1993 Pinot Gris Heimbourg SGN

The 1993 Tokay-Pinot Gris Heimbourg SGN may achieve a three-digit score after 10-15 years of cellaring. It was fermented in tiny new oak barrels, and some of the vanillin, spicy oak can be detected in the smoky, ripe, thrillingly-scented bouquet. The wine is awesomely rich and extremely well-balanced. It is a 50-60 year wine. This wine from Domaine Zind-Humbrecht is off the charts. There are only 50 or so cases of this wine, which takes richness, sweetness, and honeyed characteristics to unprecedented levels - at least for my palate. With respect to the recently released wines, Olivier Humbrecht stated that he had never seen such intensely ripe Pinot Gris with such high levels of acidity. The importer for the Zind-Humbrecht wines for most of the United States is Wine Markets International, Woodbury, NY; tel. (516) 364-1850, and for the state of California, Kermit Lynch Selections, Berkeley, CA; tel. (510) 524-1524.