2009 Zind Humbrecht Pinot Gris Clos Windsbuhl

While unabashedly sweet, the Zind-Humbrecht 2009 Pinot Gris Clos Windsbuhl evinces an admirable sense of delicacy for a wine of 13.8% alcohol. Peach and Rainier cherry preserves mingle on a creamy palate with honey and pungently peaty manifestations of noble rot. Envelopingly sumptuous, this confectionary expression of Pinot Gris finishes with gaudy impressions of banana and vanilla cream. Like the vintage as a whole, I find myself asking whether this might be an instance of over-generosity. One might try this out as a desert wine provided it wasn’t pitted against too much sugar, but otherwise it should serve as dessert in its own right. I would be watchful of bottles I held on to for more than a decade, but perhaps further complexity as well as stamina I don’t anticipate will emerge. 90 points