View All Ratings (10.4% Alcohol, 247 G/L R.S. and 18.5 Grams Acidity; The

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2007 Domaine Zind Humbrecht Gewurztraminer Hengst Selection de Grains Nobles

(10.4% alcohol, 247 g/l r.s. and 18.5 grams acidity; the first Hengst SGN at this address) Full gold. Remarkably varietal, essence-of- gewurztraminer aromas for a wine at this extreme level of ripeness and botrytis: all yellow fruits, rose petal and spices, lifted by bright acidity. Glyceral-thick, pure and chewy as a solid, with utterly captivating and amazingly clean high-toned flavors of lichee, jasmine, rose, linden flower, white pepper and smoked bacon. Finishes with astounding spicy persistence and powerful structure. This one may go 50 years.

98(+?)

2007 Domaine Schoffit Pinot Gris Rangen Clos Saint Theobald

(9.4% alcohol, 265 g/l r.s. and 9.5 acidity) Pale yellow-gold. Almost a raisiny ripeness to the nose but with superb lift to the nobly rotten aromas of crystallized peach, honeycomb and orange marmalade. Glyceral-thick but with superb acidity giving this nectar even more energy and finesse than the VT. An essence of pure, carnal, botrytized pinot gris that almost magically retains the character of the variety. Wonderfully long and alive, with an almost citric brightness on the back. I don't expect to experience another bottle of this elixir, but it sure is easy to drink.

2007 Domaine Albert Mann Pinot Gris Altenbourg Le Tri

(9.5% alcohol, 237 g/l r.s. and 10.2 grams acidity) Bright, full yellow- gold. Knockout high-toned nose offers roasted, botrytis-rich aromas of honeycomb, tobacco, cherry-almond and vanilla. Silky and viscous on entry, then sharply delineated in the middle owing to powerful ripe acidity, which intensifies the saline flavors of honey, nougat, caramel and peach syrup. Like an essence of pinot gris. The incredibly long finish features an exhilarating minty lift and a wonderfully light touch. This has near-perfect balance.

2005 Domaine Weinbach Pinot Gris Altenbourg Quintessence de Grains Nobles Cuvee d'Or

($624; 10% alcohol, 174 g/l r.s. and 8.9 acidity) Pure botrytis nose dominated by tangy crystallized orange and lemon peel. Wonderfully sweet but cut by sharp citrussy acidity that gives this extremely unevolved wine an almost painful quality today. It's remarkable that the varietal character comes through so clearly at this level of ripeness. The bracing finish mounts inexorably and goes on for minutes. An extraordinary sweet wine, likely to last for two or three decades.

2005 Domaine Weinbach Gewurztraminer Mambourg Selection de Grains Nobles Quintessence

($624; 10.8% alcohol, 188 g/l r.s. and 5.8 acidity) Full, deep yellow. Incredibly pure, high-toned nose offers near-magical floral lift to its mirabelle and peach fruit. Superripe, seamless and spherical, conveying an explosively primary quality to its yellow fruit flavors and a degree of finesse that's rare for gewurztraminer at this extreme level of ripeness. That ineffable floral treble note gives the endless finish a wonderfully perfumed, fresh quality.

2005 Domaine Zind Humbrecht Pinot Gris Clos Windsbuhl Selection de Grains Nobles Trie Speciale

(about 500 g/l r.s. and 5% alcohol) Full orange-gold. Cherry-almond, orange liqueur and exotic spices on the nose. A freak of nature, and yet it somehow tastes like pinot gris, with orange oil and spices dominating. Incredible acidity lifts this out of the shockingly intense category and across the painful threshold. Offers an impossible blend of solidity and sweetness on the one hand and bracing acids on the other. How to score this?

97-99

2007 Domaine Leon Beyer Pinot Gris Selection de Grains Nobles

Bright golden yellow. Fabulous rot-ennobled, high-toned aromas of apricot and honey. Wonderfully glyceral yet tangy on the palate, with a chewy quality and uncanny acid thrust to the creamy, honeyed flavors. Like an essence of botrytized fruit. The palate-staining finish goes on and on. This may ultimately be labeled Quintessence. Note that the Beyer wines routinely carry lower residual sugar at every level of the hierarchy than the overwhelming majority of Alsace wines. A wine labeled Quintessence elsewhere would be likely to have at least 250 to 300 grams of r.s. but this one has only 175. A masterpiece, but it would be a crime to drink it in its youth.

97(+?)

2007 Domaine Albert Mann Riesling Schlossberg Selection de Grains Noble L'Epicentre

(made from a 1942 parcel in the center of this grand cru; the fruit was picked "in the style of an ice wine" on November 26, according to Barthelme) Pale, bright yellow. Reticent but pure and complex nose suggests lime, crushed stone and botanical herbs; conveys a distinct "cold fruit" character. Then incredibly pure, intense and penetrating, if still youthfully unevolved, with a powerful, three-dimensional impression of extract and a crystalline purity. The wine's stony, saline quality titillates the salivary glands. A real magic act: this is 10.5% alcohol, with 178 g/l r.s. and 5 grams of acidity, but from its sheer penetration on the palate I would have guessed 9 or 10 grams of acidity. This should develop more complexity over a period of decades. There are just 160 liters of this elixir, and not all the grapes were affected by noble rot.

2007 Hugel et Fils Gewurztraminer Selection de Grains Nobles

($193) Bright yellow-gold. Pungent, pristine aromas of citrus fruits, flowers and lichee; wonderfully elegant on the nose. Utterly brilliant in the mouth, with great purity and intensity to its yellow fruits and flowers, all sharpened by firm (7.7 grams per liter) acidity. A saline element and some honey in the background just add to the complexity of this essence of gewurztraminer. Wonderfully racy for a wine with 172 g/l r.s., and incredibly long on the aftertaste. It's premature to compare this to Hugel's epic 1976 Gewurztraminer SGN bottlings, but this wine may be even finer.

97(+?)

2007 Domaine Schoffit Pinot Gris Rangen Clos Saint Theobald Selection de Grains Nobles Larmes de Lave

(4.9% alcohol, 510 g/l r.s. and 12.8 acidity; from a parcel at the top of the slope, harvested five days after the regular SGN with 100% botrytized berries) Bright yellow-gold. Racy but reticent aromas of fresh apricot, peach and pineapple, plus a whiff of bandaid. Pure honeyed, resiny botrytis in the mouth, with shocking acidity somehow giving lift and precision to this incredibly glyceral wine. Not far off in balance and style from Olivier Humbrecht's 2005 Trie Speciale from Rangen pinot gris. The explosive finish features a saline suggestion of soil and shocking lift. This is barely wine, and yet it's virtually impossible to spit.

96(+?)

2007 Domaine Albert Mann Pinot Gris Furstentum Le Tri

(7% alcohol, 320 g/l r.s. and 11 grams acidity) Deep gold with orange highlights. High-toned, slightly eau de vie-like aromas of caramel, botanical herbs and honey, with a whiff of cognac; smells like a maturing Yquem. Pours as thick as an essencia, showing glyceral flavors of honey and quetsch and an almost painful sweetness. A thick and chewy monster that is somehow kept fresh by off-the-charts acidity. Today I marginally prefer the Altenbourg Tri for its lighter touch, but then the Furstentum probably needs 20 years to become wine. Both of these special selections aged on their lees in new Allier barrels. 96(+?)

