Domaine Zind Humbrecht

What`s Olivier`s secret? For one thing, it is a portfolio of some of the best vineyards in Alsace, largely built up by his father Leonard, who had the foresight to buy the great old sites in an era when everyone wanted the flat, easy-to-farm ones. Then there is the fanatical vineyard work; when I visited a few years ago during pruning season, I saw first-hand the levels of consideration demanded of the pruners. (And I wasn`t allowed anywhere near the secateurs.) And then there is Olivier`s passionate devotion to biodynamic viticulture, which did not come about through ideology, but through watching biodynamics regenerate fading vineyards and dying soils. Nor must you forget his patient, hands-off attitude to winemaking; in his cold, deep cellars, some of Olivier`s 2019s took a full year to finish fermentation. So how to get to grips with this complex, diverse range? Clos Windsbuhl makes a cool, serious Riesling and a racy Chardonnay (the Zind, which is labelled Vin de France since Chardonnay is not permitted for still wines in Alsace). The red limestone soils of the Rotenberg vineyard bring a piquant, concentrated, very Alsatian expression of Pinot Gris. Hengst gives an opulent, spicy Gewurztraminer. But the domaine`s greatest site is their Clos St-Urbain monopole in the dauntingly steep Rangen de Thann. Rangen stamps its very mineral, volcanic vineyard character on whatever grape variety is grown there. And, not just an afterthought, there is one red wine. From the limestone and clay soils of Heimbourg comes a bright and delicate Pinot Noir. (NT (18/10/21)