Trimbach

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 Pinot Gris Réserve Personnelle is only produced in exceptional years and is a selection of the best parcels in and below the Osterberg Grand Cru, so mainly grown on limestone terroir. It is an opulent, age-worthy and gastronomic wine of great maturity and provided with a succulent fruit.

The 2013 Pinot Gris Réserve Personnelle starts very clear, subtle and elegant on the nose where delicate stony/mineral flavors are displayed. Full-bodied, very elegant and lovely piquant on the palate this millésime seems to be quite sweet in its intensity but is also piquant and provided with a racy and almost piquant acidity and structured by very fine tannins. Not as knaggy as the corresponding but with finesse and elegance. The 2013 will be in the market already in 2017 -- "at latest and earlier than we wish," says Pierre Trimbach: "Unfortunately we don’t have much to sell neither from 2013 nor from 2014. Only 14000 bottles were produced in 2013.

The long development of the wine is synonymous with its long ageing potential, 10 years and more. This highly complex, broad and voluptuous wine, retains its structure thanks to its vitality. Pair with : foie gras, lobster in sauce, poultry, white meat, and truffle dishes.
Stephan Reinhardt - The Wine Advocate, Oct 2015

Wow – there is a lot going on here! Mirabelle plum, blood orange, yuzu and a waxy, nut oil note on the nose. This is broad and structured, yet not as heady as Pinot Gris can be, there is a real sense of precision here amidst the weight of the wine. Only produced when the Trimbach family are happy it has the quality to merit the Reserve Personelle label, this was the stand out wine of the tasting for me. If you can resist the temptation, give this a couple of years in the cellar and then enjoy over the following decade. Simply put, the best Pinot Gris I have ever tasted and extraordinary value to boot. Wonderful.
Fergus Stewart, 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.

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.