinks well.
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10/9/2023 - Jeremy Holmes wrote:
Smoky mineral, fresh lime and gin botanicals. Has a custardy feel in the mouth. Just starting to dry out a tad but very tasty. Lively of acid.
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1/20/2023 - liber Likes this wine: 94 Points
5th of 6, opened 30 minutes, perfect cork and level, back on track particularly against poor bottle in 2018, elegant and chisselled with classic kerosene element on nose, just lacking a little volume in the mid palate to offset the ovely strong citrus element in the wine, fine length, purity and freshness, little upside but no rush. F+ (18).
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1/15/2023 - MC2 Wines Likes this wine:
Darker in color than the Frederic Emile served alongside it although this was from a 750. It's drinking quite nicely. More caramel and a bit of orange peel and a nice semi-sweetness in style. Beautiful wine.
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6/2/2022 - Musigny1955 Likes this wine: 98 Points
{Bought by EB on release, tasted with EB, AW, TS} Mind-blowing. 100 point aromatics, 96 point palate. Regal, WOW wine, Aristocratic in the sense of refinement. [brief note]
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3/13/2022 - fclarity wrote: 93 Points
This wine was rich and ripe at first. In fact, it was too ripe and it took 3 hours for integrated acidity to develop to balance things out. After that it had very good length and reasonable complexity.
This wine was an 89 to start as it was flabby and had no length. Despite the deeper color, aeration really helped here! I would be drinking this vintage as it appears more advanced than well stored 199o's
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12/18/2021 - rc@ughey wrote: flawed
Not totally oxidized but flat and not what it should be
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10/4/2020 - Peech Likes this wine: 95 Points
nice and fragrant, almost opulent, with lots of white flowers and honey on the nose. Good ripeness on the nose and beautiful. Good acidity here, with a lean palate.
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9/27/2019 - sung251 Likes this wine: 94 Points
Had this in NYC at Momofuku Ko restaurant. Just an excellent wine with tension, verve that is juxtaposed by a touch of honey, stone fruit, and apples. In my opinion the acid and the texture of this wine is the clear main character as it brings you an almost entrancing and surreal form of pleasure and experience that is not common with most other wines. The wine can still go a long way and I believe will have further positive development with time. However if you can't wait, it wouldn't be a waste to try this right now either.
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6/3/2019 - skye Likes this wine: 96 Points
Had my first taste after 30 minutes and the wine was a golden color, all the acid up front, blowsy and tropical with no minerality. Let the wine sit in bottle for a couple of hours and it had calmed down and become much more balanced. Minerality in heaps, great length, the acid still there but complimentary and not obtrusive. Slight petrol notes and citrus fruit in the background of this austere wine which is fine given the minerality.
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3/24/2019 - aquacongas Likes this wine: 92 Points
Colourwiese middle golden and in my opinion too old, but I have not big experience in riped CSH. Petrol notes similar to old German Rieslings. Mandarine, stewed apricot in the nose. In palate hardly fruit. With time a bit fresher but toomuch secondary and tertiary notes. I expected more freshness and precision. 92
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12/19/2018 - Nanda wrote: 92 Points
Dinner with Friends (Osteria Langhe): 96/06 flight. More nuance and complexity on the nose of the 96 with stone and orchard fruit along with some light honey and diesel notes. Really pretty and layered. The palate is a bit softer relative to the 06, but still quite fresh with good complexity and length.
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9/16/2018 - liber Likes this wine: 90 Points
3rd of 6, opened 20 minutes, perfect cork and level, mid yellow and darker than previous bottles, attractive if atypical bouquet, broad and lacking balancing acidity and any pronounced minerality, flavour profile carries through to palate, the issue isn't length and persistence which are ok, it's more to do with a lack of balance and the zip one usually gets in Trimbach wines, the fruit even comes over as slightly blowsy, lacking energy and old, drink up. VGI (17)…..not a bad wine in itself just very disappointing for Clos Ste Hune in a decent vintage where one would expect the wine to develop and improve for 20+ years, indeed my last bottle of 92, a far less heralded vintage, was greatly superior at much the same age!
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8/28/2018 - cct wrote: 95 Points
SOM'd in AM and drunk over several hours the first night and over a few days later.
