2002 Trimbach Alsace Riesling Cuvee Frederic Emile 12.5%
Lovely and fresh scents of citrus, white flowers, peach and light petrol. Satisfying weight, surprisingly tart. In fact, the combined acidity and tartness overwhelms the fruit, so I'm counting on the food to buffer some of the acidity. Wrong food. Worried about a hint of burgeoning concupscience about our waistlines, Marcia had prepared a variety of sausages with sauerkraut and a variety of mostly sweet mustards that complained bitterly, in Alsatian patois, that the riesling wasn't deutsche, preferably an auslese. It also complained that, after Alsace was returned to France, Alsatian police dogs weren't renamed French Shepherds, but that's neither here nor there in a wine note. So, it was a terrible match, and the bottle wasn't emptied. I was preparing to put it back in the fridge when Marcia said where are you going with that bottle. Without the food to mess things up, we drank the final 40%, with pleasure. Equanimity restored, this is pretty, pure and chiseled, though somewhat lacking in surprise or idiosyncrasy, the stuff that drives my curiosity.