WTN: 2013 Dirler-Cade Gewurztraminer Kessler

[David M. Bueker]

2013 Dirler-Cade Gewurztraminer Kessler - France, Alsace, Alsace Grand Cru (11/25/2019)
Rich, and pretty sweet Gewurztraminer that has all the classic varietal markers. The rose aromatics are especially pronounced, with the pineapple playing a secondary role. Lychee and a touch of honey (a little botrytis?) come in towards the finish.

If I was going to demonstrate sweet Gewurztraminer to someone who had never tasted it, this would be a good wine for the job.

I second that. I've had it once at the winery and twice at home, and loved it every time. It was also one of the nicest winery visits we had in Alsace (along with Hugel, and Pierre Sparr - the latter more for the reception than the wines, although they were good values).

[David M. Bueker]

Dirler has a huge range of wines. That must be some visit!

Dirler has a huge range of wines. That must be some visit!

I think I posted this before, but I'll repeat it: We were supposed to visit Dirler-Cadé on Saturday afternoon, but because the person who was to show us our apartment in Colmar didn't arrive until 5pm, we had to reschedule to Monday morning. Then on Monday, we ran into some problems and didn't arrive until 11:45, which was sort of OK because we knew they closed for lunch at 12:00.

It turned out their hours had changed and they now closed at 11:45, so there was no one in the tasting room. Mme Cadé saw us looking lost, came over, and when she heard our explanation, said they were closed for lunch, and she'd have to get back to harvesting afterwards, but that she'd give us a couple of wines to taste.

Instead, she spent 45 minutes with us, gave us 17 wines to taste, showed us soil samples from all her vineyards, and commiserated about how difficult it is to get wines into the Ontario Liquor Control Board. And then we had to apologize that we could only buy a few bottles because we are only allowed to bring back 2 bottles each duty free! I've since emailed her and told her about the 1½ cases of her wines we've bought here (including this one).

We got similar treatment (and comparable numbers of wines to sample) at Hugel (including 3 VTs and 2 SGNs!) and Pierre Sparr. It probably helped that I booked in advance, and immediately started taking notes when we tasted the wines.

[Jenise]

Off-topic but to this day I can't see the name Kessler without thinking of Lou and feeling sad.

[David M. Bueker]