2007 Domaine Zind Humbrecht Gewurztraminer Goldert Selection de Grains Nobles

(this was only racked in July following a long fermentation) Full gold. Musky, highly perfumed nose offers honey, flowers, smoke and marzipan; not as spicy as the Hengst SGN. Then thick and smooth, if not quite as chewy as the Hengst, with superb acidity leavening the impression of extract. With its rose petal, marzipan and building spiciness, and its strong acids, this comes off as almost magically light for SGN. Finishes with great purity and persistence. This was made in a new 600-liter cask, even though Humbrecht normally avoids using new wood for gewurztraminer. But there's little sign of oak here.

96-98

2007 Domaine Zind Humbrecht Pinot Gris Clos Jebsal Selection de Grains Nobles

(9.5% alcohol, 227 g/l r.s.) Deep, bright yellow. Great purity and lift to the hugely botrytized aromas of honey, menthol, botanical herbs and mint. Silky on entry, then impossibly concentrated and glyceral in the mid-palate; as chewy as a solid but with exhilarating lift making this impossible to spit. An incredible, endless and utterly unevolved wine that currently shows more structure than fruit. Tastes even sweeter on the back end than its 227 g/l residual sugar would indicate, as there is no sign of alcohol. I'd sock this away for a good 10 to 15 years.

96(+?)

2007 Domaine Albert Mann Muscat Altenbourg "Le Tri"

(10.5% alcohol, 177 g/l r.s., 4.9 grams acidity) Good pale yellow. Lovely tangy botrytis lift to the aromas of honey, ginseng, caramel, flowers, medicinal herbs and Oriental spices. Fat, lush and dense, with supersweet yet almost magically fresh flavors of crystallized peach, honey and spices complemented by red berry hints of raspberry and strawberry; tastes like crushed grapes. The impression of brisk acidity here is far stronger than the actual number, giving this an exhilarating sugar/acid balance. Finishes with a palate-staining whiplash of flavor. I'm not sure I would have identified this nectar as muscat.

2007 Domaine Ostertag Gewurztraminer Fronholz Selection de Grains Nobles

(10% alcohol, 290 g/l r.s. and 5.4 acidity) Pale gold. Pure, high-toned, rot-ennobled aromas of apricot, orange marmalade, pineapple and honey. Wonderfully thick yet tangy on the palate, with rampant, pure botrytis giving the wine superb verve in spite of its extraordinarily chewy texture. More glyceral and saline than the Vignoble d'Epfig SGN, but with a silkier texture and greater complexity and verve that must come from this quartz-rich sandy soil. Although this wine pours as thickly as motor oil, from its palate-saturating, gripping finish I would never have guessed that it's nearly 30% sugar.

2005 Domaine Leon Beyer Gewurztraminer Selection de Grains Nobles

($120; for 375 ml.) Pale yellow-gold. Deeply pitched, very sweet, nobly rotten aromas of apricot, honeycomb and earth. Glyceral and supersweet; opulent and quite powerful, but with no shortage of lift. With its great honeyed sweetness and tactile finish, this may be more typical of SGN today, but the '07 is nobler. I underrated this wine two years ago when I scored it 93 points.

2005 Domaine Weinbach Gewurztraminer Mambourg Selection de Grains Nobles

($373; 10% alcohol, 153 g/l r.s. and 6.2 acidity) Pale yellow. Spicy yellow fruits and flowers on the inviting nose. Supersweet, tactile and suave, offering an uncanny combination of plush texture, elegance and power. This boasts really explosive fruit and an exceptionally long, palate-caressing finish. Wonderfully classy SGN, and more gripping than the Altenbourg.

2007 Domaine Albert Mann Riesling Schlossberg Selection de Grains Noble

(12% alcohol, 137 g/l r.s. and 5.4 acidity) Full, bright yellow. Pure aromas of pear liqueur, lime tea and wild rose suggest very clean botrytis. Racy, pure flavors of pear, white nectarine and honey are lifted by the wild rose note. Boasts a glyceral side but also communicates a wonderfully juicy quality for a wine with average acidity; this is like tickling your nose with a feather. The extremely intense, palate- saturating finish conveys an impression of huge extract.

2007 Domaine Leon Beyer Gewurztraminer Selection de Grains Nobles

($120; for 375 ml.; 140 g/l r.s.) Bright, pale yellow-gold. Wonderfully pure, fresh aromas of rose petal, cured meats and sexy brown spices. Like liquid silk in the mouth, with an impossibly fine-grained texture to the yellow fruit and spice flavors. Boasts compelling fruit and a wonderfully light touch, but this can't quite match the otherworldly pinot gris SGN for sheer intensity. Less thick than the pinot gris, but impeccably made SGN, finishing with outstanding energy.

95(+?)

2007 Domaine Albert Boxler Riesling Sommerberg Selection de Grains Noble

(a selection of 100% botrytized berries; 160 g/l r.s. with 12% alcohol) Fresh pale yellow-gold. Musky, high-toned aromas of pineapple, grapefruit, peach and stone. The palate offers uncanny intensity and freshness; not a glyceral style of SGN but utterly seamless, with great purity and class to its flavors of ripe grapefruit, mandarin orange and honey. This already stains the mouth with near-painful flavor intensity but it's an infant today.

95(+?)

2007 Domaine Meyer Fonne Gewurztraminer Sporen Selection de Grains Nobles

Bright gold. Pure, tangy, botrytis-rich aromas of apricot, peach syrup, orange, honey, cured meats and spices, all lifted by a note of lily. A glyceral, honeyed liqueur of gewurztraminer in the mouth, with wonderfully fresh, concentrated, palate-staining flavors of game, fruit salad and spices. At once lush and almost painfully intense. This has 180 grams of residual sugar yet finishes with a distinctly firm edge, saturating every millimeter of the palate.

95(+?)

2005 Domaine Weinbach Pinot Gris Altenbourg Selection de Grains Nobles

($354; from fruit picked after the Quintessence; 11% alcohol, 143 g/l r.s. and 8.6 acidity) Carnal, gamey aromas of honey and damp earth. Wonderfully pure and intense, with powerful acids framing the varietally accurate flavors of orange, lemon and spices. Like a liquid tarte tatin Very sweet, dense and tactile on the extremely long finish.

2007 Hugel et Fils Pinot Gris Selection de Grains Nobles

($172; with 28% potential alcohol, these were the most sugar-laden grapes in pinot gris since the 1989 vintage; 212 g/l r.s. with 11 grams of acidity) Full medium gold. Pure, high-toned botrytis notes of fruit salad, honey and earth. Then penetrating and almost painfully gripping, with huge acidity leavening the wine's glyceral texture and giving the apricot and saline flavors an almost brutal quality today. This extremely young wine is all extract and power today. Finishes with explosive, building length.

95+

2007 Domaine Albert Mann Gewurztraminer Furstentum Selection de Grains Nobles

(11% alcohol, 140 g/l r.s. and 4.1 acidity) Bright yellow. Explosive aromas of mirabelle, cured meat, rose petal, lilac, cinnamon, curry and lichee; utterly gewurztraminer despite the extreme level of ripeness. Offers great life in the mouth; airy and not at all heavy, with superb aromatic lift to the flavors of mirabelle dried flowers and soft spices. A very classy SGN with a remarkably light touch. Really saturates the palate with perfume. Again, this tastes higher in acidity than the numbers suggest. This could make a strong argument for Furstentum being one of Alsace's premier sites for gewurztraminer; indeed, Maurice Barthelme told me that Mann can achieve this level of quality every two or three years!

