Zind-Humbrecht | Alsace | Riesling Brand Grand Cru | 2014 | 1500ml | bio

Description

Product description for Zind-Humbrecht Riesling Brand Grand Cru 2014 (bio)

Domaine Zind-Humbrecht was founded under this name in 1959 on the occasion of the wedding of Léonard Humbrecht to Geneviève Zind, and from the merger of the two vineyards, Humbrecht in Gueberschwihr and Zind in Wintzenheim. The Humbrecht family was already producing wine during the Thirty Years’ War (1618-1648). Domaine Zind-Humbrecht, which comprised less than five hectares in the early 1960s, grew to 40 hectares by the mid-1990s. This includes parcels in Grand Cru vineyards such as Rangen (Thann) and Brand (Turckheim). Olivier took over the estate in 1989. The first Master of Wine in the family, he converted the estate to biodynamic farming in 1999 and is also chairman of Biodyvin. Today, all wines are produced in large barrels with long lees ageing. Botrytis is not present in the dry wines.

Colour

Brilliant golden yellow with delicate green reflections.

Nose

Due to its youth, the 2014 Riesling Brand is still quite closed on the nose; it needs sufficient air to open up. After a longer opening, it beguiles with yellow fruit reminiscent of apricot, candied lemon zest, sugared grapefruit, dried flowers, and hay. Ethereal hints of ginger and lemon balm are also present. All of these initial impressions are framed in a taut corset of striking minerality.

Palate

On the palate, the 2014 Riesling Brand presents itself as a prime example of the sweet, salty, and sour impression; with these concise impressions, it assaults our tongue in the most pleasant way. In its youthful stage, the citrus fruit on the nose is particularly present, expressing itself with stimulating freshness on the tongue. A wonderfully powerful wine that deserves a few years of cellar aging, even though it already presents itself extremely appetizing in its youthful stage.

Recommendation

If you want to enjoy it now, be sure to decant it over several hours and serve it in a sufficiently large glass; a few days of opening will allow it to gain more expression.

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Keywords: Zind-Humbrecht Riesling Brand Grand Cru 2014 bio Alsace France

Wine Advocate

Score: 94

Bottled in August 2016 with the highest alcohol volume of the 2014 Rieslings (moderate 12.65% alcohol), Humbrecht’s 2014 Riesling Brand opens with a deep, very pure and stony/flinty bouquet of ripe and well-concentrated Riesling flavors. Full-bodied and round with very delicate, fine-grained acidity and lingering salinity, this is a very elegant and finessed Brand. Silky textured, piquant and highly elegant, this is a gorgeous and powerful but refined Brand with great expression. This is Riesling from granite soils and it was bottled with 8.9 of residual sugar and a total acidity of 7.5 grams per liter, with a pretty amazing pH of 3.0 for granite soils (after the alcoholic and malolactic fermentation).
Stephan Reinhardt

Vinous

Score: 94+

Medium bright yellow. Soil-driven aromas of lime, pineapple, tangerine, balsamic nuances and crushed stone. Dense, rich and sappy, featuring focused flavors of lemon zest, peach and lime cordial. A step up in intensity from all the other 2014 Rieslings made by Zind-Humbrecht (save for the Rangen Clos Saint-Urbain). Finishes very long and saline, leaving a strong impression of extract and creamy sweetness. Tastes more opulent and sweeter than the Rangen, and the numbers seem to bear this out (9 g/L residual sugar and 7.5 g/L total acidity, compared to the Rangen’s 5.5 g/L residual sugar and 7 g/L total acidity; both have the same pH 3). Made from roughly 60-year-old vines.
— Ian D’Agata
Drinking window: 2020 – 2040
Review date: Mar 2017

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