TGvins est en effet très intéressant en prix pour les Français. Cependant, quand j'avais pris contact avec eux, ils m'avaient répondu ne pas expédier en France. Dommage !

Non, c'est clair que l'importateur Belge ne peut pas expédier en France... mais il doit bien y avoir des primeurs en France, voire directement au domaine... je devrais peut-être demander directement à Olivier Humbrecht... après tout, il se plaint que les français "ne comprennent rien" à ses vins et ne prennent même pas les quotas qu'il garde volontairement pour la France !!

superbe ce post !! ça va m'aider dans mes futurs achats^^.

Chers Amis,

I hope you can forgive me for using English in this French-speaking forum. I can read French (or I wouldn't be here) but my writing skills are rather modest. Consequently, I would like to save both you and me some trouble by not insisting on using them.

First, many thanks to Patrick and others for conducting and reporting that fantastic tasting of 2007 Alsace Rieslings. I found the post (as well as the entire forum) by chance when "googling" on the Internet for recent news about Alsace wines the other day. We (my wife and I) are long-time lovers of Riesling in general and Alsace Riesling in particular. In recent times, we have tried to visit Alsace at least every other year, to buy wine as well as to enjoy the food, the atmosphere of the charming villages as well as the lovely landscape. We plan to visit again this summer and a review of the 2007 vintage is just what I was looking for.

With respect to the results, I am particularly happy to see that Vincent Stoeffler did so well. He happens to be one of our favorite producers and the tasting indicates that we have very good reasons to visit him again this summer!

In addition, the tasting, and the accompanying remarks, potentially shed some light on our recent encounters with the wines of André Kientzler. We visited this highly reputed producer for the first time in the summer of 2008. We tasted at least four different Rieslings (I no longer remember exactly which) but, much to our surprise and disappointment, we were not really charmed by any of them. More out of politeness than anything else, we bought two bottles of the wine we found most acceptable, the Réserve Particulière 2005, and walked out again.

We opened the first of the two bottles at Christmas together with a Riesling-loving friend from Germany, but rather soon found that it was undrinkable. The wine was unclean in a manner resembling "cork" (TCA) but still not exactly "corky". It was also completely devoid of charm. I hoped that it would turn out to be a problem with that bottle only, but last week we opened the second, which, regrettably, was very similar to the first (and makes it considerably less likely that the problem was due to the cork). Does anyone have any further news about what might be going on at this domaine?

In addition, I would be very interested in hearing more about your impressions about 2007 versus 2008. I guess that most of the wines we will encounter on our visit to Alsace this summer will be from one of these two vintages but, not having tasted either of them yet, I am far from sure what to expect. According to virtually all reports, 2007 is a very good year. However, according to the vintage chart I found on this forum, 2008 is even better (9 versus 8)! Is this impression shared by all of you? And what would be your characterization of the difference between the two vintages?

With greetings from cold Sweden, where a little bit of spring is nevertheless in the air.

Dear Anders,

I just wanted to wish you a warm welcome to the forum, and I hope you will get appropriate answers to your questions & doubts.

Dear Anders,

Your experience about some recent Kientzler is despitely the same as many of us. The problem, today, is to be sure if these kinds of defaults are really coming from the cork or from another origin. The same label of cork is also used by Etienne Sipp and Trimbach, but it seems they don't show any regular defaults.

About the comparison between 2007 and 2008, I 'm thinking that it's too early to do it. The 2008 rieslings are too young presently and also under influence of an enormous acidity to give today our impressions about the one vs the another.

Thanks again for your interest about our publications in this forum.

Cheers,

Patrick

Dear Anthony and Patrick,

Many thanks to both of you for your kind response. It is also most courteous of you to respond in English. However, it was by no means my intention to make you or anyone else change the language. I will be more than happy if you excuse my own use of English. But please feel free to respond in French so as to minimize my disruption of the language standard of the forum.

