If you are wine fans and live in Southern California, you can have a real wine treat. There is a store, discussed here on the board, called Hi TIme Cellars in Costa Mesa. They carry a wine from Alsace, called Domaine Albert Mann. 2001 was the most incredible year in Alsace I can remember.
The Alsace grows mainly Riesling, Gewurztraminer, Tokay Pinot Gris, Pinot Blanc with a few others thrown in as well. The wines are made in a very rich style, just loaded with fruit, but the wines are allowed to complete fermentation pretty much to dryness. SOme will taste sweet because of all the ripeness they have but they will interact with food as a drier wine because of their acidity.
Alsatian wines are wonderful food matches. The Gewurztraminers and Tokay's are perfect foils for spicier foods and asian flavors. Tokay-Pinot Gris goes well with anything made with tomatoes and will pork products. The Rieslings are more delicate and doreally well with fish, chicken and cream sauces.
Well back to Albert Mann. In my mind, he is one of the two best producers in Alsace (along with Domaine Weinbach). What is really wonderful about his wines is that they are much less expensive than the Weinbach's or the zind Humbrechts but just as good. Hi times has a large supply of these wines (like 2-3 cases of each) and is about the only place where I was able to find them left. The regular wines are easy to find in DC but the higher level cuvees and Grand crus did not make the DC area.
Here are some comments on the available wines:
Gewurztraminer- this is the plain blend gewurztraminer. It is about $17.00 a bottle. I got a lot of this in DC for $13.99. It will age for at least 10 years but I keep on drinking the stuff now. Perfect balance in an every day style of gewurz. Loads of spice with hints of peach, apricot and a touch of honey. What is so good about it is that it is such fun to drink on its own before or after the entree. We will have half the bottle sitting at the table and save the rest to drink while watching "Who's Line Is It Anyway?"
Pinot Blanc 2001- another blend wine. Pinot blanc is similar to chardonnay but without the butteryness. This wine is less, maybe $12.00. I got it on sale for 9.99 a bottle and then got a 8% discount!. It had melon overtones. Use it any time you would a chardonnay or sauvignon blanc.
Pinot Auxerrois Vielle Vigne- Auxerrois is the "original" Pinot Blanc. It was replaced by Melon which produces more heavily and ripens more evenly. The Auxerrois has earthy overtines and a rich ripe summer melon flavor and aroma. This is perfect with Salumi or rich and oily fish. The flavors are really delicate so keep the foods simple. Another age worth wine from a structure point of view but I don't know how the flavors will develop over time. I have 6 bottles of it so I can wait and see!
Tokay Pinot Gris CUvee Albert. This is a cuvee wine. It is made from a selection of old vines, special plots and grand cru wines that are not distinctive enough to bottle on their own but are too good to get blended into the main cuvee. $18.95 a bottle. I have had this wine in the past but not this vintage. The wine originally was called Pinot Gris. But more study indicated it was closer to Tocai Friulano (and neither are related to Tocay from Hungary which is another grape altogether!). Then further research claims that the grapes are identical anyways. So this is what it is now called. I love the wiine because it marries so well with foods. It has a rich oily mouthfeel, very broad on the palatte. It is spicy and aromatic but without the strong litchi component of gewurztraminer. Perfect with tomato based dishes and rich fish. But you can have it with most anything. I have had rich Tokay with steak or lamb and loved it!
Tokay Pinot Gris Furstentum. Furstentum is a grand cru vineyard in Alsace, my favorite. Mann's peiece of this vineyard makes seriously wonderful wines. Huge, rich, spicy, lush. I am now just cracking into the 99 and its a shame I don't have the willpower to wait longer. The 2001 will be around for a long time (if I can keep my mitts off of it)
Gewurztraminer Steingruber. Steingruber is one of three Grand Cru gewurztraminer that Mann makes. I have never tasted it. I have tasted his Furstentum and his Hengst so I am sure the Steingruber will be just as stunning. This is it, the ultimate of Manns wines- grand cru gewurztraminer. Every one I have ever had is simply amazing and I expect this one to be over the top because of the incredible vintage.
If any of you come across any Gewurztraimner Furstentum 2001 from Mann, please let me know. OK?
Wine NotesTuscan Restaurant ListDean's Wine, Opera and Food Blog"To seek revenge may lead to hell ...
But everyone does it if never as well as Sweeney, as Sweeney Todd" -Stephen Sondheim
Topic Closed
