The 2005 Muscat d’Alsace Saering – like several of the Dirlers’ 2005s – was somewhat reduced, but in this instance that blew off to reveal an expressive nose of sage, thai basil, mint, orange zest, and musky, narcissus-like florality. In the mouth this is glossy, refined, truly dry, emphatically, pungently herbal, zesty, and true to type yet without any finishing bitterness. Furthermore, there is a ravishingly long and truly refreshing finish too often missing with this genre. Try this with fresh tomatoes and basil (a decades-old tip I owe Terry Theise) and have no fear to chart its bottle evolution over at least 6-8 years. At this address one gets double the Muscat pleasure, as there is also a parcel in the Spiegel, which is being increasingly inter-planted with Muscat a Petits Grains in the belief that warmer and warmer weather will give this essentially Mediterranean transplant an opportunity to fully ripen nearly every year. So enormous is the range of wines nowadays grown at the combined Dirler and Cade domaine that I did not have the time to taste them all. (All of those I did taste are at least mentioned in the text.) Along with the involvement of the new generation – Jean Dirler and his wife Ludivine (nee Cade) – the entire domaine has been farmed biodynamically since 1998 (and parts of the Kessler and Kitterle with horse), a factor the family thinks especially beneficial given the climatic extremes that have prevailed in recent years. Riesling and Pinot Gris are generally fermented in foudre here, and other whites usually in tank. Very few families of Alsace wine have exhibited long-term the consistent quality and age-ability one can expect of those bottled under the Dirler name.Importer: Robert Chadderdon Selections, New York, NY; tel. (212) 757-8185