Thursday, July 28, 2011

Trimbach Riesling Clos Ste Hune 1997

My very first month in the wine trade, I was shown a bottle of this wine and told, 'this is the greatest dry Riesling in the world'. It was the 1994 vintage. I didn't really understand what I had been told. Academically, I suppose, it made sense to me, but I had so little understanding of the context surrounding it that its place in the pantheon of wine never really sank in.

I have never had a mature Clos Ste Hune: a bottle at its peak. It remains a goal of mine.

My goodness that looks young. Nowhere near 14 years old. Still flecks of silver and pale gold - the light dances through it.

Nose of Flint and lime with oats. Whiff  of honey.

Palate is a little teenager-y, just on the cusp of shedding it's lean, crisp and crunch side and just beginning to show deep, rich roasted oats and limes with stone running through the seams. The structure is still precise, running from youth at the beginning of the palate to young adulthood and just the beginnings of maturity at the end of the palate.

***(**)

Tasted at Shorehead 20/6/2011

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