Zind Humbrecht Pinot Gris Rotenberg – 2021

Bottling date: 1/2023; Alcohol: 12.6° alc; Residual sweetness: 0.6 g/l; Total Acidity 4.3 g/l H2SO4 (6.5 g/l Tartaric acid), pH: 3.2; Yields: 15 hl/ha; Optimum drinking period: 2026-2039+; Average age of vines: 40 years; Terroir: Oligocene calcareous. West to northwest facing. Steep slope. Indice 1/EU Dry wine.

“The Rotenberg vineyard is located on the steep western/northwestern slope of the Grand Cru Hengst in Wintzenheim. The oligocen limestone is here very rich in iron, giving a distinctive red brick colour to the top soil, which is actually very thin as the mother rock is very close to the surface. This thin soil explains why yields are always low in the vineyard, any vintage. It is unfortunately the price to pay to produce Pinot-Gris wines that have character and taste without the help of over ripeness and botrytis. It is classically one of the Pinot-Gris that has the highest acidity on the domaine, and therefore one of the slowest to ferment. To be sure that the fermentation finishes with a dry wine, we have to do strict ripeness check-ups at harvest in order to pick the grapes at an ideal alcohol potential without of course compromising the phenolic ripeness. Bio-dynamic farming does allow for a faster skin ripeness which is of great help to avoid high alcoholic power with this grape variety. The 2021 vintage is a great example of this work!

1/2023: Intense yellow gold colour. Just like the Riesling wine from the same vineyard, the Pinot-Gris shows a beautiful limestone mineral expression. The pallet is very dry, almost severe at first, at the same time very velvety and quite strict. It however opens up with time, showing some citrus fruits, honey, bee wax, white fruits. The finish is long, given a sense of a classic dry wine, not powerful but just elegant. Very enjoyable today! The firm ripe acidity will allow this wine to age extremely well.” Olivier Humbrecht

“A remarkable pinot gris that radically breaks the mold. Although this has stunning roasted apricot and smoky aromas in the nose it is actually a very cool and restrained wine with enormous mineral tension. Some may find this too extreme, but for us it has an almost overwhelming beauty. From biodynamically grown grapes.” 96pts Stuart Pigott for James Suckling