Region: Alsace, France
Varietal: 100% Reisling
Tasting Notes: Pale golden/green in color. An expressive nose, displaying bright citrus and verbena notes, which also conveys a sense of structure and ability to age. The enveloping mouthfeel showcases the 2020 sunshine, and lends a long finish with a balancing zest. This Riesling is very dry, showing a ripe saline acidity. Enjoy now, or let it age!
Pairing: This Riesling pairs well with many different regional foods. Clean Japanese sashimi, bright fish tartare, warm Indian chicken tikka or tandoori, smoked fish, pates, French sole paired with creamy sauces, salty pork belly recipes, Vietnamese seafood dishes, or any recipe highlighting citrus and apple.
Heading into Autumn consider enjoying with a savory onion tart and tart apple salad!
Onion Tart by André Saltner.
About:While the Humbrecht family have been winegrowers since 1620, the Domaine Zind Humbrecht was founded in 1959. It has 40 hectares of vines, spread throughout a range of Grand Cru and single-vineyard sites.
In the winery, unsurprisingly the wines are made in a hands-off way: the fermentations are slow and the wines spend at least six months on the gross lees. Bottling occurs after filtration some 12–24 months following the harvest. ‘One of my goals before I die is to avoid filtering the wines’, says Olivier: this isn’t possible at the moment because of the risk of refermentation in these wines, many of which are bottled with high residual sugar levels. He waits until after winter to rack because of the risk of the yeast spores waking up as temperatures increase. Olivier only filters once the wine has become clear in the cask. ‘If you push a cloudy wine through a filter you damage it’, he says.
We journos love to talk in superlatives – the best this, the best that – and even given this annoying tendency, I’m going to suggest that Zind-Humbrecht is probably the best producer in Alsace, with a stunning line-up of powerful, rich wines that possess a real sense of place. -Wine Anorak
