Pinot Gris Clos Jebsal Vendanges Tardives 2016 - Zind Humbrecht

Pinot Gris Clos Jebsal Vendanges Tardives 2016 - Zind Humbrecht

Directly from the estate

 96/100 James Suckling

May 28, 2018 - “This is certainly a wine for foie gras rather than dessert as it is exotic on the nose, showing aromas of mango, pineapple and apricot. The texture is pulpy but not all that sweet. The finish is long and elegant. Almost delicate. To drink or to keep.”

Despite the remarkable precocious character, (the Clos Jebsal is the terroir where we find the first signs of flowering and véraison at the Domaine) this terroir has a real capacity to produce wines typical of cool soils. The grey marls of Keuper have a good water retention capacity and prevent hydric stress, yielding wines with beautiful balanced acidities. Noble rot is always present and every year since the very first vintage the wines from Clos Jebsal have been sweet. The climate at the end of the season determines whether the expression of the Clos Jebsal takes on the form of a Sélection de Grains Nobles, (Selection of Noble Grains) or Vendange Tardive. It is not a rare occurrence that in certain vintages the Jebsal is the only terroir which produces a noble rot wine. In vintages where the botrytis attains an extreme concentration and surpasses the threshold of 30° potential alcohol, these wines are designated Trie Spéciale. These wines are characterised by their low alcohols (usually less than 6%) and a high levels of residual sugar (usually greater than 300 g/l).
The wines from Clos Jebsal are discreet in their youth, often marked with flinty or smoky aromas. The expression of fruit linked to the concentration by botrytis is coaxed out with some time in bottle, a minimum of ten years is recommended to allow for the development of the true expression of Clos Jebsal. 

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