4 | Wine | Alsace | Page 3

"This firm white is focused by a backbone of racy acidity, offering kumquat, grapefruit zest, apricot and melon flavors, with honey and apple blossom hints. Shows lovely balance, with a mineral note lingering on the finish."

"Well-defined and balanced, this shows clean notes of star fruit, melon rind, smoke and orange peel, with a thread of mineral salinity. Structured without being overpowering, this is dry and tangy, and would be a fine match for light seafood."

"Dry and spicy, with flavors of dried cherry, wild strawberry and black raspberry. This is well-meshed, offering subtle, juicy acidity and a creamy finish."

"A rich, dry white, with the luxurious, tactile texture of raw silk, this offers a spicy mineral base and layered flavors of green melon, pink grapefruit zest, honey, fleur de sel and macerated peach, all structured by firm, mouthwatering acidity."

"Yellow with a gold tinge. Very ripe yellow fruit aromas complicated by subtle gingery spices and flowers on the expressive nose. Complex and pure on the palate, with a tactile umami charater to the ginger and ripe peach flavors. Ripe acidity nicely frames the wine's dense, rich fruit. Very concentrated and long, finishing with a lightly tannic impression. Sweeter than the Calcaire bottling but a bit less intellectual than that wine."

"Bright yellow-gold. Smoky candied orange rind and bacon fat on the nose. Then very pure in the mouth, with ripe, sweet, minty cinnamon and tropical fruit flavors focused by bright acidity. A touch of excess alcohol at the back reduced my enthusiasm a bit."

"A remarkable pungency and brightness of rhubarb preserves, pink grapefruit marmalade, and glazed pineapple laced with lime and sage oil scent the Weinbach 2007 Gewurztraminer Mambourg Selection de Grains Nobles and generate an electrically charged, sweet and tart palate impression, with 128 grams of residual sugar cut down to mere sweetness by atypically high acids and implosive extract. Seldom will one encounter a Gewurztraminer with remotely this sort of vivacity, and tasted blind I would more likely have guessed this to be a Muscat or Scheurebe. The finish is amazingly penetrating, if a bit raw."