I was introduced to, seduced by, and weaned on Alsace wine by the wines of Trimbach. This happened more than a decade ago at a wine dinner in Chicago led by long-time exponent of the family, the affable and erudite Hubert Trimbach. It was certainly a formative experience for me, and when I tasted the wines, I felt as though I had found a long-lost friend--the kind that still knows you better than anyone--who gives you a warm place to rest.

A Long History

This venerable estate of Trimbach has been around since 1626, as you can find on the label. Originally based in Riquewihr, the estate relocated to Hunawihr in the 1840s and moved again shortly after World War I to its current location in Ribeauvillé. Frédéric-Émile Trimbach (the same F.E. in the estate's name) ushered in what was possibly the most important era of the domaine in the latter part of the Nineteenth Century, refining the wines and striving for unparalleled quality. This domaine operates at two tiers nowadays, one that is consumer-friendly and geared--it seems to me--towards either providing wine drinkers with everyday wine, or introducing them to Alsace wine (the Classic and Réserve lines); the other tier of wines (the Réserves Personnelles) are among the best in Alsace, all of them crafted for long-term aging.

The Trimbach's wine style is the result of a purist's devotion to a philosophy, which is to sum up (in my view, at least): dependability, striving for the best, motivated by local traditions. Their wines are reliably dry. They are elegant, with refined structure and tension in the high-end wines, and balanced, alluring fruit profiles across the categories. The estate also waits to release their top wines until they deem them ready to drink, if you must, but I get the sense that they would certainly prefer that you wait a few more years to drink them!

The Top Wines

Trimbach is known best for two of its Rieslings: Clos Ste.-Hune and Cuvée Frédéric-Émile. The Clos Ste.-Hune (technically not part of the Réserve Personnelle tier, but on its own level) is arguably the greatest example of dry Riesling on the planet--extremely long-lived and otherworldly in its expressiveness. The Clos is within the Grand Cru of Rosacker, but no other Rosacker Riesling has ever matched the Clos Ste.-Hune for fathomlessness and crystalline beauty, much less its intrinsic greatness. The Frédéric-Émile is also the product of Grand Cru fruit--a blend of two Grands Crus, actually: Geisberg and Osterberg. It is a heavenly and majestic Riesling, with more fatness (initially at least) than the Clos Ste.-Hune.

The Pinot Gris Réserve Personnelle is usually underestimated, and when it is young, I have been underwhelmed. However, when this wine has had significant cellar time it is truly marvelous. It shows its grandeur with an increased spiciness, and is a liquid advertisement for cultivating patience! It has less of an edge than any of its siblings in this line, especially when it is young, but maturity has never failed to pay great dividends of flavor. This wine is not made every year, but only the finest vintages, from grapes grown, I believe, in the Grand Cru Osterberg.

The most singular wine in the Trimbach portfolio is the Gewurztraminer Cuvée des Seigneurs de Ribeaupierre. This Gewurz--also only made in the best vintages--is built for the long-term: after ten years cellaring, its spice character is so greatly amplified that it can be something of a shock, which makes this a love-it-or-hate-it wine. The first time I had it (13 years ago), I hated, hated, HATED this wine. Fortunately someone had the good sense to put a piece of Alsatian Muenster in my mouth before making me take another sip, for which I really owe them a great debt! The Muenster helped me process the pungency of the wine, and in the span of thirty seconds, the whiplash of transforming from an Enemy of the Wine into a Rabid Fan was indeed sweet. Now I buy it every time I can find it. This is a DRY Gewurztraminer, which is, frankly, not common with this variety (Gewurz possesses the potential to be quite alcoholic if fermented dry).

Finding the Wines

Trimbach has a worldwide presence, and--along with Hugel--is one of the most tireless ambassadors of Alsatian wine. Finer grocery stores carry the entry-level wines, and occasionally the Réserve wines. Wine retailers and thoughtfully composed restaurant wine lists employ the Réserve Personnelle wines. The Clos Ste.-Hune is not the easiest wine to locate, and when you can find it, it is incredibly expensive, but it is the object of great devotion with a limited supply, and its price tag is borne out as justifiable year after year...just taste it and you'll see.

