1988 Domaine Zind-Humbrecht Riesling Rangen Clos St. Urbain Grand Cru

The 1988 Riesling Clos Saint-Urbain Rangen de Thann starts the second decade of this exceptional cru in the very south of Alsace. Coming from a late-ripening and medium-ripe vintage with rainfall during summer and the harvest, the Clos Saint-Urbain was picked in early November and quite healthy, with nice acidity, whereas botrytis cinerea appeared only after November 11. The 1988 Rangen offers a subtle and clear, rather coolish, elegant but finely intense bouquet of ripe and stewed stone fruits (apricots) intermingled with notes of crushed stones. On the palate, this is a fine, lush and saline, well-balanced and structured Riesling with beautiful aromatic fruit and stimulating salinity on the finish. Possibly not fully dry but very mineral, this is a just-perfect Riesling of that style that pairs generous fruit with challenging minerality. The finish is long, aromatic and mouthwatering and also hedonistic without being too rich or too powerful. It's a superb wine that developed only slowly as many Alsace 1988s. Tasted as part of the large Rangen vertical in Wachenheim, Pfalz, in November 2023.