2007 Domaine Ostertag Gewurztraminer Vignoble d'Epfig Selection de Grains Nobles

(11.2% alcohol, 200 g/l r.s. and 5 grams of acid) Pale yellow-gold. Honey, yellow peach, caraway seed and gingery spices on the nose. Supersweet and honeyed, showing a more glyceral texture and more obvious SGN intensity than the Muenchberg Riesling SGN. Wonderfully chewy, high-toned wine with an exotic spice character throughout. Finishes thick and extremely long. "The SGNs in 2007 have very low acidity, and the grape skins were almost too clean, with no filaments at all," Ostertag commented. "And yet we have higher-than-usual levels of volatile acidity, which is very strange."

2007 Domaine Weinbach Gewurztraminer Furstentum

($86) Pale yellow. Deep aromas of nutmeg, smoked meat and candied fruits, with a limestone lift. Exhilarating yellow fruit and spice flavors are silky, lush, sweet and utterly seamless. A spherical essence of the variety, finishing with perfumed spice and floral character and terrific length and verve. The fruit in this site normally ripens very slowly, and the harvest took place quite late in 2007.

2007 Domaine Marcel Deiss Schoenenbourg

Very pale yellow. Captivating, high-pitched aromas of ginger, curry powder, botanical herbs, licorice and lichee, with stony minerality underneath. Dense, tactile and spice, with outstanding clarity and cut to its pungent spice and mineral flavors. Pure, soil-driven wine with bracing acidity and outstanding persistence. But barely hinting at its personality today. This wine, too, is likely to rate a higher score a decade down the road.

94+

2005 Domaine Marc Tempe Gewurztraminer Mambourg

(bottled in August of 2007) Full yellow. Explosive nose offers rose petal, nutmeg, crystallized lemon peel and cured meats. Wonderfully intense and penetrating, with a combination of bright acidity and a tight core of chalky minerality giving the orange and grapefruit flavors terrific cut. There's fat here but also an exhilarating juicy quality. Finishes with vibrant, palate-staining persistence. This is a great terroir for gewurztraminer, notes Tempe, but it's essential to hold yields down-not hard to do here as the youngest vines are 40 years of age. Even better than my 91-93 rating from the barrel.

2006 Domaine Marcel Deiss Altenberg de Bergheim

($125) Straw-gold. Explosive, perfumed nose combines strong botrytis notes of honey and orange liqueur with aromatic botanical herbs and spices. Sweet, extremely intense and tactile, boasting rare density and energy for the vintage. This powerful wine boasts outstanding fruit and structure. One of the longest wines I tasted on my Alsace tour thanks to a late whiplash of spice.

94(+?)

2007 Domaine Albert Boxler Gewurztraminer Brand Vendange Tardive

(there's no Brand normale in 2007) Bright full yellow. Subtle, pure aromas of peach, yellow plum and licorice; nothing exotic about the nose. Then juicy and tactile, with strong minerality and great finesse to the peach and spice flavors. This is carrying 70 grams of residual sugar but the overall impression is one of cut, balance and vivacity. Finishes wonderfully pure and long, with a palate-dusting impression of solidity. A great success: I can't recall having tasted a finer gewurztraminer at this address.

2007 Domaine Barmes-Buecher Gewurztraminer Pfersigberg Vendanges Tardives

Bright yellow. Pure nose offers hints of exotic fruits, honey, spices and iodine. Very rich and sweet, even glyceral, but with the power and thrust of calcaire giving grip and lift to the piquant, almost saline flavors of yellow fruits, honey and iodine. Wonderfully smooth, intense wine with a scented finish that really stains the palate and expands in the mouth.

2007 Trimbach Gewurztraminer Selection de Grains Nobles Hors Choix

Pale color. Very pure, inviting nose offers mirabelle, smoked meat, nutmeg and mace. Dense, glyceral and superconcentrated; like an essence of spice. Here, too, the wine's thickness is perfectly cut by sound, ripe acidity, giving it impeccable balance and considerable early sexy appeal. Offers a wonderful combination of fresh fruit and pure botrytis spiciness. This bottling was previously made in 2000 and 1989.

2007 Domaine Kuentz-Bas Pinot Gris Selection de Grains Nobles Cuvee Jeremy

(10% alcohol with 240 g/l r.s.) Bright yellow-gold color. Pure, understated nose offers musky orange and peach; smells like crushed grapes! Silky on entry, then wonderfully glyceral but weightless in the middle palate, with captivating flavors of orange peel, peach candy and honey. Nothing roasted about this wonderfully fresh and subtle wine. This utterly seamless SGN boasts great finesse. Finishes with superb mounting sweetness and terrific precision and grip.

2007 Domaine Albert Mann Gewurztraminer Furstentum Vieilles Vignes

($45) Bright straw-yellow. Explosive, complex aromas of rose petal, violet, banana, cherry, cured meats and spices. Then superripe and large-scaled in the mouth, but with compelling focus to its floral flavors. Finishes with great purity and outstanding sappy persistence; in fact, it's almost surprisingly cool on the aftertaste, with a saline, dusty quality that saturates the palate. This one fermented for a long time and went through its malolactic fermentation.

94(+?)

2007 Domaine Meyer Fonne Gewurztraminer Sporen

(Meyer's first vintage from a new parcel of degenerating 23- and 35- year-old vines that produced a tiny crop in 2007) Bright yellow. Explosive aromas of passion fruit, fresh apricot, cured meat, lichee and spices. Quite scented and fine in the mouth, with penetrating, racy acidity giving this wine amazing precision and cut. Wonderfully dense, clean and spicy gewurztraminer with great verve and inner-mouth perfume; like an essence of the grape. The rising, palate-staining finish offers terrific lift. With aeration, this VT-weight wine (13.1% alcohol with 55 g/l r.s.) really shut down in the glass, suggesting it will need several years of aging. A knockout. These vines were picked on October 23, and the one-third portion rich in botrytis was reserved to make an SGN.

94(+?)

2007 Domaine Rene Mure/Clos St. Landelin Pinot Gris Clos St. Landelin Selection de Grains Nobles

Full orange-gold. Superripe, roasted aromas of honeycomb, dried apricot and toffee. Dense, high-toned and thick, with a hugely unctuous texture given shape and lift by ungodly acidity (Mure claimed 14 grams per liter). As chewy as a solid, and almost saline in its sheer extract. It's hard to scrape this off your palate. A wine like this could live for decades on its acidity. This remarkable botrytis wine is carrying 350 grams of residual sugar and roughly 8.5% alcohol.

94-96

2007 Domaine Dirler-Cade Gewurztraminer Spiegel Selection de Grains Nobles

(from a single trie that brought in fruit with about 60% noble rot, according to Dirler) Very pale color. Tangy aromas of apricot, peach and honey. Sweet, fat and honeyed in the mouth, with a wonderfully round, glyceral texture. Offers almost confectionery sweetness and thickness of fruit but also a liveliness and purity of botrytis that gives it superb balance and sex appeal. Perhaps best today on the slow-building, palate- staining finish. This is 11.8% alcohol with 152 g/l r.s. As we finished this epic tasting with these very sweet wines, Dirler noted "it's great to have good dry riesling in 2007!"

2007 Trimbach Riesling Clos Ste. Hune

Very pale, clear color. Extremely unevolved aromas of quinine, mint, lime, white flowers and white truffle. Dense and exhilarating, with an oily texture and piquant lime and mineral flavors that saturate the palate. Wonderfully pure and stony riesling, but still a baby. Today this is all about grip. The r.s. here is just 1.7 grams per liter, according to Pierre Trimbach, who compares this wine to the superb 2001 Clos Ste. Hune (he's also a great fan of the '05).

94(+?)

