Zind-Humbrecht Muscat 2020
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A bright pale yellow color. The nose displays elegant fruity and floral aromas with medium intensity. The warm harvest sunshine ripened the grapes to perfection which means more complex flavors and less varietal character. The palate is delicate but persists nicely. It also has interesting tannins that make the acidity more intense and saline. This is a well-balanced wine, completely dry (but not aggressive) which is already so enjoyable at this young age.
Blend: 85% Muscat d’Alsace, 15% Ottonel
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Wine Enthusiast
You could spend an hour nosing this wine and still find things to discover. Eucalyptus and chamomile flowers are prominent and intense, but you’ll also get ripe peach skins, gardenia and a little bit of chervil. The plump, round palate leans into peachy notes, as well as grapefruit and the finish is long and refreshing with a lingering impression of peach gummy and slate. With all of these great aromatics, this wine could pair with a variety of tricky food like garden salad or artichokes, but it’s also just a joy to sip on its own.
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2016-
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Certified Organic and Biodynamic.
While Muscat comes in a wide range of styles from dry to sweet, still to sparkling and even fortified, it's safe to say it is always alluringly aromatic and delightful. The two most important versions are the noble, Muscat Blanc à Petits Grains, making wines of considerable quality and Muscat of Alexandria, thought to be a progeny of the former. Somm Secret—Pliny the Elder wrote in the 13th century of a sweet, perfumed grape variety so attractive to bees that he referred to it as uva apiana, or “grape of the bees.” Most likely, he was describing Muscat.
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.