| "He may very well be the ultimate intellectual of the wine world, a god from Alsace."
Robert Parker - Wine Advocate
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ZIND-HUMBRECHT
Pinot Gris, Alsace AC 2011 Lot #151
REGION: Alsace, FRANCE
VARIETAL: 100% Pinot Gris
PRICE: $29.99 / bottle
FORMAT: 12 x 750ml
AVAILABLE: 20 cases
DRINKABILITY: now to 2017
91(+?) POINTS - Stephen Tanzer (December 2012)
"Yellow-gold. Complex aromas of ripe pear, orange flower and rose petal. Creamy-rich and fresh on the palate, with pear and orange marmalade flavors framed and lifted by intriguing minerality. Sneaky concentration here. Finishes fresh and quite long. I find this much more interesting, and serious, than the Lot 150, and for drinking later than that wine. These grapes come in roughly equal quantities from Jebsal, Heimbourg and Windsbuhl."
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 What more can really be said about Olivier Humbrecht and the wines of Domaine Zind-Humbrecht? Olivier is a Master of Wine and has been described by Robert Parker as the greatest white winemaker on earth. Yet he is very soft spoken, humble, and self-deprecating, which makes him perfectly suited to his assumed role as a global ambassador of wine. He is a champion of terroir, biodynamic farming principles, and non-interventionist winemaking. His family have been winegrowers in Alsace for 12 generations (since 1620). He is immensely proud that although his family domaine is 'only 40 hectares', there are at least 28 people (and two horses!) working there at any time: eight times more than normal at twenty-five times the cost. Tractors are never used in the vineyards; harvesting is 100% manual. Yields are low. Herbicides and pesticides are never used. There are no pumps in the winery; the wine is never filtered; no cultured yeasts are used; the wine is aged in old oak barrels only ("we NEVER use new oak"), with wines kept on full lees for at least nine months to produce a "nicely reductive" character. Zind-Humbrecht wines are concentrated, complex, vibrant, and balanced. Olivier would say that concentration and complexity are a natural product of all the hard work that goes into farming the land in a way that is respectful of terroir; that the wines are vibrant because they come from healthy vineyards where the soil is alive; and that the wines must be balanced because farming biodynamically ensures the vines grow in harmony with nature. And he would not be too shy to say that the wines better be great given all the hard work and dedication that is devoted to them.
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