Gewurztraminer Hengst Grand Cru 2021 - Zind-Humbrecht

Gewurztraminer Hengst Grand Cru 2021 - Zind-Humbrecht

Caution: The bottles of Alsace wine do not fit into the wooden boxes sold separately.

 97/100 James Suckling 

When to drink this wine: 2026/2046+.

Tasted by JS in 2023: "This wine has almost exactly the balance I remember from the great gewurzes of the late 20th century. It's rich but dry, with a wonderful interplay of ripeness, a hint of grape sweetness and spice complexity. What a beautiful finish! Made from biodynamically grown grapes. Drink it or keep it."

• Bottling : August 2022
• Alcohol content : 14°.
• Residual sugar : 6.9 g/l
• Total acidity : 3.6 g/l H2SO4 / (5.5 g/l Tartar)
• pH : 3.6
• Yield : 40 hl/ha
• Optimum tasting : 2026/2046+.
• Average age of the vines : 70 years
• Terroir: Grand Cru Hengst
• Soil : Calcareous marls of the Oligocèn

New in 2023*: The domain has chosen to change the packaging. The capsules are no longer present on the bottles. The domain wishes to be more respectful of the environment and has therefore stopped the production of metal seals. This does not change the potential of the wine and the tasting.

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Terroir: The imposing south-east facing hillside of Grand Cru Hengst is located south of the village of Wintzenheim. This red Oligocene limestone is one of the best terroirs for Gewurztraminer. The vineyard benefits from very hot and dry growing conditions, and the soil provides structure, high phenolic concentration and reduces the powerful varietal expression in favour of a more complex spicy expression. The wine comes from two small vineyards, planted in 1953 and in the 1920s. These are probably the best and most beautiful Gewurztraminer selections on the estate. They predate the modern higher yielding clones and are capable of producing a complex and coherent wine where varietal characteristics do not dominate the wine. Obviously, the Hengst is harvested at a high level of ripeness and should always be expected to finish its fermentations with a certain amount of sweetness.

Indice: Level of sweetness on the palate. Scale from 1 to 5.

1: analytically dry or tasting dry. 2: not analytically dry, but the sugars are not obviously apparent on the palate. Some tasters may find a slight roundness in the finish. These wines will taste dry with some bottle ageing. 3: Medium sweetness, higher in the youth of the wine, which will gradually fade with age. 4 : sweet wine. 5 : Sweet wine, very close to a Vendange Tardive.