Albrecht’s 2004 Pinot Gris Vendange Tardive offers a striking nose of purple plum preserves and chocolate, honey and brown spices, covers the palate with rich, pungently spicy plum distillate and honey, and finishes with faint warmth but surprising clarity for a wine this rich and texturally fat. Jean Albrecht offers a range of negotiant wines (sparkling, and those labeled “Reserve”) as well as domaine bottlings, together with a remarkably deep range of older vintages, and none of the 2005s from his top sites had been bottled yet last Spring, nor was he willing to show them. Among numerous ambitious plans afoot here is a replanting program based entirely on selection massale from the estate’s best old vines.Importer: Pasternak Wine Imports, Harrison, NY; tel. (914) 630-8214

With its slightly oily and sweet flavors of honeyed pears and melons, this speaks plainly of late-picked Pinot Gris. Finishes on the short side, but there's no doubt that it's clean and varietally correct.——J.C.(2/1/2005)—— 88