2007 Domaine Paul Blanck Riesling Furstentum Selection de Grains Nobles

Knockout nose combines racy fresh apricot, a deep honeyed quality and a whiff of game. Boasts a rare combination of glyceral-rich but extremely fresh fruit, with very strong acidity giving cut and lift to the captivating white peach flavor. The nobly rotten fruit here was the product of three tries over a period of three weeks. An SGN of compelling class and finesse, with an extremely long, weightless aftertaste. According to Frederic Blanck, this has 120 g/l r.s. and more than 10 grams of acidity.

2007 Domaine Meyer Fonne Gewurztraminer Furstentum Vieilles Vignes

Pale golden-yellow. Varietally expressive aromas of overripe peach, smoky cured meats and clove. Fat, silky and wonderfully fine-grained, with lovely ripe acidity giving lift to this magically smooth wine. Very fresh on the back end but without a trace of phenolic bitterness. This offers a similar balance to the old-vines Wineck-Schlossberg but is more expressive and suave in the early going, benefiting from lovely calcaire energy. Another utterly compelling 2007 gewurztraminer.

2006 Domaine Zind Humbrecht Riesling Brand Selection de Grains Nobles (half bottle)

($165; for 375 ml.; 12% alcohol, 185 g/l r.s. and 6.2 acidity) Bright gold-tinged yellow. Tangy tropical fruits, fresh apricot and a whiff of celery on the captivating nose. Glyceral, chewy and wonderfully thick, with great tactile intensity to the flavors of fruits, spices, flowers, marzipan and honey; it's hard to scrape this off your palate. A superb expression of roasted botrytis, finishing with saline soil tones and great palate-staining sweetness. This is the first riesling SGN Olivier Humbrecht has made from this site, and only the third riesling SGN overall, following the 1989 Clos Windsbuhl and the 1998 Rangen. These old vines yielded the equivalent of 12 hectoliters per hectare. A knockout.

2006 Domaine Marcel Deiss Schoenenbourg

($125) Pale gold. Knockout perfume of orange, spices, crushed stone and botanical herbs. Wonderfully sappy orange, peach and botanical herb flavors convey a remarkably light touch in spite of the wine's sweetness and near-glyceral texture. Extremely suave and almost magically pure for the year ("zero percent grey rot," says Deiss), with palate-staining fruit intensity and superb back-end lift and length. This extremely young wine belongs on the same table as the '05 and '04, which is a great accomplishment in light of the challenges of this vintage.

94(+?)

2007 Domaine Barmes-Buecher Gewurztraminer Steingrubler Vendange Tardive

(some of this was bottled in magnums) Good pale, bright yellow. Pure, precise aromas and flavors of lemon, minerals, lichee and curry powder; not exuberant or perfumey today. Then broad, aromatic and quite fine in the mouth, with lovely definition to the flavors of spices and white flowers. Wonderfully fine-grained, balanced, honest gewurztraminer with harmonious acids buffering its 80 grams of sweetness. Finishes subtle and quite long, with a fine dusting of tannins and an impression of density without weight. A beauty.

2007 Domaine Marcel Deiss Burg

(this blend includes all 13 Alsace varieties, with the gewurztraminer component representing between 20% and 25%; Deiss considers Burg to be his longest ager following the Schoenenbourg) Good bright pale yellow. Pure, musky, highly complex nose melds citrus peel, flowers, brown spices, smoke and lichee. Very rich, dense and tactile yet fine- grained, with compelling depth of flavor, great verve and a captivating balance of sugars (35 g/l r.s., according to Deiss) and acids. The note of graphite in the mouth is due to the cold clay soil, says Deiss. Finishes with a superb whiplash of fruits and flowers and outstanding aromatic persistence. A great young example of this bottling. Deiss told me he's enjoying the 1995 right now.

93(+?)

2005 Domaine Marcel Deiss Gewurztraminer Selection de Grains Nobles ($125) Pale golden-straw color. Complex, subtly cool aromas of orange marmalade, citrus peel, mirabelle, acacia honey, cinnamon and earth. Dense, thick and superripe, with a downright spherical texture and explosive length. Boasts wonderful concentration of acidity, with a strong lemon zest flavor framing the supersweet flavors, but today this is merely the outline of a wine. And yet, after the remarkable progression of Deiss's idiosyncratic terroir wines, it was still easier to taste. "A hint of grey rot helps to open the wine," notes Deiss, who told me that the 2007 version of this wine, which featured a high percentage of noble rot, was extremely closed at the moment.

2005 Domaine Weinbach Gewurztraminer Furstentum Vendange Tardive

($120) Light yellow. A bit more open on the nose than the Altenbourg, offering yellow fruits and honey. Plump, broad and extract-rich, with a serious tannic structure supporting its yellow fruit and spice flavors. Tastable now but there's much more to come.

2007 Domaine Schoffit Gewurztraminer Rangen Clos Saint Theobald

Full straw-yellow with a green tinge. Very pure, fresh, restrained aromas of smoky flint and crushed stone, with lively yellow fruits in the background. Silky on entry, then sweet in the middle, but with strong stony minerality giving structure to the moderately glyceral peach and honey flavors. Tastes far less sweet than its 80 g/l r.s. would indicate. Finishes with superb mounting length. A beauty.

2007 Domaine Schoffit Gewurztraminer Rangen Clos Saint Theobald Vendange Tardive

Pale yellow-gold. Deeply pitched aromas of honey, smoke and earth; showing less lift than the "regular" grand cru. Then fatter and more glyceral on the palate, with superb richness and depth and enough acidity to give shape to the wine. Much less open today than the regular grand cru-in fact a bit youthfully stunted-but the honeyed, very long finish really resounds. This will require at least a few years of cellaring.

2007 Domaine Schoffit Pinot Gris Rangen Clos Saint Theobald Schistes

(16.5% alcohol with 20 g/l r.s.) Pale, green-tinged color. Pure, high- pitched nose melds lime blossom, quinine, smoky flint, crushed stone and mocha; smells a bit like riesling from this site. Juicy, precise and quite dry but with a rich, tactile mouth feel suggesting strong dry extract. Wonderfully sappy wine with terrific concentration and cut. Schoffit told me that he can't sell this style to his private clients because they believe that Rangen pinot gris must be rich and sweet. But this would make for a great dinner-table wine with its minerality and power.

2007 Domaine Schoffit Pinot Gris Rangen Clos Saint Theobald Vendanges Tardives

(13.2% alcohol with 89 g/l r.s.) Full, bright yellow. Peach, honey and a resiny nuance on the nose. Supersweet but with lively harmonious acidity giving shape and thrust to the honey and fruit salad flavors. Wonderfully subtle, fine-grained wine with superb fruit. The noble rot came on very slowly here. This should gain in complexity with time in bottle. This went through its malolactic fermentation but the two pinot gris SGNs did not. Schoffit bottled a lot of magnums of all three of these wines.

2007 Domaine Leon Beyer Gewurztraminer Comtes d'Eguisheim

($55) Bright straw-yellow. Pure, sexy aromas of spiced meats and clove. Broad, spicy and fat with fruit; as rich and horizontal as this is in the mouth, it also boasts terrific definition and subtlety. This, too, tastes sweeter than its four grams of sugar would indicate. But note that this wine will doubtless come across as drier and even more classic by the time it's released: Beyer was about to ship the 2003 (!) at the time of my visit. An outstanding vintage for this bottling.

2007 Domaine Albert Boxler Riesling Sommerberg "D"

(Dudenstein) Pale, bright straw. Closed but pure nose hints at grapefruit pith, crushed stone, curry powder and violet. Sweet, supple and superconcentrated, with tangy, botrytis-influenced apricot, peach and honey flavors sharpened by brilliant acidity. This already hints at a creamy sweetness in the middle palate but really needs at least four or five years of additional time in bottle. The brisk, bracing, grapefruity finish conveys a powerfully sappy impression. The acid/fruit balance here is exhilarating.

