Speaking of Hengst terroir, it is also very much in evidence in Barmes’ 2005 Pinot Noir Vieilles Vignes, a wine with concentrated, black pepper- and chalk-laced blackberry fruit, subtle hints of leather, satisfactory oak-integration (which the 2004 rendition, incidentally, lacked), and sappy, juicy, chalky persistence. This genuinely palate-staining Pinot should be well worth holding on to for a few years. And really, every pinotphile owes it to her- or himself and to fellow wine lovers – not to mention to the growers – to sample and serve blind one or two from among the increasingly serious and successful Alsace reds.The affable Francois Barmes vocally advocates biodynamic viticulture and earlier harvesting to achieve balanced wines of juicy fruit and digestabilite. That said, more than a few of those I tasted were big-bodied to say the least, and certain of them could not handle their alcohol.Importer: Sussex Wine Merchants, Moorestown, NJ; tel. (856) 608 9644; also, a Thomas Calder Selection (various importers), Paris; fax 011-33-1-46-45-15-29.
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