After having bottled an eponymous cuvee of Pinot Gris since 2006, Humbrecht bottled a 2009 Riesling Calcaire `from a little bit too much Heimbourg and Clos Hauserer to fit into their respective casks.` This child of necessity smells pungently of juniper berry, chalk dust, and ocean breeze, along with some of the most intense aura of plum pits and distilled purple and yellow plum that you will find outside a bottle of eau de vie. A saline, bittersweet character persists on a creamy, full palate and into a forceful and mouth-watering finish. Imagine a Margarita-like cocktail but with gin and plum liqueur. And the absence of any heat – indeed the almost cooling sense of refreshment – is surely a tribute to the chalky soil for which the cuvee is named. This is probably another of Olivier Humbrecht`s 2009 that is going to beat the odds on age-ability, still, I would pose the same question that led to such a successful harvest. `Why wait?` 91 points