Pinot Noir HUGEL 2016

Made from the famous grape variety of Burgundy, this agreeable red wine presents a distinctive Alsace character.
Supple, with intense fruit, it can be drunk with charcuterie, red meat and cheese.

Presentation

Quick View
Pinot Noir now represents 8% of the total production of Alsace and with global warming the wines are steadily gaining in density.
The vintage
After three years of extremely low yields, we can at last say 2016 has been a generous vintage! Unlike most of France, which has been severely hit by hail and frost, Alsace was probably the luckiest of the major wine regions this year. The vintage can really be divided in two halves as weather, which caused us great concern initially, then took a turn for the better around the end of June.
Spring did not unfold without incident, with a few frost alerts in April and even in the beginning of May, followed by the wettest month of June (157mm) in decades! Careful monitoring of the vineyards was key with an outbreak of mildew, extremely rare in the region.
The only window of bright sun during Spring came at the end of June, just in time for a perfect and, for the least, complete blossoming between June 17 and 21.
Summer came out very dry and hot and harvest saw dry and cool conditions (only three real days of rain in seven weeks) resulting in perfect sanitary status across all grape varieties. Due to the late vintage, harvesting started extremely slowly on September 27, one of the latest and longest campaigns of the recent years.
2016 is the first vintage in over a decade that hasn’t seen the production of any botrytis wines at Hugel; due to the late vintage and the optimum health of the grapes, noble rot did not develop, resulting in a classic vintage for dry wines only.
In the vineyard
Harvested exclusively by hand from clay and limestone vineyards in a dozen of the most favoured localities in and around Riquewihr.
Winemaking
The grapes are taken in small tubs to the winery, they are 100% destemmed and macerated for 6 to 7 days. After malo-lactic fermentation, the wine is matured in vats until it is bottled in early summer the following year.
The bottles are then aged in our cellars until released for sale.
Presentation
Photos of bottles and labels, 3 definitions, max 300dpi
Varietal
Pinot Noir : 100%
Specifications
Alcohol content : : 12.05 % vol.
Residual Sugar : : 0.3 g/l
Tartaric acidity : : 5.31 g/l
pH : : 3.5
Age of vines : : 21 years old
Yield : : 45 hl/ha hL/ha

Advice

Tasting notes by Serge Dubs, World's Best Sommelier 1989
This wine has a pleasant red current and cherry colour with the slightest hints of bronzed ruby which develop over time accompanied by a wonderful shimmer and transparency.
It has an open, smooth, tender and elegantly fruity nose with hints of black cherry, raspberry, crushed wild strawberry, alcoholic fruit jam, tobacco and woodland floor.
On the palate this is a classic, elegant, refined and smooth Pinot Noir wine, the flavour is structured by the tannin which is not too hard, making it easy to approach and thirst-quenching.
This is a classic Alsace region Pinot Noir red wine that should be consumed now or within two years.
Best served between 13° and 15°C.
Best served with most dishes: sweetmeats, sausages, cold-cuts, ham, grilled meat; and with grilled fish: salmon, smoked trout; white-meat: pork shoulder, roasted poultry, pot au feu, meat patés; or game: pheasant, haunch of lamb.