Concerning 2007 versus 2008: Yes I certainly realize that it is too early to evaluate these vintages, especially 2008. Nevertheless, I guess I will encounter a number of 2008s that I will have to judge in order to make a purchase decision when I visit Alsace this summer. I therefore remain very curious about your impressions, however preliminary they may be. My own provisional understanding is that 2008 is a slightly more structured vintage with higher acidity and less apparent fruit (at least at this stage), which will probably take longer to reach maturity but may possibly yield even greater wines than 2007 if you are ready to wait long enough. Is this reasonably correct? Am I also right in guessing that 2008 is particularly likely to be appreciated by those who prefer a rather austere style of Riesling?

Cheers,

Anders

Many thanks to both of you for your kind response. It is also most courteous of you to respond in English. However, it was by no means my intention to make you or anyone else change the language. I will be more than happy if you excuse my own use of English. But please feel free to respond in French so as to minimize my disruption of the language standard of the forum.

They just wanted to show their skills.
[size=x-small](Oki, I'll find the exit ...)[/size]

Stéph

Anders,

Je te réponds donc en français puisque telle est ta demande.

Si je pense qu'il est difficile de comparer 2007 et 2008 actuellement, c'est parce que j'ai été frappé par la difficulté du groupe en janvier à goûter une grosse série de 2007, et cela, principalement, parce que l'acidité en perturbait beaucoup. Or 2007 me paraît actuellement un millésime parfait en tous points mais nettement plus "soft" que 2008 qui éclate par son acidité encore plus imposante et par sa plus grosse structure. S'il me paraît clair aujourd'hui que les 2008 tiendront encore plus longtemps, je n'ose pas m'avancer à d'autres spéculations. Je pense vraiment qu'il faudra attendre 15-20 mois avant de se prononcer sur une véritable comparaison.
Comme de très nombreux 2007 sont encore disponibles aux domaines et que les 2008 peuvent être goûtés sans trop de problèmes si on insiste un peu, je pense que tu auras l'occasion cet été de te faire une idée.

Pas étonnant que toi et ton épouse aimiez l'Alsace quand on vit au pays de Karl-Inge Eklund

Petit rappel, quand Patrick évoque "une grosse série de 2007", il veut dire 32 rieslings de suite.

Bonjour Patrick,

J'ai goûté pas mal de 2007 fin mars et j'ai trouvé à ce moment là qu'ils se goûtaient extrêmement bien, apparemment ça évolue donc bien. J'ai trouvé des 2007 possédant une très belle tension, bâtis sur un profil assez longiligne, structurés par une acidité très présente mais pas mordante (sans doute tartrique plutôt que malique).

En ce qui concerne 2008, comme tu le soulignes il m'a semblé que le vins de ce millésime possèdent plus de structure, plus de matière, par contre j'ai trouvé que l'acidité perçue était alors moindre que sur les mêmes vins du millésime 2007: pour moi cela peut entre autre s'expliquer par l'équilibre différent propre à chacun de ces millésimes.

En tout cas ce sont à mon sens 2 très beaux millésimes en Alsace.

Bonjour et bienvenue Anders,

"My own provisional understanding is that 2008 is a slightly more structured vintage with higher acidity and less apparent fruit (at least at this stage), which will probably take longer to reach maturity but may possibly yield even greater wines than 2007 if you are ready to wait long enough? Is this reasonably correct? Am I also right in guessing that 2008 is particularly likely to be appreciated by those who prefer a rather austere style of Riesling? "

