From barrel (where I was last able to taste it), Bursin’s 2007 Pinot Noir Strangenberg (earlier vintages were labeled without this rocky, well-drained vineyard’s name) boasts abundant ripe, bitter-edged black fruits and brown spices with a stony undertone that lends a certain sense of austerity of also gravitas. Resinous notes from barrel don’t really add anything positive but are unobtrusive, and provided this does not dry-out from further exposure (or past-bottling) it should be well worth following for 3-4 years. Agathe Bursin – for more about whom consult issue 175 – is one of Alsace’s major emerging talents, as witness her surprisingly fine showing in the difficult 2006 vintage. Bursin’s 2007 vintage Rieslings are comparatively firm, though they may well blossom short-term, and as usual she has scored impressive results with Gewurztraminer.A Thomas Calder Selection (various importers), Paris; fax 011-33-1-46-45-15-29

Bursin’s 2006 Pinot Noir Strangenberg smells of ripe plum and cherry wreathed in wood smoke and a faintly fusil aura; offers a rather spare but bright palate impression; and finishes with impressive spice and chalk if a very slightly detached note from its mixed ages of barrique.Agathe Bursin – for more about whom consult issue 175 – is one of Alsace’s major emerging talents, as witness her surprisingly fine showing in the difficult 2006 vintage. Bursin’s 2007 vintage Rieslings are comparatively firm, though they may well blossom short-term, and as usual she has scored impressive results with Gewurztraminer.A Thomas Calder Selection (various importers), Paris; fax 011-33-1-46-45-15-29