Deiss’s 2006 Burlenberg – Pinot Noir with a bit of Pinot Beurot that spent nearly two years in barrel – smells of fresh mulberry wreathed in smoke; comes to the palate densely concentrated, broad and satiny in texture, with evident but fine-grained tannin; and finishes with bitter-sweet back fruit, brown spices, hints of black pepper, salt, and peat. This has me imagining a blend of Cabernet Franc and Syrah though it is very impressive in its less than winsome way. And, after all, there is every reason to believe from the best of Alsace Pinot Noirs that they do not behave at all like Burgundy. This definitely requires that you have faith in it and give it a few years in the cellar. I suspect it will continue to be worth drinking for at least a decade, and at the price of a village-level Burgundy, why not experiment? And I can assure you, few than half a dozen prestigious Burgundy estates crop their Pinot Noir at levels as low as Deiss’s. I have not yet tasted the 2007. Jean-Michel Deiss has been officially tasked with assisting his fellow Alsace growers in the drafting of new regional regulations and labeling conventions, in keeping with both France’s proposed move to a higher-order French appellation “d’Origine Protegee” and with the potential regional autonomy provided for (if inchoately) by recent EU legislation. As readers can imagine, Deiss’s vision involves a drastically diminished scope and roll for varietal bottling, analogous to his conception of Alsace crus as being best expressed by a blending of multiple cepages. (For more on the evolution of Deiss’s approach, consult my report in issue 175). Two things are indubitable: Alsace could use fresh approaches to labeling and marketing; and any Deiss proposal will have been thought-through all the way down to its historical and metaphysical levels. Deiss’s own line and labeling have been further simplified: beginning with 2006 his lower tier of wines is being bottled without village designations, leaving him more flexibility in blending. Although Deiss did not bottle a full compliment of his crus from the rot-challenged 2006 vintage, he said he was loath to pull back by settling his musts more aggressively of bottling earlier, “because the lees are the megaphone for the terroir.” Fair enough in principle, but the results were to say the least decidedly mixed, whereas Deiss’s 2007s represent a resounding success. (Deiss did not show me his lower-tier 2006s and I did not have chance to ferret any of them out from the marketplace.)Importer: Vintus, Pleasantville, NY; tel. (914) 769-3000
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