Far and away the most striking nobly sweet elixir in the house is his 2002 Gewurztraminer Sonnenglanz Selection de Grains Nobles. Peach and apricot preserves liberally slathered in caramel and honey, dominate both nose and palate here, but there are cepage-specific suggestions of rose water and candied mint as well. This wine’s esterous high tones, peach and apricot concentration, and sheer viscosity put one very much in mind of eszencia. The long finish of liqueur-like intensity is dominated by caramel, but the sweetness never becomes cloying. This needs a decade before one can even properly assess its long-term potential. Scarcely any of the 2005 vintage Bott-Geyl wines had been released as of mid-1997, and the top domain will not be released for another year or more. Young Jean-Christophe Bott is passionate about quality and unafraid to make sacrifices on its behalf. He has adopted a biodynamic regimen in the vineyards and is now holding most of his wines 6-24 months in bottle before release. Clarity and cleanliness run through all of these, and it is encouraging to taste so many Riesling that are uncompromisingly dry (although occasionally bitterness or alcohol intrude). Bott feels capable of encouraging dryness and balance in various ways in the vineyard and the cellar without ever intervening in or attempting to re-start sluggish fermentations. By no means all of the wines I tasted displayed strong personalities, but many of them gave reason to believe – as does Bott’s articulate advocacy – that this will be one of the more talked-about Alsace domains of the coming decade. Given the challenges that so many of his fellow-growers recorded with this variety in 2004, his success in bringing Gewurztraminer to subtly-ennobled ripeness in that vintage – while taking advantage of higher than usual acidities – is especially noteworthy.Importer: Eric Solomon Selections, Charlotte, NC; tel. (704) 358-1565