Gewurztraminer Rangen Clos St Urbain, Domaine Zind-Humbrecht 2013

Bright gold colour. The nose has a real purity of white fruits and white flowers, with lychee and rose just hints in the background. A very mineral character. The palate has excellent weight and viscosity but a fresh line of acidity that gives the fruit a cool, flinty character. The entry is sweet but this has such smoky, spicy complexity that by the finish it is closer to medium-sweet with real richness and denisty. The finish is incredibly long and focused. This is a stunning wine with a long life ahead of it.

N.B. Indice 4

Yellow-golden in color, the 2013 Gewürztraminer Grand Cru Rangen de Thann Clos St Urbain (which was picked one day after the Riesling and stopped fermentation with 42 grams of residual sugar at 13.5% alcohol) opens with a flinty/stony, pure, lemon-fresh and highly complex bouquet that reminds me more of a natural perfume with cumin and orange flavors than a wine. Rich and oily, highly elegant, piquant and salty on the palate, this full-bodied, firmly structured though stimulatingly mineral wine is a beautiful rarity: only 0.5 of the 5.5 hectares of the Clos are planted with Gewurz (the lower part with the deeper volcanic soils, with 34-year-old vines on average), and the 2013 combines power and concentration with purity, finesse and a dancing acidity. It is very rare that you can have such a stimulating and complex Gewurz that is extremely difficult to spit even for car driving professionals. This is a Must Buy for both Rangen and Traminer freaks. And shame on you should you drink all you can grasp too early.