Zind-Humbrecht | Alsace | Pinot Gris Clos Jebsal, Sélection de Grains Nobles | 2007 | 750ml

Description

Product description for Zind-Humbrecht Pinot Gris Clos Jebsal, Sélection de Grains Nobles 2007

Colour

Intense, sparkling golden yellow with distinct amber reflections.

Nose

The 2007 Pinot Gris Clos Jebsal Sélection de Grains Nobles smells of sweet pastries, malt, honey, light tobacco, and intense minerality. This intense aroma is accompanied by dried fruits and floral notes reminiscent of thyme, broom, and chervil.

Palate

On the palate, the 2007 Pinot Gris Clos Jebsal Sélection de Grains Nobles captivates with a wonderful interplay of sweetness and acidity. Juicy fruits, liquid blossom honey, and stimulating herbal notes make it an exciting sweet wine of the highest class. At the moment, it still presents itself very youthfully, like an uncut diamond in the rough, with many years of aging potential. The fact that the grapes at Clos Jebsal ripen early provides the opportunity to select them and thus be less dependent on the weather. Like no other Trockenbeerenauslese in 2005, this wine is wonderfully balanced and delicate. It has virtually endless aging potential.

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Keywords: Zind-Humbrecht Pinot Gris Clos Jebsal, Sélection de Grains Nobles 2007 Alsace France

Wine Advocate

Score: 94

The Zind-Humbrecht 2007 Pinot Gris Clos Jebsal Selection de Grains Nobles – at 9.5% alcohol – is not one of those nectars (two of which were also produced at this estate in 2007) that barely legally became wine. In some respects, though, it is Eszcencia-like. Both its enormous residual sugar and the highest acidity of the vintage are less noticeable on the palate than on paper, and it is nearly weightless as well as viscous in feel. Marzipan, apricot preserves, and honey – tinged with mint and cinnamon – are the principle players on a stage that for now is as remarkable as its cast of characters. The levitational purity here is extraordinary, but it will need years for this to evolve, and one should think in terms of three or more decades’ lifespan.

”After the experience of 2003,” remarks Olivier Humbrecht with an eye to his 2007s, “I’m never going to complain about having and extra gram or two of acidity.” In fact, Humbrecht considers 2007 ideal in nearly every respect, having permitted the grower the luxury of picking under optimum conditions for each grape variety and style. The fruit was completely healthy, insists Humbrecht, “you could walk through the vineyards for half an hour and fine one spoiled berry,” … except, of course, where the rot was noble! This year’s generally dry-tasting, relatively low-alcohol, high acid, high-extract Rieslings are not always the most youthfully approachable or winsome in style, but the best are profound; whereas Pinot Gris and Gewurztraminer ran to extremities of potential alcohol, even though the harvest was finished before mid-October. Far fewer wines went through malo-lactic transformation here from 2007 than usual – the pHs were often so low they proved inhospitable to the necessary bacteria. As for 2006, it’s clear that this is a year to test the meddle of any grower, and it is therefore not surprising that Zind-Humbrecht was among the estates to demonstrate that excellence and even excitement were not ruled out by the weather. Furthermore, he arrived at an average 2006 yield virtually identical to that of 2005. “Of course,” asserts Humbrecht, “quality in 2006 depended on how you handle your vineyards and your vines the whole year through. It was a vintage where, if you made a mistake in the vineyards, you got slapped pretty hard at harvest time, unlike 2007 where if you made a mistake, nature was forgiving.” The completion of fermentations in 2007 was spread over even more months than usual, often with late bottling; frequently with no racking; and my notes are based both on tastings from bottle early this year (sometimes referencing the wine’s performance from cask) and in a few instances solely on tastings from cask. Two 2007 Pinot Gris “Trie Speciale” – from Clos Windsbuhl and Clos Jebsal – were not even wine yet last I visited, and will in any case not be released for at least another year.

Importer: The Sorting Table, Napa, CA; tel. (415) 491-4724
David Schildknecht

Vinous

Score: 96+

(9.5% alcohol, 227 g/l r.s.) Deep, bright yellow. Great purity and lift to the hugely botrytized aromas of honey, menthol, botanical herbs and mint. Silky on entry, then impossibly concentrated and glyceral in the mid-palate; as chewy as a solid but with exhilarating lift making this impossible to spit. An incredible, endless and utterly unevolved wine that currently shows more structure than fruit. Tastes even sweeter on the back end than its 227 g/l residual sugar would indicate, as there is no sign of alcohol. I’d sock this away for a good 10 to 15 years.
— Stephen Tanzer
Drinking window:
Review date: Nov 2008

Producer website: http://www.zindhumbrecht.fr/