Trimbach Riesling Grand Cru Mandelberg 2021

100 % Riesling from 1 ha of 60+ year-old vines on the pebbly limestone and marl terroir of the Mandelberg Grand Cru in Mittelwihr. One of only three Grand Crus not located against the sub-Vosges hills, Mandelberg is thus an early, warm and sunny terroir, with less shade from the mountains and the forest. Fermented dry in stainless steel tanks and bottled in spring, followed by a minimum of three years’ maturation before release. 13.85% Alc/Vol; 7.8 g/L RS; 7.45 g/L TA; 3.14 pH.

‘From a warm, early-ripening 1.6-hectare plot on marl limestone and pebbly soils that have been cultivated since 1996 by Trimbach, the 2021 Riesling Grand Cru Mandelberg offers a generously rich but also refined and smoky limestone bouquet with notes of ripe lemons and pineapples. On the palate, this is a generously rich yet elegant and savory, persistently saline Riesling with a long, intense and aromatic but also stimulating mineral and saline finish. Coming from a very warm site, this is a rather textural yet still elegant Riesling with 14.11% alcohol and seven grams of residual sugar backed up by 7.96 grams of rather smooth tartaric acidity. Tasted at the domaine in April 2024. Tasted again at Trimbach on the occasion of the 100th anniversary of Clos Ste Hune at the beginning of November, with the same result, but this note: The 2021 Mandelberg offers a clear, precise, elegant and aromatic bouquet offering white and yellow stone fruit aromas intermingled with mineral notes. Dense, fresh and saline in the palate, this is a very aromatic and elegant, well structured and crispy Riesling with a long and intense, always fresh and aromatic finish. Natural cork’  94 points, Stephan Reinhardt, The Wine Advocate, Feb 2025.

'Trimbach is at the summit of dry white winemaking.' Clive Coates M.W.

'Clos St Hune, the Alsace Riesling by which all others are judged.' Andrew Jefford.

With viticultural origins going back to 1626 this family owned estate produces some of the finest wines not only of Alsace, but indeed the entire world of wine. Around the villages of Ribeauvillé and Hunawihr, the Trimbach family owns 27 hectares of vineyards including 1.67ha of Rosacker Grand cru (which produces the highly famed Clos Sainte Hune Riesling) as well as parcels of Geisberg and Osterberg (blended to make the equally renowned Riesling Cuvée Frédéric Emile). Geisberg and Osterberg are located on the hill rising up behind the ‘new’ family winery on the edge of Ribeauvillé. The family moved from their ‘old’ winery in Hunawihr in the 1890’s! Indeed, the label of Clos Sainte Hune depicts the view to the local church from the old winery in Hunawihr.

According to Jean Trimbach, the house style is aiming for ‘harmonious wines that are concentrated, not heavy; fruity, not sweet; bracing rather than fat; polite rather than voluptuous.’ To that end, fermentations are cool and slow, maloloactic fermentation is not carried out and the wines are bottled early to retain freshness.

The dry Rieslings are usually made with less than 5g/l of residual sugar, whereas the dry Gewürztraminers might carry up to 10g/l. The wines are then aged in the cellar for at least one year; up to 5 years or more for the top wines. Even the richer Vendanges Tardive and Selection de Grains Nobles wines are made with more restraint than is usual in Alsace more generally: VT Rieslings typically carry 15-40g/l; VT Gewürztraminer around 50-75g/l; and SGN typically from 100g/l.