Trimbach 2001 CFE

A wine from (in my opinion) an ideal vintage from the (in my opinion) ideal Alsatian wine maker. On the one hand, it evidences all of the bright purity and concentration one would expect. By why so much vinyl/petrol? As an Alsatian riesling drinker, I embrace these flavors, especially as the wine ages. And while a bit of petrol in a young riesling is more than fine with me, too much of it suggests--as far as I understand it--a TDN problem and probably a flaw (and is not a 2001 Trimbach still very young?).

I have a case (minus one) of the stuff left, and I'm hoping the wine has a better future ahead of it, and that the early accumulation of TDN doesn't suggest a larger problem. Anybody have experience with this?

[David M. Bueker]

While I have not had the 2001 in the last 6 months, I have not noticed an excess of petrol in any of my tastes of this wine. I think we should not overlook the fact that this wine is 8+ years old, so it's not like the emergence of petrol is premature. I'm not sure what you consider too much petrol, so I cannot comment on that score.

As far as TDN, it's natural in Riesling, (I am using a Tom Stevenson article on Trimbach as my reference here), so what constitutes a flaw is quite debatable.

I can say with some degree of experience that petrol can fade over time, so be patient with the wine (it has bags of life left anyway) and you very well may be rewarded.

Of course now I want to open one of my bottles, but I will try to resist the urge.

While I have not had the 2001 in the last 6 months, I have not noticed an excess of petrol in any of my tastes of this wine. I think we should not overlook the fact that this wine is 8+ years old, so it's not like the emergence of petrol is premature. I'm not sure what you consider too much petrol, so I cannot comment on that score.

As far as TDN, it's natural in Riesling, (I am using a Tom Stevenson article on Trimbach as my reference here), so what constitutes a flaw is quite debatable.

I can say with some degree of experience that petrol can fade over time, so be patient with the wine (it has bags of life left anyway) and you very well may be rewarded.

Of course now I want to open one of my bottles, but I will try to resist the urge.

Thanks. I both hope and assume that you are right. And definitely don't open one now! It's tight, which might have something to do with all the petrol expression.

That being said, I've always heard weird things about Trimbach's US distribution, and I've always had some questions about how this particular wine was treated before I got my hands on it (a couple years ago). Do you have any idea if poor treatment (heat, or whatever) in shipping can affect wine in this way?

[David M. Bueker]

Well I certainly think that mistreatment would bring on the petrol phase earlier in life.

But...I have had Trimbach CFE sourced from various points, including the domaine, and not seen drastic differences except in the case of bottles that spent an inordinate amount of time on a retailer's shelf.