The Grands Crus
Mambourg Gewurztraminer
2004
Type of wine: Aromatic dry wine
Grape: Gewurztraminer
13 % alc/vol.
Temperature : 10 - 14 °C
To keep: 10 years
Terroir:
Facing fully south and lying on the side of a hill, the Mambourg vineyard looks down on Sigolsheim. It stretches further into the plain of Alsace than most others, and enjoys the sun's rays for longer than most. The magnesium-rich soil lies over a limestone and marl Tertiary covering. Yields are never large, which favours quality.
Vinification:
The juice is extracted with infinite care in our air-bag press. The slow, gentle pressing avoids crushing the stalks and pips.
The must starts fermenting of its own accord thanks to the natural yeast present in the juice, and the fermentation generally lasts from 4 to 10 weeks. It is carried out in stainless-steel vats equipped with temperature control, a medium which maximises the expression of this variety's aromas.
Elevage:
The wine is matured on its lees in large oak barrels for 12 months.
This lees-contact contributes richness to the wine. What is more, the oxygen which passes through the pores of the wood brings about a gentle oxidization of the wine, and the subsequent opening up of its aromas.
The wine is then bottled and aged for 2 to 3 further years before being offered for sale.
This bottle-ageing also plays a role in the wine's development. Here, the opposite of oxidization happens: thanks to certain reactions in the oxygen-free environment, the bouquet develops and takes on subtler nuances.
Wine tasting:
Beautiful appearance, very colourful, greeny-golden yellow, between buttercup and emerald green-gold tints. Warm, fine and full-tinted. Perfectly clear, invitingly bright.
Relatively dense nose, wafts of mingled smells: spices and withered flowers on a fine, background of pastry smells; then preserved fruit, orgeat, etc… Exquisite aromatic "patience"… to be left to reveal itself and… to (re)discover.
On the palate, a very lovely, inviting, fleshy attack. Exquisite wafts of aroma intermingle with the wine's sensual winey pleasures to charm the tongue and the palate with great elegance.
Already lots of pleasure for those lacking patience, with very elegant and also positive retro-olfaction aromas¾a sign of even more taste-smell-feel pleasures to come, lasting even longer than the initial 10 caudalies. Best enjoyed on its own, or with savoury fruit cake… and then perhaps a little later with a kougelhof, the grapes of which will have been carefully macerated in this very wine with a nip of Marc de Gewürztraminer. T: 11°C. One to keep an eye on!
Alain Segelle - August 2006
When & with what:
A savourer seul.
Recommandé sur un fondant au chocolat noir corsé.
Press:
- Note : 89 - ($28; 45 g/l r.s.)
Bright gold. Reticent nose offers subtle hints of smoked meat and
spices. Fat, sweet and rich, in a distinctly easygoing style but with
adequate acidity. Not a particularly mineral style of gewurztraminer.
Very easy to drink but could use a bit more verve.
Nov/Dec 06- By Stephen Tanzer
