HUGEL Riesling 2005

Presentation

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It is the Pinot Noir of white wines! Riesling is our most demanding variety as it is also the latest ripening. Dry and elegant, it expresses its best on our steepest slopes with a most complex minerality.
The vintage
The sheer quality of this vintage emerged progressively as the harvest unfolded. Throughout the season the vines were in superb condition, and a true "Indian Summer" at the end of the harvest enabled us to pick our best vineyards late and under optimum conditions.
Everything indicates that 2005 will be a great vintage. Grapes were healthy and ripe, balanced by excellent acidity. The wines confirm our early optimism, showing great aromatic purity and class on a par with the finest vintages.
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 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 in our cellars until released for sale.
Presentation
Photos of bottles and labels, 3 definitions, max 300dpi
Varietal
Riesling : 100%

Advice

Tasting notes by Serge Dubs, World's Best Sommelier 1989
Attractively bright, pale yellow green in colour.
A fragrant, clean, lively, refreshing wine, whose spring-like freshness of fruit and floral aromas makes it eminently quaffable.
This youthful wine should be served nicely chilled at 8°C in order to appreciate its refreshingly dry and attractive character, as a fine aperitif or with oysters, shellfish, grilled fish or a buffet of hors d'oeuvres.
29 July 2006

Photos of bottles and labels, 3 definitions, max 300dpi ">