Gewurztraminer VENDANGE TARDIVE 2008

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

Quick View
These wines made from overripe grapes are picked well after the classic vintage and 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
Climatic conditions were a carbon-copy of the excellent 2007 vintage. Budburst at the end of April was quite late, but May was warm and sunny so flowering began on 15th June and took more than a fortnight to complete.
July and August were particularly cool with hardly any rise in temperature, but in mid-September the Indian Summer arrived without a drop of rain. The sky stayed bright but temperatures were relatively cool.
As a result, the grapes ripened slowly but fully, perfectly healthy and with excellent acidity.
The 2008 Alsace vintage was already born great but may prove to be exceptional.
In the vineyard
Produced from over-ripened grapes in a selection of the oldest plots of the Hugel estate in the heart of the grand cru Sporen made up of Lias clay-marl, decalcified on the surface, exceptionally rich in phosphoric acid
Date of harvest : 27 october 2008
Potential alcohol : 17°4
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
Gewürztraminer : 100%
Specifications
Alcohol content : : 11.0° % vol.
Residual Sugar : : 107,0 g/l
Tartaric acidity : : 4.78 g/l
pH : : 3.67
Age of vines : : 35 years old
Yield : : 28 hl/ha hL/ha

Advice

Video
Tasting notes by Serge Dubs, World's Best Sommelier 1989
Deep, silky straw gold colour with gold hints, attractively bright, with excellent viscosity and unctuous tears that cling to the glass and indicate sweetness and ripeness.

Deep, concentrated bouquet of ripe grape aromas, or slightly over-ripe, of candied, sundried grapes, quince jelly, lychee, acacia and may blossom, rose and gentle spices, saffron and royal jelly.

On the palate, the wine is very sweet but magnificently well balanced, rich and ripe it fills the mouth with flavours and sensations, flattering and enchanting. More especially, it is not too rich or too high in alcohol.

Enjoy it now at 6°C, it already gives so much pleasure, or keep it for 8 to 12 years. Drink it simply to savour a rich wine of exceptional quality.

Serve it also with foie gras, blue cheese, roquefort, stilton, and fruit-based desserts, tarts and cakes with fig, pineapple, apple and pear.