2010 Alsace

The first ever offering of this wine, with it previously being known as the Jubilee Riesling. They have taken the opportunity the change in name has given to dial this up more than a notch or two, this is one of the best defined and purest Riesling that I have tried for some considerable time.

It is clearly on a par with Frederick Emile from the Trimbach Estate (my previous benchmark wine) and its amazing pure expression is a wonderful thing. Crystalline fruit and a lovely touch of peach combines with classic Riesling petrol notes. This is 5 years old and yet tastes as though it was made yesterday, with this in mind I am predicting a long and glorious future, certainly 15 years and possibly 20 years for this beauty of a wine.
Matthew Tipping, Fine Wine Sales Manager

For most professionals, let alone consumers, Alsace is complicated, alongside the plethora of producers, some bad, some good, it is often hard to decipher the quality of the vineyard let alone the producer all at the same time as trying to understand the dryness or sweetness of a given wine.

With the customer in mind, Hugel have redesigned their range to reflect the different levels of quality in very simple and International terms.
Hugel first and foremost is an advocate of the dry style of Alsace wine. Hugel wines are tight, structured, mineral and dry – unless they’re sweet.
The “Grossi Laüe" range is made from their top Grand Crus vineyards (Riesling from the Schoenenbourg and Gewurztraminer from the Sporen).
Finally, the crème de la crème “Schoelhammer” which is on par with the great Trimbach Clos St Hune. The tiny production of this single vineyard called “Schoelhammer” is proudly sitting at the top of the their range, made from only 30 rows of vines and with a mere 4288 bottle production. 

From the Clos St.Urbain vineyard's near vertical slope and volcanic soils comes this explosive Riesling from 48 yo vines and sporting a dry 9.5 gram RS. Brooding gunpowder on the nose, lowish alcohol, this wine captures the essence of the site, giving fantastic persistence and texture. Drinking till 2035.
(David Berry Green, Berrys' Alsace Buyer)

Mirroring the dark granitic rocks peering down on the village on Kayserberg, the Faller family's famous vineyard Schlossberg is underpinned by granite soils, bringing a real sense of stature and poise to the wine. Naturally more concentrated than previous years due to the loss of up to 40% of fruit at flowering, this is the Faller's flagship Riesling, topped only by 'L'Inedit'. It speaks of a family whose whole being is bound up with the symbiosis between the granite rocks and Riesling. Given the small but high quality fruit, this is a dry wine that would benefit from a decade's ageing in a dark cellar, so drinking at its best from 2018/20 till 2030 say.
(David Berry Green, Berrys' Alsace Buyer)

Selection des Grains Nobles are rare due to a bunch by bunch harvest selection and minimum sugar levels. This is one step up from Vendange Tardive and offers one richness, concentration and gloriously sweet fruit flavours. Full bodied, hugely mouth-filling and thick with outstanding, complex ripe fruits and maple syrup characteristics.
Laura Atkinson-Godwin, Private Account Manager


Clos Jebsal is a single vineyard in Turkheim (1.3 ha), Alsace. The first written reference of Jebsal dates back to a deed of sale from the 16th century. Located on a steep escarpment, it was left abandoned until 1982 when Leonard Humbrecht finally managed to reunite all the small parcels and restore the lieu-dit to its entirety. The name Jebsal refers to gypsum, the important geological component of this vineyard alongside a geological fault of grey marl limestone and Keuper, rich in clay. The small clos is very steep (50%) with numerous terraces facing due south which benefits from a very warm microclimate, hidden and protected from the northerly winds. The grey marl soils have good water retention capacity which prevents hydric stress, yielding wines with beautiful balanced acidities.

Wines from Clos Jebsal are discreet in their youth, often marked with flinty or smoky aromas. The expression of fruit linked to the concentration by botrytis is coaxed out with some time in bottle, a minimum of ten years is recommended to allow for the development of the true expression of Clos Jebsal.