| Score: |
95 WA.
"The 1995 Riesling Frederic Emile has ripe peach fruit aromas, and is spicy, coolish, mineral, very precise and fresh. Very mineral, pure, fresh, and piquant with a great salinity and tension; it is firm and grippy, still very young with tension. For Trimbach fans, it is important to know that the family has launched the first-ever terroir named wine, the 2009 Riesling Grand Cru Geisberg. Although I did not taste the 2009, I was impressed by the quality of the 2013 and rated it even higher than the iconic Cuvée Frédéric Emile (yet not so from the 2012 vintage). The grapes from the 2.6 ha plot on the Geisberg have always been part of the famous Cuvée, which has always been (and will remain) a blend of the Osterberg and Geisberg grands crus of Ribeauvillé. But since the nuns of the Couvent de Ribeauvillé, from whom the grapes have always being bought, insisted that the quality of the grapes were worth to be used for an exclusive Geisberg Grand Cru ("otherwise..."), Trimbach had to accept and so the domaine's first declared Grand Cru was born. Most likely there will be a second Grand Cru soon. In 2012 the Trimbach family purchased a plot in the Kientzheim Grand Cru Schlossberg. Whereas the vintages 2012 and 2013 were finally blended with the classic Trimbach Riesling, the 2014 seems good enough to become Trimbach's second Grand Cru. Pierre Trimbach: "We had to restore the vineyard first and force the roots to go deeper into the shallow granite soil, otherwise we would have big stress problems in dry vintages." The Clos Sainte Hune, however, sourced from a 1.67 hectare small plot within the Rosacker Grand Cru that has been family-owned for more than 200 years, will remain what it is -- a brand wine. Consumers think it is a terroir wine anyway, and even when not, they will consider it as one of the finest dry Rieslings on planet wine. Trimbach fans should also include the domaine when it comes to detecting Alsace's potential for great Pinot Noir. Trimbach's Réserve Personelle (or Réserve Cuve 7 in France) is on a good way in any case." Wine Advocate #221, Oct 2015 |