kirk wallace
kirk wallace
OK; thank you. I too recall liking it a lot; and now i'll have to correct my memories as to vintage and producer. For those of us who rarely take notes, yet another reason not to drink alone.
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Trimbach surprise
- Thread starter mark meyer
- Start date
OK; thank you. I too recall liking it a lot; and now i'll have to correct my memories as to vintage and producer. For those of us who rarely take notes, yet another reason not to drink alone.
Trimbach aims for dryness in all the non-late-harvest gewurztraminers. They still, generally, achieve it in the Ribeaupierre, which comes from cooler and well-sloped vineyards better known for their steely riesling. The yellow label...well, consider that potential alcohols are coming in at Carlisle-like numbers and higher, and so faced with a choice between flaws they're making off-dry (and still boozy, no matter what you read) wines in lesser years, off-dry and balanced-boozy wines in better years. But that's just the yellow label. They'd still make it dry, restrained, and austere (for gewurztraminer, that is) if they could, but climate change isn't really encouraging that anymore. It's still about the driest Alsatian gewurztraminer there is, save Beyer, and the Ribeaupierre may be the only regularly dry and regularly good gewurztraminer left in the region.
But, as you see via Mr. Lawton, that's no path to universal acclaim. Some feel that the grape really does need residual sugar, and I can see both sides. Me, I like what happens to aged dry gewurztraminer, and I like powerfully sweet, rich, and decadent gewurztraminer. I don't like aged off-dry gewurztraminer, as a rule, because I think it turns sickly and disjointed, so I try to drink that young.
The Ribeaupierre ages for 10-15 years in decent vintages, perhaps more if you like it to be a certain way, less in lesser vintages or if you don't think gewurztraminer should taste like rose and old jerky with a fair slap of acidity (believe it or not). I do age some of the yellow labels, but nowhere close to as long as Mark just did. The 2001 and 2002 were both falling apart, last week. I'm up to 2004s now, and they're still fine.
If you're still in the market for dry gewurztraminer for under $40, probably best to look elsewhere. Italy, New Zealand, maybe somewhere I'm not thinking about at the moment.
But, as you see via Mr. Lawton, that's no path to universal acclaim. Some feel that the grape really does need residual sugar, and I can see both sides. Me, I like what happens to aged dry gewurztraminer, and I like powerfully sweet, rich, and decadent gewurztraminer. I don't like aged off-dry gewurztraminer, as a rule, because I think it turns sickly and disjointed, so I try to drink that young.
The Ribeaupierre ages for 10-15 years in decent vintages, perhaps more if you like it to be a certain way, less in lesser vintages or if you don't think gewurztraminer should taste like rose and old jerky with a fair slap of acidity (believe it or not). I do age some of the yellow labels, but nowhere close to as long as Mark just did. The 2001 and 2002 were both falling apart, last week. I'm up to 2004s now, and they're still fine.
If you're still in the market for dry gewurztraminer for under $40, probably best to look elsewhere. Italy, New Zealand, maybe somewhere I'm not thinking about at the moment.
U
Unknown
Guest
yep, I'll take a chance on anything The House produces ( to drink or to cellar ), but when it comes to Gewurz I have a bit of a if-you-can't-beat-them-join-them attitude. My highlights for the grape are Deiss AdB VT from the 90s.
As you know, I'm quite fond of Josmeyer's wines in general, but it's not my impression that the gewurztraminers are usually dry. I know the pinots gris aren't, so fermenting gewurztraminer to dryness seems an unlikely iconoclasm. And I'm not sure I see how their sites could produce dry gewurztraminer in most modern vintages; the fame of their grand crus, for example, came (at least in part) from their heat in years where that was a benefit rather than a burden. But I haven't seen lab analyses, so maybe I'm wrong. I do see that they claim occasional dryness for the "Les Folastries" bottling.Thunder God, Josmeyer? I thought the Gewurz was pretty dry, if not always palatable. And I thought Schoffit always had a completely dry Gewurz because they had sugar in everything else...
As for Schoffit, dry is definitely not my experience. But I avoid most of their wines if I can, so maybe things have changed.
I think the trick is to serve the wine to Scott Wurcer. He can't, to my recollection, tolerate even a hint of sugar in gewurztraminer. So he can be the canary in our coal mine.
Mike: good point.
.sasha: as you also may know, I mostly loathe Deiss' wines these days, but there was a time when they were better. My old Deiss notes are lost forever, but I have a vague memory of a memory of liking the same wine from the same site.
mark meyer
mark meyer
Sam's Club had an open house weekend in Aug and since I had never been in a Sam's Club I stopped by one to have a look-they had the Trimbach 07 yellow label riesling for $9.99-so I picked up a few-are these 10+ yr wines? I did try one and it was bone dry and its austerity led me to conclude I should bury it for many yrs.
mark
mark
I've been aging the yellow-label rieslings up to a decade for...well, about a decade now, just to see. It's not my belief that they reward that much time, and I'd like to have them consumed by age five in the future. Your tastes may differ, obviously. There's only one way to find out.
Remember that the yellow label is partially or all, depending on the vintage, ngociant fruit. Trimbach picks early to preserve their style, but in general I think that the wine is better when it's a little richer, because in lean/clean/precise years most of the good grapes go into the "Rserve" bottling (all estate fruit), which also sources from sites that can definitely challenge that house style...like the grapes that go into the "Cuve M", for example...and sometimes needs reinforced delineation.
For example, I think my 2002s have held better than the 2001s did, whereas I don't think that will turn out to be the case for the estate rieslings (if I can hold any that long). But in both cases, I think the plain yellow-labels were better in the middle of the decade than they are now. And even when they hold, they don't develop much. They just sort of erode.
The basic-level wine that benefits the most from a little aging (that is, changes) is still, in my opinion, the pinot blanc. If we include the Rserves, I'd point to the pinot gris, which can shed the baby fat and get a little iron-flecked, which I like.
Remember that the yellow label is partially or all, depending on the vintage, ngociant fruit. Trimbach picks early to preserve their style, but in general I think that the wine is better when it's a little richer, because in lean/clean/precise years most of the good grapes go into the "Rserve" bottling (all estate fruit), which also sources from sites that can definitely challenge that house style...like the grapes that go into the "Cuve M", for example...and sometimes needs reinforced delineation.
For example, I think my 2002s have held better than the 2001s did, whereas I don't think that will turn out to be the case for the estate rieslings (if I can hold any that long). But in both cases, I think the plain yellow-labels were better in the middle of the decade than they are now. And even when they hold, they don't develop much. They just sort of erode.
The basic-level wine that benefits the most from a little aging (that is, changes) is still, in my opinion, the pinot blanc. If we include the Rserves, I'd point to the pinot gris, which can shed the baby fat and get a little iron-flecked, which I like.