Pinot Gris Tasting

Zind-Humbrecht – A pinot gris tasting in a range of styles

Price: CI$130

Date: Tuesday 18^th February

Time: Champagne reception and Canapés at 6:30pm with the tasting to start at 7:00pm

Where: Aria, Grand Harbour

Dress Code: Smart casual

Led by Simon Bee, this is an opportunity to taste a selection of remarkable and rare wines produced in Rangen de Thann Clos St Urbain, the top grand cru site in Alsace.  We will be tasting through six exceptional vintages and a range of styles of the pinot gris grape varietal, all produced by Zind-Humbrecht.  The styles range from dry to lusciously sweet, and vintages from 1983 - 2000.

Only 100 cases of this selection were put together 15 years ago, and access to older Zind-Humbrecht vintages is incredibly limited, so this is a rare treat for our members to be able to taste these wines.  During this tasting, we will be able to taste the following wines (note that dry tasting wines are produced, generally, with less than 10g of sugar per litre):

1983 – Rangen Clos St Urbain, 7g sugar per litre

1983 was the first great vintage produced from Clos St Urbain after Zind-Humbrecht acquired the land and this wine’s complexity mirrors not only the exceptional vintage but also sets the stage for a line up of wines made by a most outstanding producer.  A dry style pinot gris with classic notes beeswax, honey and minerality.

1990 – Rangen Clos St Urbain, 8g sugar per litre

This is a completely dry wine with exceptional concentration.  It has notes of honeyed nuts, smoke and exotic fruit.  1990 was an exceptional vintage, and sourcing this wine now is incredibly difficult (it has not been available, even on the secondary market, for many years). 

1995 – Rangen Clos St Urbain, 15g sugar per litre

Following a radical change in vine training, this was the first vintage produced following the change.  Although not a textbook vintage, the wine received enthusiastic praise from Robert Parker who could not decide whether it was the pinot gris or the Riesling that performed better here.  This wine has notes of pineapple and spice.

2000 – Rangen Clos St Urbain, 43g sugar per litre

Like the rest of France, the 2000 vintage in Alsace was a legendary one.  This is a sweet style pinot gris which is full bodied and packed with layers of minerality.  The strong peaty character of the Rangen adds to the structure, adding depth to the sweetness of the wine which was harvested with noble rot.

1998 – Rangen Clos St Urbain, Vendange Tardive, 115g sugar per litre

In 2011, Wine Advocate described this as having a “massive personality [with} an unbelievably long finish”.  This wine, with 115g of sugar p/l has notes of candied blood orange, creamed white and yellow fruit interspersed with earth and minerals.  This was the first bio-dynamically produced wine by Zind-Humbrecht, and a real treat to taste!

1989 – Rangen Clos St Urbain, Selection Grains Nobles, 172g sugar per litre

This was the first ever vintage of the rare selection grains nobles wine produced here.  Whilst this wine is unctuously sweet, with notes of walnuts, treacle and honey, it has a sharp acidity offering terrific balance and focus.  This is an extraordinary wine, in fact, Robert Parker described this wine as ‘celestial’!  What a way to finish the evening!