1990 Pinot Gris Vieilles Vignes

Humbrecht's 1990 Tokay-Pinot Gris-Vieilles Vignes displays a huge, buttery, smoky nose, massively rich, dry, full-bodied flavors with the immense fruit extraction expected of a Burgundy grand cru. As impressive as this wine is young, it needs 4-5 years in the bottle to develop a bouquet. This is a wine capable of 10-15 years of evolution, but exercising that degree of patience will be difficult given the sumptuous qualities of this wine. One of the best ways to evaluate a wine enthusiast's collection is to take stock of how much Alsace white wine or Rhone Valley red wine is present. Yet, how many wine enthusiasts realize that Alsace Tokay-Pinot Gris is one of the greatest dry white wines made in the world? Moreover, no one makes better Pinot Gris than Zind-Humbrecht. As I said last year, the range of wines produced by Leonard and Olivier Humbrecht in both 1989 and 1990 is a memorable achievement. The 1989s have largely disappeared from the marketplace except for some of the rare, super-expensive Vendange Tardive offerings, but the dry 1990s have just arrived. Importers: Wine Markets International, Woodbury, NY and Kermit Lynch Wine Merchant, Berkeley, CA.