Domaine Zind-Humbrecht Pinot Gris Heimbourg Turckheim Selection de Grains Nobles, Alsace, France

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The Zind-Humbrecht 2008 Pinot Gris Heimbourg Selection de Grains Nobles smells prominently of white truffle and sauteed champignons, along with maraschino, white raisin, quince preserves, and decadent lily perfume. Given 224 grams of residual sugar, even with yet-higher acidity than the corresponding Rotenberg, this comes off as enormously sweet. Here is an instance where Olivier Humbrecht thinks precisely a high acid and correspondingly low pH medium inhibited the yeasts in their labors, resulting in a protracted fermentation that petered-out at only 9.7% alcohol. One experiences that sense of confiture and honey being laced with enlivening fresh lemon, and even if one wants to characterize the finish as sweet-sour, it is undeniably intense, prolonged, and full of potentially productive, latently energetic tension. This needs a decade, I suspect, just to settle into a groove, and ought to be worth following for more than another decade beyond that, though I would monitor the extent to which the overtly fungal notes integrate or strengthen. Tasting the Zind-Humbrecht collections armed with what one knows of these vintages from most other establishments, both the 2008s and 2009s will harbor surprises. A number of 2008s are ornery in finished acidity, and some are more marked by botrytis than most other exemplars of their vintage from top addresses, this occasionally taking the form of fungal notes and piquancy that some tasters may find off-putting. The 2008 harvest began here already on September 23, lasting exactly one month. Selectivity in October – especially with Pinot Gris – consisted, explained Humbrecht, more in the careful removal of healthy bunches to insure some dry wines, with the remaining crop being left until later, the opposite of what more usually happens and at many other top-quality Alsace (or German) estates – notwithstanding the literal meaning of the expression “vendange tardive.” “Gewurztraminer was the last to ripen,” notes Humbrecht, and presumably for that reason grape sugars were very high by the time he picked, making for a collection nearly all of which exhibits V.T.-like sweetness. “It was almost easier and more sensible to make S.G.N. this vintage than V.T.,” remarks Humbrecht by way of explaining why he rendered six of the former and only one 2008 wine in the latter category. “If there had been pressure to harvest,” he notes, “then we would have had V.T.s instead.” The majority of 2008 Rieslings – as well as the Pinot Blanc and two Muscats – were not bottled until February, 2010 on account of their high acidity and/or sluggish fermentations. But most of those wines underwent malo and finished dry or virtually so. (The yeasts and beneficial bacteria may have found it tough working in such a low pH medium, but – eventually – they succeeded.) Yet even in early-harvested instances, Humbrecht says that the proportion of malic acidity – which thereafter diminished – was never higher than one-third. Most of the 2008 vintage Pinot Gris and Gewurztraminer, even including the S.G.N.s, were bottled already in September, 2009.The surprise on tasting the Zind-Humbrecht 2009s is an entirely pleasant one. The exceptional expressiveness of so many of these wines – even if Olivier Humbrecht admits that “they aren’t always perfectly precise or pure” – is surely in large part a tribute to vineyard management that permitted such a substantial portion of so large a crop to be picked unusually early, yet expressively ripe, although, a few sites succumbed to fortunately noble rot. Among practices to which Humbrecht points as relevant to his 2009 quality is his elimination in recent years of vine hedging to achieve earlier and more uniform flavor ripeness without excess grape sugar. Instead, his crew now lets the tips grow and then laboriously ties or tucks them back into the canopy, an approach for which fellow-proponent of biodynamics Lalou Bize-Leroy has become well-known. Against a background in vintage 2009 of wines that fermented rapidly for most growers, Humbrecht explains that this was the case for many of his, too; but some that had stopped with significant residual sugar over the winter began fermenting again in early summer of last year, a few not finishing until autumn and thus missing the main bottling session that takes place here each September. When I visited the domaine last November, Riesling Windsbuhl; multiple Rieslings from Turckheim including two Brands; and the Jebsal Pinot Gris S.G.N. were not ready to be assessed. Those who (like me) have harbored reservations about noticeably high alcohol in certain recent Zind-Humbrecht wines will be delighted to find 2009s that have in that respect also beaten the vintage odds, though to be sure, sometimes at the price of high residual sugar. With minor exceptions, retail prices have dropped for Zind-Humbrecht wines, in some instances significantly. Add to this an expanded range of generic cuvees and the Humbrechts’ willingness to declassify fruit from many outstanding sites (which helps account for the 2009 collection’s – relatively! – reduced number of bottlings), and most consumers can afford to enjoy – indeed, really have no excuse for remaining strangers to – at least some of these much-talked about and often iconic wines.Importer: The Sorting Table, Napa, CA; tel. (415) 491-4724

When botrytis rapidly overtakes the grapes, says Humbrecht, as it did those of the 2005 Pinot Gris Heimbourg Selection de Grains Nobles, the ennobling effect is all the more concentrated and dramatic. And when high acidity is added to the effect of botrytis – as is also the case here – the yeasts seldom stand a chance of getting very far along in fermentation (in this instance 10% alcohol) and even an enormous amount of residual sugar (here 219 grams) does not come off as cloying. An absolutely ethereal concentration of pure botrytisin, honey, apricot nectar, litchi, white raisin, and cinnamon spice on the nose set the tone for this amazingly rich, buttery-textured, yet buoyant and positively invigorating wine. Licorice, vanilla, and saline, chalky mineral threads weave their way into the already intricate and plush carpet of flavors in a finish of astonishing lift and refinement. This extraordinary wine will reward at least three decades in the cellar.Olivier Humbrecht compares his 2004s with 1992. These were the two most copious vintages of recent times, delivering truly dry wines with quite high acidity. Although he characterized 2004 as more precocious than 2005, Humbrecht kept harvesting through early November, insisting that this was only possible due to his stringent, biodynamic viticultural practices and consequent generally healthy fruit. Humbrecht insists too that he did not seek botrytis, as rain was rendering noble rot nearly impossible. But it certainly seems sometimes as if botrytis sought out him! One price for his protracted harvest was elevated alcohol, which some wines struck me as hard-pressed to gracefully support; and acid levels too occasionally reached extremes. Overall, in fact, I have never tasted such a wide rage of quality nor so many unusually distinctive and at times downright inscrutable wines at this address as those of 2004. Two thousand five, relates Humbrecht, brought ample botrytis, especially with Pinot Gris, but later ripeness, again with formidable acid and extract levels thanks to the cool, well-watered August. Nearly all of the Riesling musts fermented dry. Humbrecht considers it a classic vintage for (in most instances dry-tasting) Gewurztraminer. And despite the blanket of rot that descended on the Pinot Gris vineyards, a cold, virtually cloudless five day period permitted patient and rigorous selection of fruit. A tribute to the ripeness and high tartaric acidity of these 2005s is that although well more than half of his lots of Riesling and Pinot Gris underwent malolactic transformation, an experienced taster would be hard-pressed to identify which! “Had we had the challenging October of 2004 in 2005 as well,” he says, “most ‘04s would be better than the ‘05s.” But as things turned out – October 2005 having been the second warmest after 2001 in the last decade – Humbrecht believes that in the long run these two collections will prove well matched in overall quality.Importer: The Sorting Table, Napa, CA; tel. (415) 491-4724