93(+?)

2006 Domaine Weinbach Gewurztraminer Mambourg Selection de Grains Nobles

($336; 12% alcohol, 127 g/l r.s. and 6.2 grams of acidity) Good full yellow. Sexy, fleshy aromas of honey and flowers. Rich, glyceral and supersweet; not hugely complex but a fruit bomb of an SGN with solid framing acidity. A remarkably "sunny" style of wine in the context of the year. Finishes ripe and surprisingly open, but with very good grip to its yellow fruit flavors.

93 2007 Josmeyer Riesling Hengst

Bright pale yellow. Expressive, musky aromas of minerals, quinine and spice. Broad, full and fat, with superb volume to the lemon-lime, quinine and mineral flavors. This dusty, vibrant wine conveys an almost three- dimensional impression of extract and really saturates the palate. There's nothing hard about it even today, but this is built for a long evolution in bottle. The fermentation took seven months and Meyer had to heat the tank to get it to finish. Just six grams of r.s. here.

2007 Domaine Ostertag Riesling Muenchberg Vendanges Tardives

(10.6% alcohol, 100 g/l r.s. and 7 grams acidity) Full yellow. Pristine, primal aromas of white peach, grapefruit and spices. Penetrating and sharply delineated thanks to strong stony minerality; this primary, juicy fruit bomb is actually lower in acidity than the dry riesling from this site but seems less sweet than its actual residual sugar. Wonderfully sappy white peach flavor really grips the palate. But lay this one down to get the full terroir effect.

2007 Domaine Zind Humbrecht Gewurztraminer Clos Windsbuhl

(racked; 12.4% alcohol with 74 g/l r.s.) Candied citrus peel, flowers and herbs on the nose and palate. Glyceral-rich but almost magically juicy, with lovely citric cut intensifying the wine's superb fruit. Barely 10% botrytized fruit here. This took a long time to ferment its sugars and went through malolactic fermentation, but it's wonderfully high-pitched and pure, with an exhilarating combination of low alcohol and brisk acidity. A knockout in the making, and probably a wine that will be best enjoyed on its own.

93-95

2007 Domaine Meyer Fonne Gewurztraminer Wineck-Schlossberg

($45) Bright, full yellow. Sexy yellow fruits, honey, cured meat, bergamot and clove on the nose. Fat and silky on entry, then broader and riper than the Sporen but without that wine's cut or acidity. This is from early-picked fruit in a sun-drenched site, and is a classically spicy, granitic expression of the variety, with an almost roasted VT aspect. I suspect that many tasters would describe this as more typical gewurztraminer than the Sporen. Finishes with terrific spicy lift.

2007 Domaine Dirler-Cade Riesling Kessler Selection de Grains Nobles

(11.6% alcohol, 112 g/l r.s. and 8 grams acidity) Pale color. Pungent aromas of lime liqueur, orange and ginger. A sweet, sexy fruit bomb in the mouth, with sappy flavors of lime, honey and exotic fruits. Not the last word in complexity but the purity and intensity of fruit here are remarkable.

2007 Josmeyer Riesling Hengst Samain

Bright, pale yellow-green. Very ripe aromas of peach and curry powder. Then denser and richer but tighter than the regular Hengst, with a strong dusty stone minerality giving the wine a vibrant character as well as an element of delicacy. Finishes complex, firm and gripping, with an even drier impression than the regular Hengst. From richer grapes high in extract but not affected by botrytis, according to Meyer.

2007 Domaine Dirler-Cade Gewurztraminer Kitterle

Quintessential varietal aromas of cured meats and cinnamon. Supple, spicy and aromatic, with the intense cinnamon character joined by subtle notes of peony and pineapple. Dusts the palate with spices on the very long finish. A knockout, and accessible already.

2007 Domaine Dirler-Cade Gewurztraminer Saering Vendange Tardive

Pale color. Captivating aromas of orange peel, flowers and cumin. Creamy, superconcentrated and deep, with an unctuous texture leavened by harmonious acidity. Notes of blood orange and dusty spices give this great appeal today. Wonderfully sweet, open wine with terrific balance.

2006 Domaine Weinbach Riesling Schlossberg Selection de Grains Nobles (half bottle)

($354) Spices and exotic flowers on the recent nose. Then fairly glyceral in the mouth but quite firm-edged for all its sweetness. Wonderfully tactile, chewy wine but not yet demonstrative. Builds slowly and mounts impressively on the very long, discreet finish, which features vibrant acidity and citric freshness.

93(+?)

2005 Domaine Weinbach Pinot Gris Altenbourg Vendange Tardive

($122; 113 g/l r.s.; no '06 was made) Bright yellow. Exotic, honeyed aromas of tropical fruits, butter and smoke. Fat, sweet and very rich, with a distinctly exotic honeyed character contributing to this very rich wine's glyceral texture. A huge VT (the grapes were picked at near-SGN must weight) but not heavy in spite of a suggestion of raisin, owing to strong, tangy acidity (reportedly nine grams per liter) concentrated by botrytis. Very long on the aftertaste.

2007 Domaine Albert Mann Pinot Gris Furstentum

Soil-driven aromas of orange, lime, lemon verbena, violet, smoke and flowers. Concentrated and powerful, with terrific spicy lift and uncanny inner-mouth energy for pinot gris. Perhaps a bit youthfully aggressive today but this boasts outstanding energy and density. I picked up a wild garlic note that Barthelme said is characteristic of Furstentum. Offers superb palate-staining persistence. This should be great in ten years. Hail cut the yield here to 25 hectoliters per hectare. Barthelme says that this and the Cuvee Albert remind him of "the old classic pinot gris style of the mid-'90s," and notes that this was the first vintage since those days in which this wine was done entirely in stainless steel.

2007 Domaine Albert Mann Riesling Schlossberg Vendanges Tardives

Pale, bright yellow. Highly nuanced nose combines pear, cherry, mirabelle, crushed stone, botanical herbs and peppermint. Like liquid silk on entry, then sappy and sharply focused in the mid-palate, with flavors of crystallized mandarin orange, underripe pineapple and ruby grapefruit all lifted by bright acidity. Finishes very long and pure, with terrific juicy cut. A wonderful example of clean botrytis here: I could drink a wine like this forever.

93(+?)

2007 Domaine Barmes-Buecher Gewurztraminer Hengst Selection de Grains Nobles

(from a trie, which Barmes said was the only one he did in 2007; the rest of this fruit went into the Herrenweg) Pale bright golden-yellow. Deep, sappy nose of yellow fruits and spices. Glyceral-verging-on- viscous, with about 100 g/l r.s., but with lovely vivacity from brisk acidity. There's a deep spiciness that almost seems to come from oak. Finishes extremely long and a bit tannic, with a suggestion of raisined grapes but also terrific verve and lift. Left behind aromas of cured meats and spices. Not as complex today as the Steingrubler or Pfersigberg, but then this really needs six or seven years to express itself.

93(+?)

2005 Domaine Weinbach Gewurztraminer Altenbourg Selection de Grains Nobles

($373; 10.8% alcohol, 144 g/l r.s. and 5.9 acidity) Bright yellow. Wild, complex nose melds yellow plum, botanical herbs and cardamom. Sweet, lush and creamy in the middle, with ripe acidity framing the very ripe, glyceral fruit and floral flavors. Not hugely rich for SGN but fine-grained, elegant and accessible. Finishes very long and sweet, with lovely floral lift.

