Rolly Gassmann is located in Rorschwihr, a sleepy village on the northern rim of Haut-Rhin. Louis and Marie-Thérèse have no wines from Grand Cru sites, but from a set of very good lieux-dits such as Silberberg, Muenchreben and Rotleibel. The vineyards are located in Rorschwihr, the neighbouring Rodern and Bergheim, and exhibit large geological differences.

Rolly Gassmann has a unique style. Each wine is a small masterpiece with very good definition and a certain shameless, velvety texture. The fruit is honeyed but balanced with a precise acidity which defies its age. Rotleibel has a heavier, heat-retentive red marl soil, perfect for late-season harvesting.

Rubbing shoulders with Heimbourg  and overlooking Turckheim, this small but steep, west/northwest- facing, red calcareous vineyard tends to give fruit blessed with fine acidity. This was particularly welcome in the super ripe 2005 vintage, when the tiny, berry by berry, 8hl/ha harvest was especially late and strung-out, giving 280 grams of residual sugar and only eight percent alcohol.

Consequently the wine's disarmingly succulent, toast, honey, barley sugar and peach flavours are perfectly balanced by an extra gear of freshness and mouth-watering acidity. This is decadent and delicate all in one.

Drawing on fruit from both the (red-earth) Rotleibel and the fossilised limestone clay bed of the Pflaenzerreben, there's a sublime citronelle perfume, an energy that recalls the latter site, that speaks volumes for the quality of the Rorschwihr terroir. It's deliciously fine and agile. The 119 grams of residual sugar are balanced out by 5.7 of acidity, the smooth fruit so suave, a warm flow, yet finishes with pretty coquilles acidity and zip. Great. Medium-dry.
David Berry Green

This wine is already quite showy, probably due to the intensity and quality of the noble rot associated to the exotic character of the 2009 vintage; it is possible to see wonderful honeyed, cocoa, green tea and dried candied fruit flavours. The palate is ample and rich and develops a sweet, round, unctuous finish. It is a very concentrated wine but remains elegant and racy. It will also improve for many years if well kept...

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.