1999 Zind Humbrecht Clos St Urbain Riesling Alsace Grand Cru

1999 Zind Humbrecht Clos St Urbain Riesling Alsace Grand Cru

This was a monopole plot of Domaine Zind Humbrecht, obviously a rare Grand Cru. Production was not easy, as one has to extract the grape from a 60% gradient slope. This wine must have inherited the pedigree of German Riesling, as it possessed the typical kerosene and petroleum bouquet, plus a hint of ripe pineapple. Not every Alsace Riesling that I came across possessed the kerosene and petroleum character, thus this was as authentic as it got. For a 21 year old Riesling, this was really matured; color of deep yellow gave me an impression that it may have been more matured than the vintage implied. Flavour was deep and mellow, very easy to drink and with a pleasant, ripe taste, with the added ripe pineapple fruit style. While the deep and mellow taste was impressive, it lacked the obvious acidity, not even a hint of it, so this Alsace wine was totally fruit driven, albeit an enjoyable one.