A Collection of Clos Ste. Hune

10/29/13 -

Maison F. E. Trimbach has been producing top Alsatian wines since 1626, none greater than the most famous wine of the region, Clos Ste. Hune.  Now under the twelfth generation of family ownership and winemaking, the Trimbachs have not strayed from traditional styles of dry Alsatian wine even when fashions in the region shifted to wines with large amounts of residual sugar.  Trimbach's top wines demand cellaring to really blossom, but given time Clos Ste. Hune is one of the few wines which can challenge Montrachet for the claim to be the best and most long-lived white wine in the world.

Interestingly, despite being entirely located within the grand cru vineyard Rosacker, Clos Ste. Hune cannot be labeled as grand cru since the Clos itself does not have specific status within the AOC system.  Nonetheless it has long been regarded as a special place for winegrowing: the Trimbachs believe that the Romans grew wine in the vineyard.  Clos Ste. Hune has a gentle slope, a cool microclimate, and more limestone than nearly any other vineyard in Alsace, which combine to produce great minerality, depth and the acidity needed for a long evolution. 

Clos Ste. Hune has been bottled and sold on its own since 1919, and production is very small with just 500 cases in a typical year.  These bottles were purchased on release by a longtime Chambers Street Wines client who is fastidious about sourcing and storage.  All wines are in beautiful condition and several older bottles of Clos Ste. Hune drunk with him have been in outstanding shape.