2019 Domaine Zind-Humbrecht Riesling Rangen Clos St. Urbain Grand Cru

Bottled in February 2021 with 2.8 grams per liter of residual sugar and 13.2% alcohol, the golden-yellow colored 2019 Riesling Clos Saint-Urbain Rangen de Thann opens pure and refined yet spectacularly intense and concentrated on the nose that is elegant and generous, indicating perfectly ripe and concentrated fruit with honey and caramel notes but also the characteristic Rangen gunpowder. Richness and generosity combined with purity, finesse and elegance, isn't this the assemblage of the greatest wines on earth? Full-bodied, dense, rich and vital on the palate, this is a tightly structured, very intense and vibrantly mineral Rangen with lots of mouth-watering salinity and phenolic grip toward the finish that is still a bit challenging or dry. The wine is remarkably balanced despite its characteristic mineral complexity, purity and tension. It's not as charming as the 2020 but with more drama, future and excitement. Although the wine came late in this vertical tasting that started with 1978 and ended with 2021, the 2019 Rangen Riesling reveals an unrivaled intense and concentrated purity and vibrantly mineral freshness. It's doubtlessly a great wine. Tasted in November 2023 and March 2024.

This dry riesling masterpiece is full of seeming contradictions that give it a sense of mystery you very rarely find. So rich and concentrated, yet also astonishingly vivid and precise, the aromas range from smoke to roses, although the most obvious note is the peachy one up front. Breathtakingly long and complete finish with so much mineral complexity. From biodynamically grown grapes. Drink or hold.