1990 Domaine Zind-Humbrecht Riesling Brand Grand Cru

The blockbuster 1990 Riesling-Brand, from that superbly situated hillside vineyard, is an immensely floral, rich wine with an explosive, full-bodied feel on the palate, dry, exceptionally well-delineated flavors, and a zesty, mind-boggling finish. It is about as sensational as dry Alsace Riesling can get. 1990 is a superlative vintage for the Humbrecht Rieslings, which are made in a dry, medium to full-bodied style and never weighted down because of aging in new oak casks. I tasted five dry 1990 Rieslings from Zind-Humbrecht (the Humbrecht father and son team are obsessed with preserving the uniqueness of their different vineyards) and all of them are at least outstanding. It has become fashionable to expound on the theory of terroir, that idea that one can taste the soil and identify a wine because of the vineyard's unique soil composition. While there is no question that terroir has an impact on a wine's flavor, the theories of the so-called "terroirists" tend to emanate from people who do more talking than tasting. Yet, sipping through Zind-Humbrecht wines, where there is no new oak utilized, where yields are uncommonly low, and where the wines are put in the bottle without a filter, the notion of terroir can indeed be argued more persuasively. As I said last year, the range of wines produced by Leonard and Olivier Humbrecht in both 1989 and 1990 is a memorable achievement. The 1989s have largely disappeared from the marketplace except for some of the rare, super-expensive Vendange Tardive offerings, but the dry 1990s have just arrived. Importers: Wine Markets International, Woodbury, NY and Kermit Lynch Wine Merchant, Berkeley, CA.