Domaine Weinbach Pinot Gris Altenbourg Quintessence de Grains Nobles Cuvee d'Or, Alsace, France

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The Fallers’ 2008 Pinot Gris Altenbourg Quintessence de Grains Nobles follows up yet more selectively on their “Vendange Tardive Trie Speciale” from this site – there being no corresponding S.G.N. With nearly 200 grams of sugar and 10.6 grams of acidity, this is almost as impressive on paper as it is on the palate. Candied lemon and pink grapefruit rinds; quince and honey are the prime movers aromatically and on a viscous, glycerin-slicked palate shot through with electric acidity and suffused with saliva gland-milking salinity. There is a certain simplicity that goes along with this wine’s purity, I suspect because the characteristics it currently displays are all present in such blazingly expressive concentration as to elbow-out any other nuances or details. But you can count on this for fireworks well into the future ? indeed, if you’re my age it might almost be a sin to taste this more than the proverbial “once before I die.” Both 2008 and 2009 were clearly challenging at Domaine Weinbach, many of their wines from the latter illustrating that vintage’s weaknesses. (Catherine and Collette Faller elected not to present me their – admittedly, at the time not yet officially approved – 2009 vintage V.T. and S.G.N. bottlings.) Harvesting at this estate is generally on the late side and in this instance continued until October 20, which I hypothesized while tasting might have been a bit too late for such nearly uniformly ripeness as seems to have prevailed by late September of 2009. The first vintage from this estate that I tasted as young wine was 1979 (‘though I did not visit until 1984), so I’ve experienced a full range of collections from cool, late growing seasons such as have nowadays become scarce; but only from a couple of genuinely ripeness-deficient vintages of the 1980s, and then again from 1996, can I recall acid levels as prominent as those harbored by the Weinbach 2008s, and this has rendered some of them youthfully severe or nervous, though one hopes and indeed expects that the best will calm down, round out, and harmonize over time, without losing their vivacity, focus, and in some instances power. Don’t be misled by the scores I have assigned to this 2008 collection: really, a question mark hangs over them all because it’s how these wines respond to bottle age which will determine the verdict that matters. A look at the 1996s provides some tantalizing clues but little confidence. Some 1996s have evolved beautifully, while others seem caught in a time warp, their agitated, faintly aggravating adolescent Sturm und Drang almost unseemly for their age. With all this in mind I recently revisited a bottle of 1981 Weinbach Gewurztraminer V.T. – a wine whose residual sugar was lower than that of most non-V.T. Gewurz at this address today, and whose acidity in youth was formidable – and that wine was spectacular. And as you’ll see from my notes, Gewurztraminer is the most likely candidate for stardom in the 2008 Weinbach collection. (For considerable detail on the slope origins of the many Weinbach cuvees, consult my reports in issues 188 and 175.) I can’t resist noting that suggested retail prices for the most recent releases are little more than half what I was being quoted as recently as three vintages ago, making the best of the current crop especially worthy of wine lovers’ attention, even though neither 2008 nor 2009 is among this illustrious domaine’s most consistently successful collections.Importer: Vineyard Brands, Birmingham, AL; tel. (205) 980-8802

An exercise in extremity (if not overkill) as well as in the lurid side of botrytis, the Weinbach 2007 Pinot Gris Altenbourg Quintessence de Grains Nobles smells of passion fruit, sage flower, green tea, musk, over-ripe cantaloupe, and peach preserves. Enormously viscous and candied, this elixir's remarkable if inchoate array of aromas seems trapped for now in liquid state by a blanket of residual sugar. There is certainly the makings here of a stunning wine, but I think one will need at least a decade to even read the signposts on the way to what will probably be a four or more decade lifespan. This year, Domaine Weinbach will receive its official certification as organic and biodynamic growers. The Fallers did well in the difficult 2006 vintage - especially with those Gewurztraminer harvested before botrytis gained the upper hand - and with good reason expressed elation over the vibrancy and refinement that characterizes most of 2007s.Importer: Vineyard Brands, Birmingham, AL; tel. (205) 980-8802

The 2001 Tokay-Pinot Gris Altenbourg Quintessence de Grains Nobles bursts forth with aromas reminiscent of spice and botrytis-laden apricots, peach jam, cherries, and white pepper. This huge, massively rich wine contains 200 grams of residual sugar per liter yet is balanced and vinous (unlike some super-sweet, jelly like dessert wines). Oodles of caramelized apricots, spices, and hints of tangy passion fruit can be found in its deep character as well as in its seemingly never ending finish. Importer: Vineyard Brands, Birmingham, AL; tel. (205) 980-8802