Lucien Albrecht Grand Cru Spiegel Gewurztraminer 2017
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Wine
Enthusiast -
James
Suckling -
Wilfred
Wong
Product Details
Your Rating
Somm Note
Winemaker Notes
Very nice wine with floral, honey, and citrus aromas.
It is perfect as an aperitif, but will also be the perfect companion to a rack of lamb with honey and citrus, and fruit desserts.
Professional Ratings
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Wine Enthusiast
The heady richness of Damask rose settles in with the peach perfume of this wine. The palate unites these tones with fruity, rounded generosity, boosting with mellow sweetness. A pleasantly bitter note, aligned to aromatic orange peel, provides a perfect foil for the richness and makes this an exquisitely balanced wine.
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James Suckling
A very clean and lively gewurz for the warm vintage, this is an elegant and fresh wine that underplays its weight and richness, creating harmony that makes it remarkably food-friendly for this grape.
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Wilfred Wong of Wine.com
COMMENTARY: The 2017 Lucien Albrecht Grand Cru Spiegel Gewurztraminer is delicate, pleasing, and focused. TASTING NOTES: This wine shines with aromas and flavors of roses, savory spices, and mineral notes. Pair it with Cantonese raw fish salad. (Tasted: June 9, 2022, San Francisco, CA)
Other Vintages
2015-
Wine
Enthusiast -
James
Suckling
Lucien Albrecht (pronounced Lu-Shen All-Bresht) is one of the most distinguished producers of white wines in Alsace, founded in 1698 when Balthazar Albrecht settled in Orschwihr, a small village flanked by rolling hills and ideally situated for grape-growing. Today the winery is known worldwide for the finesse, unique aromatic structure and freshness of its still and sparkling wines. All Lucien Albrecht wines are produced with fruit sourced exclusively from estate vineyards, including the Grand Cru Pfingstberg and Grand Cru Spiegel. A leader in the production of acclaimed Brut and Rosé Crémants, the winery was instrumental in securing AOC Crémant d’Alsace designation in 1976. The winemaking team, led by Jérôme Keller, embraces a philosophy of respect for the environment with minimal interference from the vineyards to the glass. In 2012 Lucien Albrecht received France’s Agri Confiance sustainability certification.
Gewürztraminer, an expressive and aromatically distinctive white grape variety, is considered a noble variety in the Alsace region of France, and produces wonderful wines in the mountainous Alto Adige region of NE Italy. Generally this grape grows well in cooler regions and its natural intensity makes it a great ally for flavorful cuisine such as Indian, Middle Eastern or Moroccan. Somm Secret—Because of a charming perfume and tendency towards slight sweetness, Gewürztraminer makes for an excellent gateway wine for those who love sweet wines but want to venture into the realm of drier whites.
With its fairytale aesthetic, Germanic influence and strong emphasis on white wines, Alsace is one of France’s most unique viticultural regions. This hotly contested stretch of land running north to south on France’s northeastern border has spent much of its existence as German territory. Nestled in the rain shadow of the Vosges mountains, it is one of the driest regions of France but enjoys a long and cool growing season. Autumn humidity facilitates the development of “noble rot” for the production of late-picked sweet wines, Vendange Tardive and Sélection de Grains Nobles.
The best wines of Alsace can be described as aromatic and honeyed, even when completely dry. The region’s “noble” varieties, the only ones permitted within Alsace’s 51 Grands Crus vineyards, are Riesling, Gewurztraminer, Muscat, and Pinot Gris.
Riesling is Alsace’s main specialty. In its youth, Alsace Riesling is dry, fresh and floral, but develops complex mineral and flint character with age. Gewurztraminer is known for its signature spice and lychee aromatics, and is often utilized for late harvest wines. Pinot Gris is prized for its combination of crisp acidity and savory spice as well as ripe stone fruit flavors. Muscat, vinified dry, tastes of ripe green grapes and fresh rose petal.
Other varieties grown here include Pinot Blanc, Auxerrois, Chasselas, Sylvaner and Pinot Noir—the only red grape permitted in Alsace and mainly used for sparkling rosé known as Crémant d’Alsace. Most Alsace wines are single-varietal bottlings and unlike other French regions, are also labeled with the variety name.