Domaine Zind-Humbrecht Clos Jebsal Pinot Gris SGN, Alsace, France

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The Zind-Humbrecht 2007 Pinot Gris Clos Jebsal Selection de Grains Nobles – at 9.5% alcohol – is not one of those nectars (two of which were also produced at this estate in 2007) that barely legally became wine. In some respects, though, it is Eszcencia-like. Both its enormous residual sugar and the highest acidity of the vintage are less noticeable on the palate than on paper, and it is nearly weightless as well as viscous in feel. Marzipan, apricot preserves, and honey – tinged with mint and cinnamon – are the principle players on a stage that for now is as remarkable as its cast of characters. The levitational purity here is extraordinary, but it will need years for this to evolve, and one should think in terms of three or more decades’ lifespan. ”After the experience of 2003,” remarks Olivier Humbrecht with an eye to his 2007s, “I’m never going to complain about having and extra gram or two of acidity.” In fact, Humbrecht considers 2007 ideal in nearly every respect, having permitted the grower the luxury of picking under optimum conditions for each grape variety and style. The fruit was completely healthy, insists Humbrecht, “you could walk through the vineyards for half an hour and fine one spoiled berry,” … except, of course, where the rot was noble! This year’s generally dry-tasting, relatively low-alcohol, high acid, high-extract Rieslings are not always the most youthfully approachable or winsome in style, but the best are profound; whereas Pinot Gris and Gewurztraminer ran to extremities of potential alcohol, even though the harvest was finished before mid-October. Far fewer wines went through malo-lactic transformation here from 2007 than usual – the pHs were often so low they proved inhospitable to the necessary bacteria. As for 2006, it’s clear that this is a year to test the meddle of any grower, and it is therefore not surprising that Zind-Humbrecht was among the estates to demonstrate that excellence and even excitement were not ruled out by the weather. Furthermore, he arrived at an average 2006 yield virtually identical to that of 2005. “Of course,” asserts Humbrecht, “quality in 2006 depended on how you handle your vineyards and your vines the whole year through. It was a vintage where, if you made a mistake in the vineyards, you got slapped pretty hard at harvest time, unlike 2007 where if you made a mistake, nature was forgiving.” The completion of fermentations in 2007 was spread over even more months than usual, often with late bottling; frequently with no racking; and my notes are based both on tastings from bottle early this year (sometimes referencing the wine’s performance from cask) and in a few instances solely on tastings from cask. Two 2007 Pinot Gris “Trie Speciale” – from Clos Windsbuhl and Clos Jebsal – were not even wine yet last I visited, and will in any case not be released for at least another year.Importer: The Sorting Table, Napa, CA; tel. (415) 491-4724

Last tasted from barrel, but in entirely stable and clarified condition, Zind-Humbrecht’s 2006 Pinot Gris Clos Jebsal Selection de Grains Nobles is truly Esszencia-like: barely wine (at around 5% alcohol); nearly gelatinous yet weightless; and hiding some 375 grams of sugar (analysis had not yet been rendered). On the one hand there are nougat and caramel on display, while on the other there is a mingling of citrus, liqueur, citrus oils, and fresh citrus that conveys reverberative intensity to the palate and causes my eyes and salivary glands to water and my nostrils to flare. Oxidative complexity of toasted nuts and aromatic old furniture wood add the inscrutable mystery of the amazing in store here. There could hardly be a more amazing tribute to a vintage that most growers would like to forgot, than this elixir that will almost certainly be glorious a quarter century or more from now by which time, indeed, 2006 will have otherwise been forgotten. “After the experience of 2003,” remarks Olivier Humbrecht with an eye to his 2007s, “I’m never going to complain about having and extra gram or two of acidity.” In fact, Humbrecht considers 2007 ideal in nearly every respect, having permitted the grower the luxury of picking under optimum conditions for each grape variety and style. The fruit was completely healthy, insists Humbrecht, “you could walk through the vineyards for half an hour and fine one spoiled berry,” … except, of course, where the rot was noble! This year’s generally dry-tasting, relatively low-alcohol, high acid, high-extract Rieslings are not always the most youthfully approachable or winsome in style, but the best are profound; whereas Pinot Gris and Gewurztraminer ran to extremities of potential alcohol, even though the harvest was finished before mid-October. Far fewer wines went through malo-lactic transformation here from 2007 than usual – the pHs were often so low they proved inhospitable to the necessary bacteria. As for 2006, it’s clear that this is a year to test the meddle of any grower, and it is therefore not surprising that Zind-Humbrecht was among the estates to demonstrate that excellence and even excitement were not ruled out by the weather. Furthermore, he arrived at an average 2006 yield virtually identical to that of 2005. “Of course,” asserts Humbrecht, “quality in 2006 depended on how you handle your vineyards and your vines the whole year through. It was a vintage where, if you made a mistake in the vineyards, you got slapped pretty hard at harvest time, unlike 2007 where if you made a mistake, nature was forgiving.” The completion of fermentations in 2007 was spread over even more months than usual, often with late bottling; frequently with no racking; and my notes are based both on tastings from bottle early this year (sometimes referencing the wine’s performance from cask) and in a few instances solely on tastings from cask. Two 2007 Pinot Gris “Trie Speciale” – from Clos Windsbuhl and Clos Jebsal – were not even wine yet last I visited, and will in any case not be released for at least another year.Importer: The Sorting Table, Napa, CA; tel. (415) 491-4724

One can only call the 2005 Pinot Gris Clos Jebsal Selection de Grains Nobles “off the charts” if one doesn’t mean the charts on twelve of the last thirteen vintages of Pinot Gris from this site! Humbrecht readily admits it was not difficult to select these grapes, as the fruit was ripe so early and botrytis so complete. But he considers it a stroke of luck that this super-concentrate – even though it achieved only 7% alcohol, leaving behind an improbable 307 grams of residual sugar – fermented for nine months, which he believes will ultimately help it to achieve outstanding balance through the effects of barrel and lees. Tea, honey, apricot preserves, and fresh lemon practical assault you from the glass. In the mouth this is almost gelatinous, yet laser-like in its citric intensity and focus. And the resemblance to a Tokaji eszencia doesn’t stop with these phenomenally intense sensory characteristics: it is also true about this elixir (despite its having cleared the threshold of alcohol legally required for wine – a threshold from which Tokaji has recently and controversially been exempted) that it’s honestly hard to judge it today as wine. Count on this becoming more bearably concentrated in a mere 15-20 years, and on its outliving any who can read this note today. 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