Trimbach Riesling

Country: France Region: Alsace

Varietal: Riesling

Vintage: 2019 Colour: White Style: Dry

Producer: Trimbach

Description:
The Trimbachs are obsessed by Riesling. Almost half their production is Riesling (against a regional average of 22%) and they produce the finest dry Riesling in the world, Clos Ste Hune (check out our 66 tasting notes on this long-lived marvel of a wine). But even the Trimbachs were amazed by the quality of their 2019 Rieslings, Jean T calling the vintage unparalleled. It was as hot and dry as the famous heatwave vintage of 2003 but the grapes somehow hung on to record levels of acidity for such a warm year to notch up truly exceptional levels of both sugar and acid. They lost about 30% of the crop, apparently, so their 2019 Rieslings are extra-concentrated.

The quality of this wine, their 'basic' Riesling, is all the more remarkable when one thinks that it is based on fruit bought in from their long-term suppliers, many of them 'contracted' on the basis of a handshake alone, sometimes over four generations. Most of the Riesling for this bottling, at a remarkably friendly price for the quality, comes from hillside sites in the higher, more southerly Haut-Rhin départment, from St-Hippolyte to Thann, and what they call 'a secret spot in Scherwiller' north of the family's base in the village of Ribeauvillé (below), where Riesling has the habit of retaining freshness even in hot years.

Tasting Note:  It is classic dry Riesling, its rich, floral nose backed up by incredible tension. It is bone dry but full of concentrated but racy fruit. You could enjoy it now but on the basis of older bottles of this wine I have seen, I don't think there is any hurry whatsoever to drink it. It's already beautiful – far more beautiful than most wines at the price

Food Matches: Spicy Fish Cakes, Salmon, Paté