WTN: 2006 Weinbach Riesling Ste Catherine

2006 Domaine Weinbach Riesling Alsace Cuvee Ste Catherine 13.5%
Opened with great anticipation. Lovely vapors of honey, grapefruit, passion fruit, petrol and indistinct white flowers. Bracing acidity, mouth-filling thickness, slight touch of bitterness, acidity and sweetness in balance. Then why am I not as happy as I should be? Everything seems a bit too correct. Too Norse Goddess blonde-on-blonde. Idiosyncrasy playing in theaters nowhere. But midway through the meal, while chastising myself for being bored with perfection (stupid decadent bourgeois!), suddenly a sip makes me go whoa (however spelled). Inflorescence. Unexpected, like a dead cat bounce, the whole is greater than the sum of the parts. Methinks it just needs to breathe, of course. But as it warms in the glass, it reverts to humdrum runaway model perfection. Good stuff, but what's a saint without miracles?

Hello Oswaldo,

It sounds like a triumph to me considering the rampant botrytis and grey rot problems that plagued Alsace in 2006, but I understand where you are coming from.

Cheers,
Bill

[David M. Bueker]

The St. Catherine (sans Schlossberg) is not the most profound Weinbach cuvee. Age may bring complexity, but it still sounds lovely. I don't know about you, but I have had a run where little has moved me. Perhaps we have become too jaded.

Last month I drank a truly spectacular 1990 Theo Riesling from Weinbach and I hold out hope that a few of their more recent bottlings will be its equal. It's important to point out too that Alsace hasn't had the most successful run this decade. Perhaps the case could be made that overall quality is up, but the 2000's have lacked the extraordinary peaks of the 90's (I do love the 2005 Schlossberg GC, but it is not the friendliest of wines.) Though I have yet to taste them, it looks like 2008 may bring what we have been waiting for.

Cheers,
Bill