Mature golden in color. Petrol, and a haunting nose. More mature than I would expect, a little oxidative and nutty at first but it cleans up, with honeysuckle, ginger candy, orange preserves, and lime. Very fresh. It's precise, laser sharp and bone dry on the palate. This is the embodiment of power without weight. Forceful, yet incredibly clean and light on its feet. Like drinking rocks and mineral water. Mouthwatering acidity gives it a freshness and clarity that is impressive. This has great cut and finishes incredibly clean yet is simultaneously persistent and very long. A complicated, effortlessly beautiful wine.
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7/23/2018 - sjwshiraz wrote:
Very ripe and perhaps a touch advanced. Lacked the precision of better vintages/ bottles
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5/12/2018 - Peech Likes this wine: 94 Points
such a classic dry riesling, with petrol, flint, and lemon notes. Very good depth of flavor here. Beautiful!
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8/20/2017 - The Vines That Bind wrote: 92 Points
Wines of Good Hope: Summer 2017; 7/29/2017-9/14/2017 (River's Inlet, British Columbia): Ripe yellow apple and apricot on the nose predominate the classic Riesling petrol and rubber. Some nice white florals. Pineapple palate with big acid still. Very round and the finish is long and piercing. Paired this with Dungeness crab fried rice caught and prepared this afternoon.
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8/4/2017 - ricknat1 wrote: 97 Points
perfect bottle of CSH at its apogee, fresh vibrant and as good as it gets
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6/1/2017 - Kemo Sabe Likes this wine: 92 Points
Good acid. Lemon, petrol, consistent and sharp. A nice example of aged Riesling. Nice bright fruit. Slightly tangy and nicely nuanced. Peaches and pears. Nice range.
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4/1/2017 - NoTrollingerPlease Likes this wine: 93 Points
Riesling SWAG 2017 (Restaurant Vlet, Hamburg / Speicherstadt): Medium, golden yellow color. Medium+ intense, developing nose. Surprisingly fresh and young, without the so common heavy petrol notes. Very mineral, fresh, some baked apple.
Bone dry, medium+ acidity. Lots of pressure and tension, very precise, salty, clearly driven and dominated by minerality, yellow stone fruit in the back. Only a few signs of ageing and quite youthful. Very long. Has years ahead.
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3/30/2017 - hsacks wrote: 88 Points
Deep yellow color. Maderized aromas of dried fruits, bananas, almonds and some citrus. Ripe, high acid fruit in the mouth with very good depth and length. An usual combination of oxidation and acidity on the palate. Unfortunately, this 21 year old wine is on the downside of its drinkability but still has enough stuffing to make it somewhat enjoyable.
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12/29/2016 - liber Likes this wine: 94 Points
2nd of 6, opened 30 minutes, perfect cork and level, essentially as my September 14 note, maybe slightly dryer and fresher, but I was slightly disappointed as a bit dull for a Clos Ste Hune, still relatively youthful. F+ (18).
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10/4/2016 - AV2012 wrote: 93 Points
Alsace Riesling: Full bodied, ripe and mature full throttle character of Alsace. There's this peculiar note of marinated mushrooms and pickle. Rich wine with lovely complexity. Softer, bigger, rounder and wider than '08, but the accidity is still huge here. There's white truffle and baked apples on the nose. Creamy palate that is followed by the accidity. Excellent wine.
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9/18/2016 - Mazy Likes this wine: 94 Points
Au nez c'est plutôt discret au départ - une pointe pétrolée mais surtout des arômes floraux. En bouche, on est sur les fruits blancs mûrs entremêlés de quelques abricots et clémentines, des fleurs blanches. La finale est légèrement acidulée sur les écorces d'oranges. Le tout change par contre à chaque gorgée, signe d'une grande complexité. La finale est belle, à l'image de ce vin intriguant et émouvant.
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6/23/2016 - Peech Likes this wine: 92 Points
this was a little more mature than I had expected. Lovely nose with flint, mineral, a little toasty and smoky, along with a little bit of honey.
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10/10/2015 - Argrath wrote: flawed
(BYO Blind tasting)
What a pity. This was badly oxidized. On the nose you could feel hints of petrol and dried fruit. The palate was just flat and oxidized. Hmmm, premox seems to strike other regions as well. This had been flawlessly stored.
