WTN: Wines with Ursula at our favourite local Asian restaurant

Last Friday at the Sinohaus in Dornbirn in nearby Austria.

Trimbach Riesling Clos Ste-Hune 1993
A bottle from my collection, which I took along to share with the Wachau-loving restaurant owner. This is a vintage of CSH that I cannot say has consistently performed well, but this bottle, which had just travelled in the car, then was hastily decanted and served in huge stems (Riedel Sommelier Bordeaux, no less!), showed as well as any I have had. Medium-deep yellow-golden colour. Tell-tale terroir-typical argillo-calcerous minerality I always find so reminiscent of sea salt (which can even give the wine a bouillabaisse-like broth quality), mature lime (perhaps a bit early-mature for a CSH this young), pine forest floor, soft pistachio, flintstone. The acidity, while in balance quantity-wise, seemed completely integrated for an hour or so, then turned ever so slightly brittle, although I was the only one noticing – reminding me this is the standard warning signal with CSH, which never turns petrolly like Cuvée Frédéric Emile, but simply tends to disintegrate once it is beyond its prime. Mind you, I was extremely pleased with this showing, but could not help thinking, all the same, that what is already happening to the 1991 or 1992, may happen to the 1993 soon also, in contrast to CSHs from truly memorable vintages like 1971, 1976 (only from absolutely pristine storage!), 1983, 1989 and 1990, none of which even hint at such a fate. Judging from the behaviour of such vintages as 1986 and 1987, I would expect the 1993 to stay on this plateau of maturity until the end of the decade, in other words, I would plan on drinking up remaining bottles before it reaches the age of twenty. Rating: 90-

F. X. Pichler Riesling Smaragd Loibner Berg 2004
Thanks to the restaurant owner. Had a glass of the 2005 Kellerberg one week open in my fridge when I got back home late at night, which confirmed my impression that in terms of minerality and depth, the Loibner Berg may simply not be an attention-catching site/terroir. A beyond decent wine, however, bright medium yellow-green coloured, a well-balanced and fairly intense 2004, with lightly spicy-minty-herbaceous lime fruit, dusty white pepper, acidity of quite even ripeness for the vintage, a highly integrated, subtle bitter note and perhaps medium length. Even so, Ursi called it a light summer wine in comparison to the 1993 CSH, a verdict with which our gracious host did not seem to disagree. Rating: 88

Greetings from Switzerland, David.

[David M. Bueker]

I love Hune, but I cannot help but think that Trimbach should limit producing it to the top vintages. It's a huge sum of money for a wine that in mediocre years just does not stand out over the competition. For the price premium I expect it to shine vintage after vintage.

I will treasure my '95, '96 and '98, but am wary of the '97 and '99 performing like the '93. That's not what I pay for with Hune.

Don't know about the 1999 (which I haven't tasted yet - can only say that in general, it's not a favourite vintage of mine in Alsace), but the 1997 is so far behaving not just as well as hoped, but better than expected in bottle. Here's a repost of my last TN on it, from October 2005:

Trimbach Riesling Clos Ste-Hune 1997
Sweden 10/05. Thanks to Fredrik. Now this is doing spectacularly well, especially considering we tasted it from half bottle! Pale yellow-green. Riper lemony lime fruit than in most vintages, less "fishy" (Albino meant that in the positive sense of course) minerality, i.e. the argillo-calcerous soil notes are more subdued at present (no matter, as they are always the second-to-last element left in the end). Almost candy-like smoothness and roundness, terrific "ripe" herb notes, very, very long on the finish, even on the aftertaste there is a sensation of candied smoothness even though the wine is obviously bone-dry. One might also say good glycerine to cover up the dryness and the balm mint- and basil-scented acidity. A bit like a high-grade Corton-Charlemagne in this vintage, not the kind of comparison that would usually spring to my mind (except the other way round). A larger stem brought more soil notes to the fore, by the way. About great, and one of the very best of the nineties.

Greetings from Switzerland, David.

[David M. Bueker]

Well that's good news from a trusted taster. Thanks

By the way, I agree wholeheartedly, the times are over (in terms of quality-price ratio) in which to buy CSH from lesser vintages (let's not forget the 1993 cost half of what the 2001 costs now). Having said, I might still order a bottle from time to time from a restaurant wine list in Alsace, simply because I'm hopelessly curious (what was it again our friend Gustavo used to say about me, "Curiosity killed the cat"?).

Greetings from Switzerland, David.

Just curious about the geography. How far are you from Einsiedeln? This town was one of my "discoveries" when I lived in Germany, and I in turn was instrumental in persuading my parents and another couple to visit Einsiedeln as part of a Switzerland/Austria vacation. Their hotel was right on the Platz with the monastery and a wrestling festival was going on in the Platz the day after their arrival.

Been there recently showing around a friend from America on a touristic round trip, maybe an hour's drive by car.

Greetings from Switzerland, David.

Thanks for replying David.