Trimbach

No introduction required for one of the icons of Alsace – this seduces with a hauntingly subtle chalk and ginger on the nose, notes which give way to more obvious apple and lemon, a hint at a mineral quality through wet stone and slate. When one refers to a wine as being alive, this is what they’re talking about – the 2012 Clos Sainte Hune has incredible verve, but approach with caution: it’s still a bit juvenile. Wonderful saline grip and beautiful freshness in a brilliantly balanced wine which promises much. Delicate flavours of ginger, jasmine, peach and a steely lime finish – the components of this wine will evolve wonderfully – hold fire for a few years and drink until 2030+.
Ben Grosvenor, Private Account Manager

Arguably the most iconic dry Riesling on the planet, Trimbach’s Clos St Hune is a 1.67-hectare vineyard that produces approximately just 8,000 bottles a year. It is traditionally aged for five years in the cellar after bottling, before release, and in great vintages, it is capable of drinking beautifully for another half century.

The 2011 is a classically styled vintage of this great Riesling. Not as exuberant as some warmer vintages, presently the wine is relatively taut with beautiful minerality. It still has the slightly glossy, polished palate-weight of this iconic wine. I expect it to open out in the next couple of years and drink for 20 more.

When one talks of Grand Cru status in white wines, we often fall into the habit of talking about Burgundy and the famed vineyards of Montrachet, Corton Charlemagne, etc.  Wines that often require a price tag easily into the mid to high hundreds and beyond.  There is an enclave of vines within a tiny region in Alsace that produces possibly one of the most age-worthy and complex white wines available – “Clos Ste Hune”, owned by the Trimbach family.  The 26ha of vines in Rosacker famously include a tiny 1.67ha vineyard that makes arguably the greatest Riesling in Alsace, Domaine Trimbach’s Clos-Ste-Hune.

This wine is complex and age-worthy. A dry expression of Riesling but with so much going on within its iron like grip that it’s hard to keep up. Always a touch richer and maybe less austere than its smaller sibling cuvee Frederic Emile, but far more complex with energy rich fruit and penetratingly long and persistent on the palate, full of grapefruit, quinine, Lemon pith, musk, the list goes on and on.
Stuart Rae - Private Account Manager

The south and south-east facing Ribeauvillé terroirs Geisberg and Osterberg which overlook the winery have been producing this wine for several generations.

The average age of the vines, 45 years, results in limited yields. The marl-limestone-sandstone and fossil-flecked Muschelkalk composition of the soil, as well as the beautifully ripe grapes selected and harvested at the end of October lend this wine a remarkable personality: a dry and powerful Riesling, underlined by a mineral note and firm ripe acidity.

This wine is named for Frédéric Emile who became famous for providing a new guarantee of quality and authenticity for Trimbach in 1898.
(David Berry Green)

Bright straw-yellow. Subdued, delicate aromas of lime, green apple, wet stone and tarragon. Soft and supple on entry, then turns more taut in the middle and finishes suave, dry and long, with bracing yellow apple and fresh herb flavors but no sharp edges. This youthful wine will need plenty of bottle age to reach optimal drinkability. Trimbach does not produce this selection every year (recently, it was made in 09, '11, '12 and '14), only when there are enough high-quality grapes to make it without compromising the quality of the Réserve bottling. In fact, this wine is almost always a little richer and deeper than the Réserve.
Ian D'Agata- vinous.com, Feb 2016

As the family moves into its 13th generation, with Pierre’s daughter Anne now working in the business (& Jean’s son Julian studying vine science at Dijon), Maison Trimbach remains a byword for fine dry Alsace Riesling. 

Famously controversial for opting out of the Grand Cru classification back in 1975 on account of the overly generous yields & low sugar levels (low quality) required, in the past five years the negociant has added 15 hectares of prime Grand Cru sites, notably in Osterberg, Geisberg, & Schlossberg, bringing their total to 45ha.  So the family are clearly not closing the door on the possibility of releasing single Grand Cru vineyard wines, albeit in tiny quantities. However they lament the fact that France’s supermarkets continue to buy up 75% of the region’s production, selling Grand Cru wines at around €7/bottle on the shelf.

Meanwhile their brands of (Riesling) Cuvee Frederic Emile, (Pinot Gris) Reserve Personnelle & (Gewurztraminer) Cuvee des Seigneurs de Ribeaupierre remain central  to the range, made from both own fruit & bought in fruit; they remain a clear step up in terroir finesse from the fruitier ‘Reserve’ lines.  Clos Ste. Hune is estate’s finest Riesling, from a 1.67ha ‘clos’ within Grand Cru Rosacker; the provenance readily communicated but still absent from the label.  So as winemaker Pierre Trimbach signs off his 34th vintage in charge, this is still very much an estate to watch.

These wines are considered the benchmark for quality, consistency and style. The rather unassuming pale lemon coloured wine belies all that awaits one on the nose and palate! This is a perfect lesson in understated and yet beautifully precise wine making. The nose is smoky, with hints of wet pebble and a mineralite and a touch of lime juice, lemon grass.

The palate is what I would refer to as “politely austere”, at one moment tightly packed and iron like, white stone fruit and yet with a poise and precision that only comes from one of the best terroir in the world. The laser like acidity enable the length goes on for a long time with a beautiful seam of salinity. This is a long term wine and will be truly spectacular. 2025 – 2035+
Stuart Rae, Private Account Manager

The Trimbach family is one of France’s greatest winemaking dynasties, having made wine in Alsace for over three centuries (since 1626) based in the picturesque town of Ribeauvillé.

If Zind Humbrecht produces wines of extravagant power at one end of the spectrum of excellence within Alsace wine making, then Trimbach definitely stands at the other extreme – “Restraint” is the watchword.  The Trimbach style is paraphrased perfectly by Hubert Trimbach and the family itself – “Concentrated not heavy; fruity, not sweet; bracing rather than fat; polite rather than voluptuous. Trimbach wines are reserved, steely, elegant, even aristocratic; never obvious or flashy.  We are Protestants.  Our wines have the Protestant style – vigour, firmness, a beautiful acidity, lovely freshness. Purity and cleanness, that’s Trimbach.” For those weary of the copious residual sugar found in so many of the contemporary Alsace wines, Trimbach’s are a refuge.