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9/22/2015 - beatles wrote:
My 50th extravaganza (Chez moi): Brown colour, slightly oxidized. More dry and firm, more acidity here than in the 2000. It is a powerful, great vintage – but this bottle was going down
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1/24/2015 - sj38 Likes this wine: 94 Points
Medium golden colour. Powerful nose combining smokiness with petrol and pineapple. On the palate a powerful and very long combination of pineapple, green apples, oranges and white peach pit and dried fruits. Petrol and smokiness also in evidence in the mouth. This doesn't seem to be a typical Ste. Hune, particularly on account of that smokiness and the dried fruit, but it is opulent while remaining completely dry. Bracing acidity. All in all a wonderfully complex wine well worthy of this magnificent Clos. It seems quite mature but judging from this bottle will hold for years yet.
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11/2/2014 - fclarity wrote: 95 Points
Tasted blind, this wine had a deep yellow center and clear rims. The medium+ intensity nose exhibited citrus, green apple, honey, and white stone. It fooled me into thinking it might be a Grand Cru Chablis.
In the mouth, this wine was rich and ripe but those elements were dominated by the crisp, mineral infused acidity (another element tricking me into thinking it might be Chablis). This wine had great balance and length. After 5+ hours of air, I felt like I was drinking liquid quartz.
I have heard there is some bottle variation with these wines. This is certainly the best bottle from this producer I have had. However, when they are on, they are quite something. This wine will easily last for 10+ years and may get even better!
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9/12/2014 - liber Likes this wine: 94 Points
1st of 6, perfect fill, not decanted - pale straw, attractive and classy nose, flowers, kerosene and chalky minerality, medium bodied, very long and pure, complex, balanced, should still gain interest. At least fine plus (18/20).
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7/14/2014 - ricknat1 wrote: 94 Points
Peaked after about 90 minutes open. starts smoky with light petrol and lemon and matures into a beautiful, rich multilayered wine with strong petrol (in a good way) undertones. i would be happy to drink more
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3/20/2014 - AV2012 wrote: 92 Points
Mature riesling (Riga): We had it after six German Auslese and Spatlese, so it didn't show itself as well as I hoped. Probably should have put it in the beginning of the tasting.
Full yelow colour. White apple, acacia tree, boiled buckwheat on the nose. Palate of citrus, apples, very mineral, tight, long, lots of accidity. Good, but hope it will be great next time.
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8/4/2013 - reichken wrote: 92 Points
Clean In color, smoky moving towards petrol, lemons all along, very pure and long, very early days for this wine.
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9/15/2012 - drwine2001 wrote:
Still light yellow. Subtle smokiness more than light petrol this time. Deceptively lighter weight up front, but my god, does this gain intensity and literally explode at the back of the mouth. Amazing focus and drive, picking up a faint quality of peach skin as it goes. Powerful, dry and noble in every way. This was my last bottle of this, and I opened it now because of scattered reports of oxidation, but I have to think that the acid in this bottle could have frozen it in time and preserved it for another 15 years. Hard to believe it was even better than a bottle we had in Alsace earlier this year. Thrilling-an essence of dry Riesling, and the last 3 bottles over the past few years have clearly been the best. I can only hope to run into it again some day.
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7/1/2012 - bopal wrote:
Light/medium gold. Pronounced whiff of petrol. Tastes a bit tired at first. Some tropical fruit (pineapple) on the attack, and wet stone notes fanning out mid-palate. Rich, but the acidity doesn't carry through to the finish which makes it curiously short, flat, and non-linear. Shows its pedigree on day 2, however, maintaining the richness while releasing a vibrant core of limey acidity and minerality through the palate. Long, long finish. Laser-like focus and intensity. Like a snake that was coiled up, then struck. Could I have popped this too soon?
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4/13/2012 - fclarity wrote: 94 Points
From a perfect looking bottle purchased at a restaurant, this wine looked great with a bright, light gold green center and clear rims. The medium+ intensity nose took a couple hours to develop. It showed citrus, white stone, green apple, acacia flower, and almond paste.
In the mouth, this wine tasted ripe but had a silky texture that was buttressed by strong limey acidity. The white stone and zingy acidity helped give it outstanding length. This is a serious, dry wine that may not be for those interested in fat chardonnays. However, I thought it was excellent and still had upside. While drinkable, my guess is that this will improve for 5 or 10 and last for much longer.
This was a totally different experience that I had with the last bottle of this wine.
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4/10/2012 - drwine2001 wrote:
Random Notes from Travels in France; 4/6/2012-4/14/2012 (Paris, Loire, Alsace): What a wine with which to start our stay in Alsace! Still light yellow. Citrus plus petrol aromatics. Absolutely dry. Perfect glycerine feel cut by incredible acidity without any harshness. Superb bottle. I'm sorry we could only spend 2 hours with it as it was still opening.