2007 Domaine Albert Boxler Riesling Brand "K"

(from Kirschberg) Bright, pale yellow. Musky stone and underripe pineapple on the nose. Dense and juicy but youthfully imploded, with enticing citrus lift to the flavors of flowers and stone. There's a palate- saturating saline quality here that contributes to an impression of breadth and grip. Finishes with superb purity and persistence. Just four grams of r.s., which means this wine comes across as quite dry.

93(+?)

2007 Domaine Dirler-Cade Riesling Kessler

Bright, pale color. Lemon, lime, minerals, licorice and tarragon on the nose and palate. Dense, large-scaled (close to 14% alcohol) and very young, conveying an impression of brooding power. But still wonderfully aromatic in the middle palate owing to its excellent acidity. This superripe wine ("always a massive style," according to Dirler) really stains the palate on the aftertaste. Reminded me of a big Smaragd riesling from the Wachau.

2007 Domaine Marcel Deiss Mambourg

(includes "all the pinots but no gewurztraminer") Fairly pale color. Captivating aromas of brown spices, smoke and nuts; strong suggestion of curry powder. Highly concentrated and on the dry side, with the powerful spice character contributing to the impression of force. Conveys a tactile sense of high dry extract and finishes with a piquant note of orange peel. Utterly singular wine, and a worthy follow-up to the '05, which I described as "one of the wildest wines I smelled" in 2007.

92(+?)

2007 Domaine Albert Boxler Pinot Gris Sommerberg

Pale straw-yellow. Very pure aromas of stone fruits, smoke, spices and flowers; this reminded me of a Puligny-Montrachet. Thick but bright; surprisingly sweet (about 30 g/l r.s.) but with terrific enlivening acidity giving the fruit flavors a sappy quality. A bit drier on the explosive finish. This can't match the Sommerberg rieslings for sheer class but it offers wonderful balance and eclat And it's hardly Puligny-like on the palate.

2007 Domaine Marcel Deiss Altenberg de Bergheim

Bright yellow. Fascinating nose offers lime, lichee, exotic Thai spices, lemon grass, vanilla and menthol. Wonderfully sappy and tactile wine with remarkable juiciness for its glyceral texture. The aromatic herbs and spices dust the palate on the back end, leaving the finish exhilaratingly dry. The sun-drenched terroir has dominated the vintage, notes Deiss, who told me he picked here with a high percentage of noble rot. My score is just a starting point for this wine, which is painfully young.

92+

2007 Domaine Dirler-Cade Riesling Kitterle

Expressive aromas of underripe pineapple and violet. A real fruit bomb in the mouth, with a lusher, more accessible texture than the foregoing grand crus but plenty of ripe acidity to give the wine shape. Finishes very long and pure, with an almost painful intensity to its white peach flavor owing to surprisingly firm acids (8.8 grams per liter, to go with 8 grams of residual sugar). This riesling was unusually fruity since the outset, Dirler noted.

2005 Domaine Weinbach Riesling Schlossberg Vendanges Tardives

($145) Pale yellow. Quite closed on the nose, hinting at pineapple and stone. Creamy-sweet yet juicy and vibrant in the mouth, with an exotic pineapple flavor lifted by brisk acidity. Finishes sweet, very long and youthfully firm but not hard. This would appear to need more time than the '06 version.

92(+?)

2007 Domaine Meyer Fonne Riesling Kaefferkopf

($41) Pure but closed nose hints at orange, medicinal herbs, ginger and curry powder. Rich and broad in the mouth, with an almost exotic quality to the flavors of ripe peach and mandarin orange. Really spreads out and stains the palate on the fruity, stony, very long finish, where it leaves behind a trace of sweetness and really vibrates. Like the Wineck- Schlossberg, this lovely grand cru riesling is carrying seven grams of residual sugar. At this point in our tasting, Meyer expressed the opinion that the 2001 vintage produced a more powerful style of wine than did 2007.

92(+?)

2007 Domaine Schoffit Riesling Rangen Clos Saint Theobald Schistes

(Schoffit's dry version of Rangen, with 13.6% alcohol and just 4 grams of residual sugar) Pale bright yellow. Sexy, high-pitched aromas of mint, lime, flint and white pepper, with an almost muscat-like suggestion of floral oils. Then broad and inviting, with complex, soil-driven flavors of dusty stone, minerals, pepper and flint. A very intense yet polite style of Rangen, with strong minerality and sneaky persistence. 92

2007 Domaine Schoffit Pinot Gris Rangen Clos Saint Theobald

(14% alcohol with 51 g/l r.s.) Pale yellow. Deeply pitched aromas of dried fruits, honey and smoke. A fat, sweet fruit bomb with an intriguing saline element and a slightly phenolic back end. From very clean grapes, notes Schoffit. This is impressive but less complex than the Schistes-and less useful at the table. "The French love this," notes Schoffit.

2007 Domaine Albert Boxler Riesling Brand

(the normale, made in a moelleux style, according to Boxler) Discreet nose hints at underripe pineapple, spices, menthol and honey. Moderately sweet and fat with fruit; a strong white nectarine flavor is lifted by a floral topnote. Probably most impressive today on the very long, slowly mounting finish, which shows terrific sap despite being quite folded in on itself. In spite of its 18 grams of residual sugar, this cuvee will also require at least seven or eight years of cellaring.

92(+?)

2006 Domaine Weinbach Gewurztraminer Mambourg Selection de Grains Nobles Quintessence

($562; 11.6% alcohol, 153 g/l r.s. and 6.1 acidity) Full, rich yellow color. Deeply pitched aromas of yellow fruits, herbs, caraway seed, stone and earth. Fleshy, roasted, heavily botrytized flavors convey a strong shriveled grape character. Distinctly thicker and more concentrated than the "regular" Mambourg SGN, but today I prefer the other wine for its captivating fruit.

92(+?)

2007 Domaine Zind Humbrecht Riesling Brand

Knockout nose of dried pineapple, ripe peach, wet stone and nuts. The palate offers enticing sweetness buffered by brisk flavors of crystallized citrus peel and stone. Densely packed, fruit-driven and long and aromatic on the back end. Olivier rates this one a 2 on his "index of perceptible sweetness," which runs from 1 to bone dry to 5 for very sweet (he does not use these indications on the front labels of his VTs and SGNs). In comparison, the Rangen is very much a 1.

2007 Domaine Ostertag Riesling Muenchberg

Bright, pale green-tinged yellow. Subtle, pure nose offers white peach, lime, spring flowers, crushed stone and a smoky note of reduction. Densely packed but primary and quite restrained today; tastes like crushed grapes. Showing more spices and flowers today than fruit but its superb precision and back-end lift suggest it will be outstanding with several years of cellaring. The wine's 10 grams of residual sugar are mostly hidden by 7.5 grams of acidity. I've got several vintages of this wine in my cellar, and this one will join them.

92(+?)

2007 Domaine Ostertag Gewurztraminer Fronholz Vendanges Tardives

Pale, green-tinged color. Reticent, pure aromas of white peach and spring flowers; nothing meaty about this. Then supersweet (100 g/l r.s.) and creamy, but kept fresh by ripe, harmonious acidity. There's a crushed fruit quality that explodes on the very long and smooth aftertaste-as well as an emerging hint of cured meats. Wonderfully pure gewurztraminer for this level of ripeness. Delicious, but still a baby and in need of a couple years of bottle aging.

