René Muré Riesling Clos Saint-Landelin 1999

As an occasion is followed by another, I opened a big gun from the cellar today. A Riesling from Alsace. I reported on some problems with Alsatian wines here and here, but this bottle was simply outstanding.

René Muré is, in any ranking, playing in the premier league of the region. The winery owes its success largely to the Clos Saint-Landelin, a monopole parcel within the grand cru of Vorbourg. With its sun-absorbing sandstone this vineyard belongs to Alsace’s hottest, and consistently produces very powerful wines with record ripeness (lots of VT and SGN level wines, and regular botrytis) but also a strong mineral imprint. For power and concentration of flavour, they are sometimes reminiscent of the Rangen de Thann vineyard (whose terroir, however, couldn’t be more different: volcanic basalt). In the past, I’ve especially enjoyed the dry Rieslings and sweeter styles of Gewurztraminer from here.

This lone bottle of Riesling Clos Saint-Landelin 1999 was purchased for a miserable 15€ on sale in a wine shop in Verona (of all places). I now regret having wasted luggage space for some silly Amarones and not having bought more of this (the current vintage is 23€ ex-cellars). It is really a spectacular wine. Enormously rich. An impressive fully mature deep yellow colour. Nose shows a high amount of botrytis (this varies from year to year; the 2002 Riesling had close to none) in an explosive raisiny, spicy bouquet that also shows quite some peppery, stony minerality and freshness for balance. Palate is massive and impressive, broad and powerful on attack, so mineral that it initially feels dry, although there is quite a bit of residual sugar. A fairly weighty, structured, solar, oily, terroir-driven, peppery, botrytis-spiced whole. Acidity is also rather present, adding to the fairly virtuosic balance of this wine. No denying the high alcohol but this is really a substantial wine, and it carries it with grace. While this quintessentially Alsatian full-blown style might be challenging to the uninitiated, this is really Riesling – and wine tout court – at its best.

André Kientzler Riesling Osterberg 2007

Today was the last day of the five-day tasting marathon I blogged on the other day. Bad lack throughout. The Menetou-Salon from Henry Pellé I much looked forward to was awfully corked. And the Giuseppe Rinaldi Barolo Brunate–Le Coste 2004 was oxidative and underwhelming.

And we had another controversial Alsatian. I have never liked the wines of André Kientzler as much as some of my colleague tasters, but there is no denying this is currently one of the top domaines for dry Riesling. So expectations for their Grand Cru Osterberg Riesling 2007 were justifiably high. It’s an obviously good wine, but difficult to really enjoy. It has a pretty odd mixture of late harvest aromatic notes (raisins, peaches and honey) with a searing acidity that somehow doesn’t taste fresh at all. Alcohol is high (14%), which only adds to the searing impression. In my experience, a Riesling needs to have really superior concentration and body to sustain 14% alc. This wine, oddly, seems a little thin in texture, although it is built around a solid mineral core.

Osterberg is a vineyard with a quintessentially Alsatian mixture of soil: sandstone, limestone, gravel and even some marl. Sandstone usually yields wines that are very high in acidity, and rather quiet in their youth. Surely this shows in this Kientzler 2007. I kept the bottle open for three days and retasted it several times. Hardly any change, and hardly much pleasurability: this is intellectual, ungiving, mildly off-putting wine. It only shone when served with a dish of braised young cabbage.