Riesling SGN 2010

An absolute nectar !
Great specialty for several generations of the Hugel family, who drafted the law on late harvest.
Wine with great power and longevity to taste religiously by itself during a special occasion.

Presentation

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These wines made from single berry selection of overripe and shrivelled grapes picked one by one and produced in the greatest years only. The action of noble rot (botrytis cinerea) gives them an almost unlimited ability to age. They are part of the elite of the greatest wines in France.
The vintage
The winter of 2010 was particularly harsh, with more than 30 days below zero, and temperatures dropped as far as -17°C. Budburst on 8 April was early, but flowering which began on 10 June took almost 3 weeks to finish due to cool temperatures. July was exceptionally hot and sunny, before cold, damp and rainy weather set in throughout August and into September. Ideal weather conditions returned on 11 September, with not a drop of rain for 6 weeks. Our harvest began on 27 September and ended on 26 October. Maturity reached record levels, the highest for 50 years, with good acidity, similar to 1996. Crop size was 30% below average, and even lower for Gewurztraminer.
Superb wines with magnificent balance, purity and fruit. 2010 is a great classic vintage, with good ageing potential.
In the vineyard
Produced from over-ripened grapes, picked one by one in a selection of the oldest plots of the Hugel estate in the heart of the grand cru Schoenenbourg This fantastic historical terroir has been almost exclusively devoted to Riesling for centuries.
Keuper, marl, dolomite and gypsum, rich in fertilising agents, overlaid with fine layers of quaternary siliceous gravel, Vosges sandstone and Muschelkalk, with at its eastern extremity outcrops of Lias marl limestones.
Harvest date: October 12th 2010
Potential alcohol : 18.0°
Winemaking
The grapes are taken in small tubs to the presses, which are filled by gravity, without any pumping or other mechanical intervention.
After pressing, the must is decanted for a few hours, then fermented in temperature-controlled barrels or vats (at 18 to 24°C). The wine is racked just once, before natural clarification during the course of the winter. The following spring, the wine is lightly filtered just before bottling, and the bottles are then aged extensively in our cellars until released for sale.
Varietal
Riesling : 100%
Specifications
Alcohol content : : 10.6° % vol.
Residual Sugar : : 120 g/l
Tartaric acidity : : 12.52 g/l
pH : : 2.95
Age of vines : : 40 years old
Yield : : 7 hl/ha hL/ha

Advice

Video
Tasting notes by Serge Dubs, World's Best Sommelier 1989
2010 was an exceptional year for Alsace wines, providing me with the wonderful opportunity and pleasure to talk to you about a truly marvellous SGN Riesling.
This wine's colour is in the sparkling, silky, dense, intense yellows of straw, daffodils and fresh lemon in combination with pistachio green highlights and a pure crystalline brilliance. We can easily see the natural sugar content of the over-ripe and botrytised grapes.
The appearance is youthful and lively.
The bouquet is filled with freshness and sophisticated, perfumed, aromatic and fruity liveliness bringing the unique characteristics of the Riesling grape variety into the foreground.
Including hints of fresh lemon, lemon balm, citron, lemon-grass, pink grapefruit, rhubarb, peach, mirabelle, ginger, honey. With a complimenting and subtle touch of minerality.
This is a sweet wine with a joyful and harmonious sweetness and the wonderful acidity that is the signature of Riesling wines, whilst remaining sweet and creamy, leaving a sensation of liveliness to whet the appetite. The after-taste is a highly refined concentration of aromas.
Even if it is still too young, this wine can be consumed immediately at 6° and it will be at its best between 10 and 25 years from now.
Best served with fruit tarts (lemon), rhubarb, red-current, pineapple, almonds or foie gras in terrine or pan-fried with apples. Fresh fruit salads or just on its own amongst dessert wine lovers.