2007 Domaine Zind Humbrecht Gewurztraminer Herrenweg

(15.5% alcohol, 35 g/l r.s. and 3.5 acidity) Full yellow. More discreet aromas of smoked meat, ginger and clove. Then a fat fruit bomb in the mouth, with lovely peppery minerality standing in for acidity to frame and lift the wine. The flavors of lime and acacia honey do not seem overly sweet. This large-scaled wine finishes with gentle tannins and very good length. Not a lot of botrytis here, according to Humbrecht.

2007 Domaine Zind Humbrecht Gewurztraminer Hengst

(15.8% alcohol, 26 g/l r.s. and 2.7 acidity) Bright yellow. Reticent, soil- driven aromas of smoked meat and spices. Less fruity and perfumed than the Goldert but more chewy and powerful, if not a bit topheavy with alcohol. This structured, backward wine will get increasingly spicy with bottle aging, and calls for patience. Olivier loves this but I find it a bit extreme in the early going.

92(+?)

2007 Domaine Zind Humbrecht Gewurztraminer Rangen Clos St. Urbain

(16.4% alcohol, 22 g/l r.s. and 5.4 acidity) Bright, full yellow. Ineffable aromas and flavors of smoke, rose, flint and peat, with a whiff of burnt grass; more Rangen than gewurztraminer. Huge, powerful and fairly dry, with a shocking concentration of acidity from botrytis and an intense spice character. Finishes with a pronounced element of smoked sausage and a moderately phenolic character. Other producers would have fermented this complicated and idiosyncratic wine to 14% and bottled it as VT. Oliver describes it as "a fire wine."

92(+?) 2006 Domaine Zind Humbrecht Riesling Brand Vendanges Tardives

($100; 12% alcohol, 69.5 g/l r.s. and 5.6 acidity) Full yellow-gold. Captivating, refreshing aromas of white fruits, flowers, honey and botanical herbs. Dense and floral, with lovely acid lift and firm underlying minerality. The honeyed note adds depth to this very fresh riesling. Sappy, glyceral, lightly saline finish is distinctly firm-edged but not hard. I like this wine's acid cut and find it easy to drink already.

2005 Domaine Marc Tempe Pinot Gris Zellenberg Vendange Tardive

Medium gold color. Pure, highly aromatic nose combines orange zest, smoke and butter lifted by a floral topnote. The strong botrytis character is clear on the palate, which offers an uncanny combination of volume and vivacity, with penetrating acidity framing and carrying the orange, honey and licorice flavors. Finishes with terrific energy and thrust, with the varietal character turned up to higher volume than the botrytis element.

2007 Trimbach Pinot Gris Selection de Grains Nobles (half bottle)

Gold with an orange tinge. Deeply botrytized aromas of tropical fruits, orange peel, honey and damp earth. Supersweet and honeyed but with terrific penetrating acidity (eight grams) leavening the wine's impression of fat and giving it an almost aggressive character today. Hints of hazelnut and walnut add complexity to this very long, spicy wine. Quite exhilarating in the middle palate and on the aftertaste.

92(+?)

2007 Domaine Weinbach Riesling Schlossberg Cuvee Saint Catherine

($74) Good pale yellow. Bright, tangy, nobly rotten aromas of orange, honey and spices, with suggestions of exotic fruits. Then rich, broad and sweet, with concentrated tropical fruit, orange and quince flavors framed by harmonious acidity. Finishes long and sappy. This big boy has more of everything than the other two dry examples from this vineyard, beginning with alcohol of 14%.

2007 Domaine Weinbach Riesling Schlossberg Cuvee Saint Catherine L'Inedit

($88) Pale medium yellow. Sexy, pure aromas of yellow fruits and nutmeg plus a whiff of honey. Then almost surprisingly tight and spicy, fairly dry and reticent in the middle, before turning and fruitier on the resounding finish. There's a moderate botrytis element here but the wine will need time to express itself. According to Faller, this bottling is perfect with sweeter crayfish and lobster preparations, or with miso cod with coconut and ginger.

92+

2007 Domaine Weinbach Gewurztraminer Altenbourg

($78; 14% alcohol, with 45 g/l r.s.) Pale, bright yellow. Lovely lift and freshness to the aromas of cinnamon, nutmeg, flowers and botanical herbs. Dense on entry, then spicy and vibrant in the middle, combining an impression of strong extract with a weightless quality. Wonderfully suave gewurztraminer with a captivating sugar/acid balance. This would be perfect with spicy Asian dishes. Very long on the aftertaste.

2006 Domaine Weinbach Riesling Schlossberg Vendanges Tardives

($131) Bright, pale yellow. Tight, pure nose hints at anise, caraway seed and toffee. Then pure and vibrant, with a tangy orange peel quality and bracing acidity buffering the wine's sweetness (79 g/l). Generous, sexy riesling with a surprisingly firm-edged, long finish featuring piquant orange and spicy acidity.

2005 Domaine Kuentz-Bas Pinot Gris Eichberg

($70; 13.2% alcohol with 23 g/l r.s.) Pale color. White peach, white truffle and a whiff of almost fruity chanterelle on the nose (Tottoli described this note as "noble mushroom"). Wonderfully juicy and light on its feet, with a distinctly perfumed quality to its citrus zest and floral flavors; notes of orange and spice emerged with air. Unusually subtle and classy for pinot gris from this vintage. Finishes with very good juicy grip but no phenolic hardness. Delicious.

2007 Domaine Kuentz-Bas Gewurztraminer Pfersigberg

(13.5% alcohol with 32 g/l r.s.) Full, bright yellow. Aromas of mirabelle, clove and cured meat. Thicker on entry than the Collection, then an exhilarating shock to the palate in the middle, with racy riesling-like acidity (eight grams) giving grip and verve to the multifaceted, ripe but slightly tart flavors of orange marmalade, pineapple, passion fruit, spices, flowers and honey. The combination of gras and fresh acidity here is utterly compelling, although Tottoli notes that there's only a small amount of botrytis here. A powerful and very pure expression of gewurztraminer fruit with superb thrust and length. This fermented for a long time and went through malolactic fermentation in May of this year. A knockout in the making.

92-94 2007 Domaine Zind Humbrecht Gewurztraminer Goldert

(15% alcohol, 47 g/l r.s. and 2.3 acidity) Bright yellow. Aromas of crystallized citrus peel, cured meats and menthol. Wonderfully sweet, spicy and fine-grained, with more aromatic subtlety than the Heimbourg. Manages lovely lift in spite of its very low acidity. This very ripe, slightly warm wine finishes spicy and smooth. There's limited botrytis influence here because Humbrecht selected nobly rotten berries for an SGN first.

2007 Domaine Marc Kreydenweiss Riesling Kastelberg

(just bottled) Bright, pale yellow. Reticent but pure and high-pitched aromas of lemon, lime, violet, mint and crushed stone. Juicy and vibrant, with perfectly integrated acidity contributing precision to the middle palate. The lemon and stone flavors are complemented by anise and smoky nuances. Dry riesling with real cut, but there's nothing hard about it. Offers a terrific combination of volume and finesse. (I found the 2006 version to be too evolved on the nose, showing some earthiness in the mouth and a slight finishing bitterness. It may yet harmonize with bottle aging but is distinctly awkward at present.)

92(+?)

2007 Domaine Kuentz-Bas Pinot Gris Vendange Tardive Cuvee Caroline

Pale golden-yellow. Tangy aromas of orange peel and honey. Very sweet but tangy, with an almost painfully confectionery character to the somewhat exotic stone fruit and floral flavors. Glyceral but not heavy, thanks to harmonious ripe acidity and lovely purity. Finishes with terrific length and lift. The balance here of 11% alcohol and 142 g/l r.s. works for me.

