2014 Riesling Brand, Grand Cru, Zind-Humbrecht

Bottled in August 2016 with the highest alcohol volume of the 2014 Rieslings (moderate 12.65% alcohol), Humbrecht's 2014 Riesling Brand opens with a deep, very pure and stony/flinty bouquet of ripe and well-concentrated Riesling flavors. Full-bodied and round with very delicate, fine-grained acidity and lingering salinity, this is a very elegant and finessed Brand. Silky textured, piquant and highly elegant, this is a gorgeous and powerful but refined Brand with great expression. This is Riesling from granite soils and it was bottled with 8.9 of residual sugar and a total acidity of 7.5 grams per liter, with a pretty amazing pH of 3.0 for granite soils (after the alcoholic and malolactic fermentation).Oliver Humbrecht had two impressive vintage collections to present. Although 2014 was a precocious vintage (harvest at Zind Humbrecht started on September 10 and was finished a month later, with most vineyards being picked in the last two weeks of October), the wines are physiologically ripe but normal or rather moderate in alcohol. They are also balanced by a remarkable acidity, which is "equivalent or sometimes even higher than 2013 or 2010." Due to the fruit fly drosophila suzukii, severe selections had to be made in the vineyard so that no acid-affected clusters would go into the buckets. "2014 was the most expensive harvest ever," says Humbrecht whose normal personal costs were doubled, and the average yields were just 39.5 hectoliters per hectare (39.5 hectoliters in the Grands Crus). Due to the pink grape skins and aromatic flavors, the Gewurztraminers and Muscats were the fly's most prominent victims. In some top vineyards such as the Rangen and the Hengst no grands crus have been produced in 2014 and the grapes were declassified to lower qualities, which in return are pretty complex in 2014. Due to the earlier harvest, the Gewurtzs are also a bit drier than normal. The Rieslings, however, are of top quality: rather moderate in alcohol, dry, fresh and clear, age-worthy reflections of their particular terroirs. Since there was almost no overripeness in 2014 and the weather conditions became difficult in October, no Vendange Tardive was selected in 2014.Many of the 2015s are really spectacular. Even though they are rich, intense and powerful, they are well structured by their rich phenols that give good sensation of freshness, too. The Gewurtraminer crus, especially the dramatic Windbuhl, are gorgeous; this can also be said for the Pinot Gris, namely the great Rangen de Thann Clos Saint Urbain (which is lush and sensual but exploding with tension) and the Clos Jebsal Vendange Tardive. Among the Rieslings, collectors should buy the Grand Cru Brand, which is stimulatingly rich but also pure and provided with a beautiful, fine tannin grip. Last but not least, the Rangen is even finer and more finessed, fascinatingly pure and vital!

Fersken, nektarin, lime og citrus. Stringent, mineralsk rank og spændstig syre. Saltet og mineralsk. Forrygende flot Riesling i topsegmentet.

Iflg. legenderne var der en drage, der udfordrede solen på den stejle bakke, der nu kendes som Grand Cru Brand. Solen vandt, dragen måtte flygte, måske er det derfor, at også denne monumentale Brand-Riesling fra Zind-Humbrecht er mere præget af solens milde varme og druernes sødme end af dragens vildskab og hidsige syre. Det er et glas forfinet harmoni og velsmag, hvor druesødmen og frugtsyren netop spiller ping-pong, en delikat og udholdende kamp, men de enes i fordragelighed, sødmen vinder, men syren giver ikke op. Der er længde og bredde i glasset, fra umoden mango til moden pomelo. Som madvin er den formidabel, hvis kokken også er det. Igen er det spillet mellem sødme og syre, der udfordrer.