Domaine Albert Boxler Riesling Grand Cru Sommerberg, Alsace, France 2014 (£45, The Wine Society) Ask a group of winemakers what it is they think is so special about wine, what makes it worthy of all the attention they give it, and a majority will say something about the way it captures like nothing else the essence of a certain place at a certain time. This high-minded attitude isn’t always easy to sustain. So much wine is really no more special than anything else at the supermarket: it might be worth drinking, it might be disgusting, but it’s on those terms – rather than any quasi-mystical relationship between man and the natural world – that it should be judged. Sometimes, however, there are bottles that really do seem to have the magical time-and-space travelling effect. Albert Boxler’s riesling is one such: a gorgeous swell of mellow orchard fruit over a steely frame of acidity that takes me right back to the single, singular vineyard where it is made.
Domaine Rolly Gassmann Gewurztraminer, Alsace, France 2016 (from £24, Berry Bros & Rudd; Uncorked; WoodWinters) Thoughts about the complex causal web of place and time in Boxler’s Sommerberg Riesling were prompted by tasting three vintages of the wine back to back: the expansive 2014 i more immediately appealing on the day than the tighter, tauter 2013 or the honeyed 2012. But in a week, a year, or a decade’s time? I wouldn’t like to say. You can buy all three vintages from The Wine Society if you want to perform your own experiment or simply enjoy the work of one of France’s best white wine producers. I’d be curious to put a few bottles of Rolly-Gassmann’s Gewurztraminer away, too, for a similar experiment. It’s another white wine that shows off the French region’s ability for making white wines of spine-tingling spicy intensity, with a heady, almost musky mix of lychee, rose garden and ginger that you feel will only get more decadent as the year’s go by.
Exquisite Collection Alsace Pinot Gris, France 2017 (£7.49, Aldi) As well as being a source of graceful fine wine, Alsace does a neat line in accessible and accessibly priced varietal wines – wines for drinking young, enjoying the way they capture the essence of a single grape variety. Gewurztraminer’s uninhibited puffs of rose perfume and exotic fruit, for example, are given full, Thai green curry-partnering rein in the succulent Tesco Finest Alsace Gewurztraminer (£9); while Cave de Turckheim Riesling Vieilles Vignes 2015 (from £11.69, Rannoch Scott; Highbury Vintners) has riesling’s classic swish of acidity and bright, tangy lime and lemon zip. The region’s take on pinot gris (aka pinot grigio) is also well worth looking out for. I enjoyed the fresh and fragrant peachiness in Aldi’s good value version, while Domaine Schlumberger’s mushroom risotto-matching Les Princes Abbés Pinot Gris 2016 (from £17.49, Tanners Wine; Nobel Green Wines) serves its crystallised citrus, spiced pear and quince richness with polished charm.
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