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8/20/2011 - darvid wrote: flawed
An evening with friends (Chez Nous and Chez Panisse Cafe): Medium gold color. Muted personality with stone, acid and fruit all weighted down with the sherried/fusel character of a really old and not very distinguished Spatlese. Seemed to be trying to brighten up, but couldn't quite muster the strength. Deteriorated rapidly after the first 90 minutes of air. The consensus was that this bottle had suffered heat damage or poor storage at some point. Too bad.
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8/8/2011 - drwine2001 wrote:
Much more glycerine and intense than another bottle earlier this year. Mature Riesling floral aromas and dry peach/lime fruit. This is the essence of dry white wine. Driving acidity which bores right through the palate into the brain. Fantastic showing.
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7/10/2011 - Peech Likes this wine: 92 Points
the color looked a little darker than I would have expected, leading me to joke about this bottle being "Ackered"... Classic nose of petrol, flint, a little ripeness, sweetness, and lots of lemon. Plastic notes came out later, with caramelized apple, oxidation, caramelized sugar and straw. Definitely pretty acidic on the palate.
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5/24/2011 - aagrawal wrote: 91 Points
From a 375. Darker color than expected. Decanted 1.5 hours. Nose has some oxidation but also has white fruits, petrol, hint of fennel. Palate complex and changing, but the real strength in this wine is its acidity. Finish is mouthwatering. Overall a very enjoyable wine but does not blow me away especially for the price. Fully mature from a half. 91.
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3/13/2011 - fclarity wrote: 89 Points
I have not had many of these wine so I was surpised (tasting blind) how dark this wine looked. After the oxidized notes died down, the nose showed pears, wax, and white stone. It struck me more like a a semillon than a riesling.
After the wine had breathed for about an hour it started to freshen up substantially. The acidity became stronger, the finish became longer, and it started to show more minerals in the finish. I am not sure I caught this one at its best but it certainly seemed to benefit from aeration and it seem unlikely to get mcuh better with bottle age.
Subsequently, I drank another bottle of this wine that was much fresher. In reading the notes, it appears that this is not unusual. Maybe there is some serious bottle variation with this vintage?
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1/22/2011 - drwine2001 wrote:
Dinner with Charles (Washington, D.C.): Very youthful color. Wonderful breadth of aromas-tea, dried peach, citrus, and rising petrol. This still has great acidity, although it is much tamer than 5 or 10 years ago. Medium weight, this did not strike me as one of the denser vintages of this wine; rather, this bottle showed quite elegantly, much more along the lines of the 1997. Moderately long finish. It has definitely matured since last tasted, but it does not currently hit the heights of other great, similarly high acid vintages such as 1990. Still, outstanding and classic dry Alsatian Riesling.
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1/7/2011 - KSWinegeek wrote: 87 Points
Golden color. Consistent with reviews from others - mineral and nutty. Somewhat discordant. Both Amy and I thought the wine was oxidized.
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10/26/2010 - DaleW wrote:
A quick guess of white Rioja, then Dan said “no, we’re in Alsace.” The problem was the guesses then turned to 25-30 year old wines. After recently seeing a note on a dinner where John had a PremOxed ’96 CSH, I thought try this now. Well, if it was 30 years old, this might be acceptable, but this is not what one wants in a 14 year old CSH. C+
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10/11/2010 - Eric wrote: flawed
Dinner with Yaacov, Mike and John (New York City, New York, USA): Deep color. Diesel nose. Too sweet and soft and tired. Bad cork or some other form of oxidation? I have only had CSH twice before, the 1979 and the 1997, and this bore no resemblance to those taut, mineral beauties. Too bad.
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9/15/2009 - JJL wrote: 88 Points
Lunch at Hof Van Cleve (Belgium): Sour milk on nose and huge acidity that blocks out all flavors. I know this is a '96, but the acidity on this is crazy.
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5/14/2009 - drwine2001 wrote:
Full yellow color and somewhat nutty initial aromatics made me worry that this was shot, but thankfully, this was not the case. Distant peachy tones were followed by more a mature Riesling nose and strong lemon zest. Full bodied, dry, tremendous acidity, and the most impressive part was an endless finish with clinging minerality. Outstanding with time in hand. Compared to recent bottles of the '97 in particular but even the '98, this is a big, densely packed Clos Ste. Hune. While its acidity is still formidable, it has ameliorated a great deal over the past 5 years.
