Anne et Jean Trimbach, Maison Trimbach
Maison Trimbach
A visit to Alsace cannot be complete without a stop at Trimbach, the epicentre of rhythm in Ribeauvillé. If that excursion includes a jaunt over to Riquewihr and lunch at Le Sarment d’Or with Jean and Anne Trimbach and their soulful wines, the exercise can be surmised in one word: élan.
Le Sarment d’Or, Riquewihr
The Trimbach aura is triggered by joie de vivre, in pulse, metre and cadence. The wines reflect their makers and out there in the Alsace diaspora Trimbach is what I would refer to as an approachable, accessible and ever-so friendly icon. The wines are paradigmatic and emblematic of Alsatian acidity, from entry-level to preeminence. They are professional and represent the purest form of Alsatian confessional. The wines of Trimbach open up to the world, hide no skeletons, spin no agenda and simply ride out on a prosperous, musical mission to please. Here are notes on four wines tasted in Alsace, June 2014.
Fish Tartare, Le Sarment d’Or, Riquewihr
Réserve Pinot Gris 2011, Ac Alsace, France (971762, $23.95, WineAlign)
For Trimbach this is a top quality vintage to make an example for one of the domain’s signature value wines. This firm and straight shooting Pinot Gris comes from limestone-dominant parcels not so different from the PG taken out of the winery’s Osterberg Grand Cru, just above Ribeauvillé. That a Pinot Gris can bring a nearly (8 g/L) elevated level of residual sugar to the table and come across bone dry, like a walkabout in the outback, remains one of life’s great mysteries. Picked prudently early, or as Alsatians like to say, “right on time,” this Trimbach is eloquent, reeks of wet, cold stone and lies over an ocean tasting of salty minerals. Pour it with the freshest, uncooked fish and a light vegetable pickle.
Trimbach Vineyards Ribeauvillé © http://www.trimbach.fr/en/
Pinot Gris Réserve Personelle 2008 (971762, $22.95, WineAlign)
Seductively Sauternes-like in its orange marmalade viscosity. An immense Gewurz-like PG. Off-dry tropical fruit, lanolin and a macadamia nut streak foils lemon, peppery orange and gold nasturtium. The edible florals are replayed in its sun-blazing technicolour. At 14 g/L of residual sugar and 14 per cent alcohol it marks the vintage but with incredible acidity. Jean Trimbach notes the balance is due to the efforts of his brother Pierre, in spirit, energy, texture and acidity. Drink 2015-2020. Tasted July 2012 and June 2015
Cuisses de Grenouille, Le Sarment d’Or, Riquewihr
Trimbach Riesling Cuvée Frédéric Émile 1998, Alsace, France (2006 – 728535, $55.00, WineAlign)
Talk begins, if only because of its arresting singularity and how it flashes like a beacon, with the 1998 Cuvée Frédéric Émile’s acidity. Vintage-bound and determined with an exceptional focus that is clear, crisp and precise. From marl-limestone-sandstone and fossil-flecked Muschelkalk out of the Ribeauvillé terroirs Geisberg and Osterberg. A bone dry Riesling with a microscopic number of botrytis in absolute control of its 16 year-old adolescent body and emotions. Decidedly masculine, strong, confident and of a musculature that is developed yet immature. Not quite reckless and not yet taking any unnecessary risks, this will go through a racy period over the next few years before maturing into an industrious and wise adult. In this 1998, with the vineyards in mind, a parallel is drawn from 1990. Drink 2018-2028.
On Monday, June 16th at the Millésimes Alsace, the professional trade fair for Alsace wines, older vintages were poured at the Master. Among them was one of Trimbach’s iconic Riesling.
Trimbach Riesling Cuvée Frédéric Émile 1990, Alsace, France (2006 – 728535, $55.00, WineAlign)
Introduced as a wine with “the capacity to air” by Sommelier Caroline Furstoss at the Millésimes Alsace Master Class. Riesling from a near-perfect and clean vintage (less than five per cent botrytis) that lays reclined in an evolution that has come to a balance in weightlessness. Frédéric Émile is a cuvée of beautifully impossible chemistry, a meld of dichotomous terroirs, of Geisberg and Osterberg, of stony clay geologically folded into both multicoloured sandstone and calcareous marl. The two plots may be hard to tell apart but this wine is so important because it innately knows how to make magic from the subtle differences and idiosyncratic intricacies of those soils. In 1990 the execution found results in the grandiose. There is no adipose tissue in this Riesling, no wasted notes, no moments of daydreaming. Laser clarity and still wagering its 25 year-old impetuous limestone acidity against the energy that might oppose it. “You can feel the granite soil in the body of the wine,” notes Furstoss. Aromatics call upon orange peel, ginger and a brulée imbued of a late, finishing noble bitterness. Amaranthine Alsace.
Maison Trimbach, © http://www.trimbach.fr/en/
Good to go!
Godello 