Entièrement d'accord avec ceci! Comme l'a dit Patrick, ce n'est pas encore évident de juger, mais les caractéristiques que tu cites ici sont une bonne moyenne de ce que l'on retrouve. Il y a bien sûr des variations en fonction des cépages et des trerroirs, mais globalement c'est cela. On est effectivement en présence de deux grands millésimes, qui ont un style bien différent, 2007 plus souple, 2008 plus austère et vif.
Mais dans les deux cas, je pense qu'il s'agit de millésimes qu'il faudra attendre, du moins pour les plus belles cuvées: le 2008 pour qu'il fonde son austérité, le 2007 pour que le fond ressorte bien et dépasse lâ rondeur. Ce serait dommage de les déguster uniquement pour leur côté fruité/agréable, même si c'est vrai qu'ils se dégustent déjà bien dans ce registre.
Pour le fait que tu n'ais que peu aimé des vins de Kientzler, pourtant très connu, c'est sans doute une question de style. Ce qui est important quand on lit un forum ou un guide, est de comprendre le style que l'auteur apprécie, pour pouvoir comparer avec ses goûts personnels. Si tu aimes les vins de chez Vincent Stoeffler, très mûrs, concentrés, et avec une forte personnalité, cela ne m'étonne pas que tu ais été moins séduit par les vins de Kientzler, qui sont plus stricts, austères et classiques.

Florian

Thank you all for your helpful and interesting comments.

Patrick: You're thinking of Kurt-Inge (not Karl-Inge) Eklund, right? I am ashamed to say I have not even looked at, much less read, his book about Alsace yet. I can imagine that the pictures are nice and that the book might be worth having for those alone. But what about the rest? Have you bought/read it and if so what is your impression? Should I go out and buy it right away?

When speaking of Swedish Alsace lovers, I'd also like to draw your attention to the site of Per Warfvinge, available in Swedish here (you all speak Swedish, right? ) and in English here (no French version yet unfortunately ). Coincidentally, Florian is currently on the front page, speaking already (but with appropriate caution) about the 2009 vintage.

Although I am sure most of you are already well aware of some of the basic information about Alsace wines that Per provides, I have found some of his more detailed information, for example his producer and village portraits, very helpful. Apparently, Per and I also tend to have rather similar tastes since I have rarely been disappointed when I have tried to follow his advice.

Patrick, Thierryl, and Florian: It does sound like both 2007 and 2008 are really beautiful vintages. I can hardly wait to taste them to form my own impression about the difference and to appreciate them both for what they are. :)o

Florian: You are right of course in your description of the stylistic difference between Kientzler and Stoeffler. However, I am not sure that this is the reason why we were not so enchanted by the Kientzler wines we tried. It was rather something about the particular type of aromatics that we didn't like. I wish I could be more specific but since it is nearly two years ago since we visited the winerey and I did not take any notes, I have a hard time remembering the details. At any rate, I don't think it is generally the case that we tend to dislike wines that can be described as strict, austere or classic. For example, one of our long-time favorites in Alsace is Mader, whose Rieslings can hardly be described as soft, opulent, or fruit-driven. Another indication of our stylistic preferences is that our favorite white grapes are Riesling, Sauvignon Blanc and Grüner Veltliner (all of which typically, and fortunately, unoaked) and that our favorite blue grape is Nebbiolo (Barolo and Barbaresco) along with Aglianico and Sagrantino, although we have a soft spot for Pinot Noir too. To give you a better idea of what we like when it comes to Alsace wines (primarily Riesling), I might mention that our regular stops on the Alsace trail, apart from Stoeffler and Mader, include Wach, CV Hunawihr, Becker, and Sorg. We will be staying at Wach during our visit this summer and I can see on the map that it is not far from Andlau to Dambach-la-Ville. So it might well be that we try to pay you a visit! There are of course so many Alsace producers whose wines we have not yet tasted, and we always try to add at least some new acquaintances on each trip.

Cheers,

Anders

Patrick, je t'en supllie, réponds-lui en suédois !

Anders,

A propos du livre, il est vrai que les images en font plus l'intérêt que le texte.... mais quelles images.... Moi, elles me font rêver...

[size=x-small]Et pour bonaye : Anders, om oss boka, det är sant att bilderna är mer intresse än text... men vad bilder.... I, de gör mig dröm...[/size]