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Perfect Harvest Conditions for 2011
"Winter 2010/2011 was one of the direst in recent years; with the dry period continuing until May, meaning bud break almost a month before a classic vintage. June to August brought back normal levels of rain with September and October very dry allowing perfect harvesting conditions."
- Olivier Humbrecht
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ZIND-HUMBRECHT
Pinot Blanc, Alsace AC 2011
REGION: Alsace, FRANCE
VARIETAL: 70% Auxerrois, 30% Pinot Blanc
INDICE: level 1
PRICE: Was $27.99 / bottle Now $25.99
$2 off until May 25th
FORMAT: 12 x 750ml
CSPC: +737783
AVAILABLE: 25 cases
LISTING: Specialty
Click here to find this at your local LDB store
DRINKABILITY: now to 2017
One would not necessarily expect a wine labeled 'Pinot Blanc 'to be 70 percent Auxerrois, but, delightfully, this one is. The fruit comes from two great vineyards: Herrenweg's gravelly soils give richness and body; Rotenberg's limestone adds structure and acidity. The Auxerrois is favoured for smaller berries, earlier ripening, lower acidity, aromatic intensity and very even phenolic ripeness. Oliver loves to say "My wines are about site and vintage, not variety". 2011 has produced a very special wine that is full of vibrancy and freshness. Perfectly balancing ripeness and minerality, it is capable of considerable age.
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Olivier Humbrecht
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Olivier Humbrecht 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 their 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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