2005 Pinot Gris Clos Windsbuhl SGN Trie Speciale

Having been harvested with well over 200 degrees Oechsle, Humbrecht elected to give a special name to his (at the time of my tasting) still-fermenting 2005 Pinot Gris Clos Windsbuhl Selection de Grains Nobles Trie Speciale. (The Clos Jebsal S.G.N.s of 1994 and 2002 were also labeled “Trie Speciale.”) He expects this to take at least another year to (barely) reach the legal status of wine, but says it has fermented steadily though very slowly since was brought in. Mega must weights and high boytrytis are not the stock and trade of Clos Windsbuhl, and conditions have to be precisely propitious, Humbrecht says, to achieve anything remotely this intensely botrytized. Staging a remarkable display of clear, intensely-concentrated yet fresh fruit – peach, apricot, tangerine – both in the nose and on the palate, only this wine’s sheer (indeed, near-gelatinous) viscosity and the apple and quince jelly, caramel, and honey that gradually join its flood – a flood that leaves behind a phenomenally layered depth of fresh, dried, and jellied fruits – betray its mega-ripeness and complete botrytization. Outrageously bright citricity masks what is bound to be at least mid-300s of grams of residual sugar. This already rates at least 98 out of 100 on a scale of improbability, and is apt to be virtually ageless in bottle. Olivier Humbrecht compares his 2004s with 1992. These were the two most copious vintages of recent times, delivering truly dry wines with quite high acidity. Although he characterized 2004 as more precocious than 2005, Humbrecht kept harvesting through early November, insisting that this was only possible due to his stringent, biodynamic viticultural practices and consequent generally healthy fruit. Humbrecht insists too that he did not seek botrytis, as rain was rendering noble rot nearly impossible. But it certainly seems sometimes as if botrytis sought out him! One price for his protracted harvest was elevated alcohol, which some wines struck me as hard-pressed to gracefully support; and acid levels too occasionally reached extremes. Overall, in fact, I have never tasted such a wide rage of quality nor so many unusually distinctive and at times downright inscrutable wines at this address as those of 2004. Two thousand five, relates Humbrecht, brought ample botrytis, especially with Pinot Gris, but later ripeness, again with formidable acid and extract levels thanks to the cool, well-watered August. Nearly all of the Riesling musts fermented dry. Humbrecht considers it a classic vintage for (in most instances dry-tasting) Gewurztraminer. And despite the blanket of rot that descended on the Pinot Gris vineyards, a cold, virtually cloudless five day period permitted patient and rigorous selection of fruit. A tribute to the ripeness and high tartaric acidity of these 2005s is that although well more than half of his lots of Riesling and Pinot Gris underwent malolactic transformation, an experienced taster would be hard-pressed to identify which! “Had we had the challenging October of 2004 in 2005 as well,” he says, “most ‘04s would be better than the ‘05s.” But as things turned out – October 2005 having been the second warmest after 2001 in the last decade – Humbrecht believes that in the long run these two collections will prove well matched in overall quality. Importer: The Sorting Table, Napa, CA; tel. (415) 491-4724