Domaine Zind-Humbrecht Clos Saint Urbain Rangen de Thann Pinot Gris, Alsace Grand Cru, France

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The 2005 Pinot Gris Rangen Clos Saint Urbain is less influenced by botrytis than most of the estate’s 2005 Pinot Gris, and the wine finished at 15.3% alcohol and 28 grams residual sugar. Peat, humus, grapefruit zest, and smoldering leaves as well as peach preserves inform this wine’s pungent nose. But for all of its sheer girth, power, and almost hyper-typical Rangen pungency, this displays remarkable clarity and freshness. That – along with the wine’s sheer density – keep its complex, profound, honeyed finish from becoming ponderous and keep heat to a minimum. Humbrecht feels that this can be a twenty year wine, and I am inclined to concur.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

The 2005 Pinot Gris Thann represents young vines from the Rangen, and was to have been bottled into the domaine’s generic Pinot Gris, but it was so slow to ferment (no doubt due to considerable botrytis as well as high acidity) that Humbrecht had to give up that idea. He didn’t want to have yet another instance of lot number designations, and in any event this distinctive wine retained 43 grams of residual sugar, so he bottled it under the village name. Site-typical smokiness as well as peaches, honey, and residual fermentative notes mark the nose. While this tastes less sweet than I would have anticipated, it displays a rather tart-sweet tug-of-war on the palate that at least for now does not resolve itself in the finish. Still, there is concentration and site typicity throughout, and Humbrecht insists this has had more harmonious days. 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