Trimbach has a savvy website that is a great source for domaine news, and they maintain an up-to-date blog (alternately in French and English) as well (the last post was made five days after I was there in February '10, with pictures of the snow blanketing the estate and vineyards--just as it looked when I was there).

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This is one big vineyard--at 80 hectares, it is the largest of Alsace's Grands Crus. It is comprised of two parcels, one gigantic one on the main face of the hill, and a non-contiguous section that is composed of the same soil types. This site was famous when the Romans still maintained interests in this part of northern Europe, and has remained a cherished vineyard for over 16 centuries. When Alsace finally began to designate Grands Crus in 1975, Schlossberg was the first vineyard to be classified.

Vines and Wines of Schlossberg
The vines on this steep hillside are terraced over a mineral-rich alluvial clay and sand topsoil with the bedrock of granite. It is one of the greatest sites for Riesling, with widely varying styles that depend upon the location within the vineyard. The soil at the top of the hill is rather shallow and it deepens as you come down the hill. The Rieslings from the top of the hill are testy and, as the French might say, "nerveux". The Rieslings from the middle of the hill are richer but retain a sense of minerally tension. Rieslings from the bottom of the vineyard are dense and almost atypical, yet they still retain ample minerality, exhibiting the characteristics .

A surprising amount of Pinot Noir is planted in the Schlossberg, considering it is not one of the "noble" varieties. I have not encountered one from this site that has been given its due. Half of the fruit for Weinbach's Pinot Noir comes from the Schlossberg, but I haven't had it in almost ten years. When I was familiar with it, it tended to be light in color and weight, which is certainly true to the typical Pinot Noirs of Alsace. I wonder if it could be more without overdoing it. There are a number of great Pinots Noir made in is this corner of France, and I am curious to know if this vineyard can compete with them.

I understand that Gewurztraminer is planted in this vineyard as well, but I have not had one.

Illustrating the Grand Cru Controversy
One of the main controversial aspects of the Alsace Grand Cru system is summed up in the very existence of this vineyard. At 80 hectares (almost 198 acres), a survey of all of the wines from this vineyard would reveal wide variations in quality as well as in style, as mentioned above regarding the different styles of Riesling afforded by different sections of the vineyard. How can all of these wines truly be great? Within certain strictures (for example, those that are self-imposed by a quality-conscious producer), i.e., culling out substandard fruit, isolating parcels based on micro-climate, etc., can lead in this direction. For specific evidence of this, the three main wines from Domaine Weinbach's holdings illustrate this beautifully. The hillside vine locations of each of the wines are in parentheses: Riesling Schlossberg (top), Riesling Cuvée Ste.-Cathérine (bottom), and Riesling Schlossberg Cuvée Ste.-Cathérine (middle). All are clearly of supreme quality, but they are fascinatingly and manifestly different from each other. These three wines do, however, offer what any Grand Cru wine OUGHT to: a sense of mystery and breeding that is elusive and exclusive to only the best sites. It seems to me, however, that these wines are evidence of the need to break up the site into smaller Crus, and indeed, the intent seems to be to represent three separate Grands Crus carved out of the Schlossberg.

Major Producers of Grand Cru Schlossberg
Schlossberg is situated between Kaysersberg and Kientzheim (though most of it falls within the communal area of Kientzheim), and the CV Kientzheim-Kaysersberg makes a fine Schlossberg Riesling. The best however, are the Rieslings from Domaine Weinbach, which produces up to four different Rieslings from different portions of this site. Also getting exceptional results is Domaine Paul Blanck, which makes so many different wines from this vineyard (most of which cannot be bought outside Alsace) that you get the sense that they won't rest until they intimately know every inch of their holdings. Albert Mann rounds out my top three--their Schlossberg is sensational and generally comes off as a great value, as it is generally the most affordable.

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A short video of Alsace at harvest--in the vicinity of Colmar

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