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5/8/2009 - shazam wrote: flawed
VA
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5/2/2009 - BradE wrote:
Light Lumber in the High Country - Part 2: Very premoxed. It isn't just white burgs.
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4/7/2009 - dream wrote: 94 Points
Fantastic. Perfectly mature with a golden color and wonderful stone and mineral flavors. Big and ripe with a big, spicy, complex finish. Wow!
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3/15/2009 - jjclips2 wrote: 92 Points
Light golden in colour. Nice aromatics of baked apple, tons of minerals, and lemon oil. Almost herbal on the palate with more minerals, piercing acidity, light citrus and a floral element. Was perfect with shellfish.
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12/14/2008 - cfe wrote:
very nice, and drinking well from half bottle. Lovely aromatics - sea weed, beeswx, big time minerals...everything one expects from CSH. Very nice. Drink now or hold.
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4/6/2008 - dream wrote: 95 Points
Golden color. Great nose of wet stones, petrol, tons of minerals, shellack with hints of caramel and string beans. Seems perfectly aged with delicious flavors of limestone, petrol and minerals yet retains its backbone of steely acidity. Finishes quite complex with this incredible hard rock and mineral intensity. This wine really has "grip." Tremendous with oysters and crabcakes. Wow.
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9/14/2007 - psmith wrote:
Surprisingly mature with petrol and cider notes - not to the extent of the last bottle I had but enough to make me wonder if it's the wine rather than a bottle issue. Citrus and mineral with a juicy, tense acidic core. Enjoyable.
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6/9/2007 - psmith wrote:
Darker-than-correct color. Still the mineral core and citrus of CSH, but missing the precision and focus. Not totally funky, but clearly not a proper bottle.
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10/1/2006 - psmith wrote:
Shows a wonderful purity with petrol, orange, and apricot notes - very front heavy for such a young CsH. Great mineral backbone to the palate with a welcome tang and lemon rind character. Quite rich with great length. Should age just splendidly.
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10/1/2006 - AndrewSGHall wrote:
Big mineral nose with a shellac quality. Hints of citrus flower. Lots of weight and body, melodious acids and a slight green tea quality. Lots of power on the finish. Very balanced, a pleasing softness in the middle as well. Time really brings out mineral. Primary elements all lined up, this is an excellent young wine.
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12/21/2005 - psmith wrote: 93 Points
Mineral-driven nose offers classic petrol with great depth and a weighty impression, along with underlying orange and apricot fruit notes. Youthful and weighty on the palate with great purity and an austere, gripping acidity. Balanced throughout with great length and tangy persistence, almost liqueur-like. A really good match with roasted pork loin in a lighter whole-grain mustard sauce.
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10/31/2005 - drwine2001 wrote:
Despite my certainty that this would be too young, it was too tempting to pass up trying it at this stage of its development. And, in fact, it seemed to be at a funny, "in between" stage. Still pale in color with the faintest hint of gold. Slowly unfolding austere Riesling nose, nothing floral or petrol about it, and never really burst out of the glass. On the palate, rich weight, lemony fruit with a tight core of acidity, but little development of complexity. The biggest difference I noted compared to a bottle 2 1/2 years ago was that there was much less searing acidity apparent now than then. As a result, the wine was less of a laser beam; in fact, back then it had a profile reminiscent of young Austrian Riesling. Promising length and finish on tonight's bottle. Verdict? Too young (unfortunately, I was right for a change)! I still have great faith in this wine, but would not touch one for another 5 years, and I do wonder if it will develop the complex fireworks of other great vintages or "just" continue down the pathway of excellent, eminently ageworthy Riesling.
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3/29/2005 - jrufusj wrote:
Dinner with Herschel and Anne (L'Osier): Any concerns about the match with my oysters went away when they brought me a glass of '96 Clos St. Hune without my asking (or paying). Just a nice thought? Or second guessing the Cordier recommendation? The Clos St. Hune was a perfect match, with great acidity, good riesling steeliness, but the generosity that only comes out in Alsation riesling. No petrol, but mineral galore. Great wine.
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1/25/2004 - Vino Me wrote: 93 Points
This was a lovely wine. A light crystaline golden yellow. Dry and very rich with an oily texture. The nose displayed apricot and some petrol. This is a wine just starting to come into its own which was one of BHV's concerns. Starting to show a minerally backbone (which I'm sure will become more pronounced with time) and complex notes of pear, peach and lemon zest. 93 points.
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