Cuvée Frederich Emile

 11/24/12 -

The great Alsace producer Trimbach was founded in 1626. We don’t know what the wines were like then, but for some years Trimbach has produced two of the world’s greatest dry Rieslings, Clos Ste Hune, and Cuvèe Frederic Emile. Clos Ste Hune is produced in tiny quantities and most of us would consider it to be expensive (at $100-$300 per bottle, depending on the vintage); the Frederich Emile, while still remarkable wine, is a bit more down to earth. It comes from the portion of the Grand Cru Osterberg vineyard that overlooks the house of Trimbach, and it’s one of the most ageworthy dry rieslings.  We have multiple vintages of this great wine in bottle and magnum!  In 2001 Trimbach celebrated their 375th anniversary and in this great vintage they produced 4 different Cuvèe Frederic Emiles: the "regular"; the 375eme Anniversaire; a Vendange Tardive, and a Selection des Grains Nobles.    The 375th Anniversary cuvèe was harvested in mid-October from a parcel of old vines in Osterberg; it is a fabulous and racy bottle of Riesling with lots of extract and only 5 grams per liter of residual sugar.  This has started to develop some real depth and complexity at 10 years of age.