2007 Domaine Dirler-Cade Gewurztraminer Kessler

Pale color. Knockout nose melds subtle floral nuances, spices and cured meat. Sweet, pliant and creamy; this is downright open and accessible compared to the Spiegel, offering explosive yellow fruit and spice flavors. The creamy quality carries through on the unusually smooth but spicy finish.

2007 Trimbach Gewurztraminer Seigneurs de Ribeaupierre

Deep, complex nose hints at subtle brown spices, minerals and crushed stone, with smoked meat and more exotic spices emerging with aeration. Dense but light on its feet, lifted by lovely inner-mouth floral character and good acid cut. Highly concentrated, gripping gewurztraminer, with a silky texture and an impression of strong dry extract. Finishes with terrific grip and persistence. This tastes virtually as dry as the normale, and yet there are 15 grams of residual sugar here.

2007 Trimbach Riesling Vendange Tardive

(roughly half of the grapes were affected by noble rot) Full yellow. Aromas of pineapple, peach, licorice and curry powder, plus a hint of fruit salad that comes across as almost syrupy following the preceding gewurztraminers. Rather exotic flavors of mandarin orange, honey, marzipan and spices are freshened by a stony underpinning and surprisingly brisk acidity, which leavens the wine's 53 grams per liter of residual sugar. With aeration a strong and pure flavor of yellow peach emerged. In a very bright style, all about juicy fruit. This fruit comes from old vines on a south-facing slope in a lieu-dit called Hageneau. The same site was also the source of Trimbach's 2002 and 1990 Riesling VT, but in most years this fruit goes into their Riesling Reserve.

2007 Domaine Albert Mann Riesling Furstentum

($45) Reticent but deep aromas of pineapple, blood orange and tangerine, with a distinct suggestion of botrytis. "Furstentum riesling is the opposite of Schlossberg, which is ripe at 13%," said Maurice. This is 13% alcohol but is also carrying 26 grams of residual sugar-or the equivalent of nearly two degrees' worth. Moderately sweet and slightly glyceral, with lovely inner-mouth floral character giving it early sex appeal. Then bracing on the back end, with exotic tangerine and bitter grapefruit notes tickling the taste buds. A bigger wine than the Schlossberg, which Maurice says is "for the connoisseur."

2007 Domaine Albert Mann Pinot Gris Hengst

Pale straw. Riper and lower-toned on the nose than the Furstentum but also less expressive, with notes of smoke and butter. Then richer, fatter and even more powerful in the mouth, with superb breadth and an impression of tannic power on the back. This extremely backward wine comes across as higher in alcohol and lower in acidity than the Furstentum, but in fact it's lower in alcohol (13.5%, vs. 14%) and has the same 5.9 grams per liter of acid. In a more glyceral, round style, but not yet harmonious. A key to the high quality of these pinot gris grand cru bottlings may have been the team's pre-pass through the vines to eliminate any fruit affected by grey rot.

92(+?)

2007 Domaine Barmes-Buecher Riesling Hengst

Bright, pale yellow. Ripe aromas of soft yellow fruits, underripe pineapple, brown spices and fresh herbs, plus a hint of earth. Broad, spicy and airy; in an off-dry style but quite light on its feet. Finishes with lovely subtle persistence and a lightly dusty quality. Went through its malolactic fermentation, but Barmes notes that the 2007s are rich in the more stable tartaric acidity, which should enable them to age slowly and well. These vines average 40 years of age.

92(+?)

2007 Domaine Paul Blanck Gewurztraminer Mambourg

Bright yellow. Complex nose offers cured meats, rose petal and cinnamon. Broad, dry and classic, with a lovely light touch considering this wine's considerable concentration and fat. The sweetness here is in perfect harmony with the wine's fruit and acidity, and its sneaky rising finish is quite fine. The crop level was cut drastically by hail and it shows. A beauty.

2007 Domaine Meyer Fonne Gewurztraminer Wineck-Schlossberg Vieilles Vignes

Bright golden-yellow. Carnal, gamey yet very fresh aromas of pineapple, cinnamon and Asian spices. Supersweet and powerful but still tightly wound, with concentrated acidity not yet in perfect harmony with the wine's sweetness. Conveys an impression of tension, but this is much less expressive today than the regular Wineck-Schlossberg, which includes a portion of 15-year-old vines. A rather powerful wine from old vines affected by millerandage This was bottled in May.

92(+?)

2006 Domaine Zind Humbrecht Pinot Gris Clos Jebsal Vendanges Tardives

($140; 14% alcohol, 114 g/l r.s.) Bright gold. High-toned, rot-ennobled aromas of apricot, quince and honey. Almost painfully sweet in the mouth, but with firm acidity, exhilarating botrytis tones and underlying minerality giving shape and grip to the superripe flavors of quince jelly, mirabelle and marzipan. Finishes very long and supersweet, with a strong cherry-almond element and surprising freshness. This was picked at near-SGN must weight, with impeccable honeyed botrytis.

92(+?)

2007 Hugel et Fils Riesling Jubilee

($63) Pale color. Ineffable aromas of lime blossom, powdered stone and violety sea salt, with a hint of the Schoenenbourg's grapefruit bitterness. Dense and spicy, with distinctly high-pitched flavors of grapefruit, lemon pith, crushed stone and minerals. This actually enters the mouth with a suggestion of sweetness (it has 6.5 g/l r.s.) but finishes firm, dry and almost painfully backward. Outstanding for this bottling, and doubtless built for a long and graceful evolution. (In comparison to this wine, the '05 comes across as fuller and a bit more evolved, and in more of a hot- year style.)

92(+?)

2007 Domaine Rene Mure/Clos St. Landelin Riesling Clos St. Landelin Selection de Grains Nobles

Pale gold. An exotic fruit cocktail of mandarin orange, pineapple and lime on the nose, with a marmaladey botrytis aspect. At once glyceral and penetrating, with off-the-charts acidity (reportedly 12 grams per liter) giving uncanny lift and definition to the wine's very sweet fruit (225 grams per liter). This really stains the palate with honeyed fruits on the aftertaste. "We have looked for this style for many years," said a visibly excited Mure. "Finally, this time, we could let the fruit hang as long as we wanted." There was ultimately a selection for botrytis in the vineyard and a second sorting for affected berries on the table de trie

92-94

2007 Domaine Albert Boxler Riesling Sommerberg "E"

(Eckberg) Pale straw. Riper aromas of peach and nectarine; shows a totally different set of scents than the foregoing samples. Similarly conveys a sweeter and fuller impression in the mouth, with firm underlying minerality rather than acid cut giving shape to the fruit-driven flavors. In contrast to the ripeness here, the stricter foregoing samples seem almost green. (This has 12 grams of r.s., vs. 4 for the Sommerberg classique Finishes with lovely length and finesse.

92(+?)

2007 Domaine Dirler-Cade Gewurztraminer Kessler Vendange Tardive

(94 g/l r.s., from grapes affected more by passerillage than by noble rot) Wild, high-toned aromas of orange peel, apricot and game. Supersweet and creamy; begins deceptively soft but there's lovely rising acidity to enliven the thick apricot, nectarine and orange flavors. Very sweet and very long. This fruit was picked on October 23.

2006 Domaine Ernest Burn Gewurztraminer Clos St. Imer Selection de Grains Nobles

Deep golden-orange color. Pure botrytis aromas of orange peel, nutmeg, toffee and honey. "At this level of botrytis, pinot gris always gets mushroomy, but not gewurztraminer," Burn told me. Glyceral-thick and supersweet (about 120 g/l r.s.), with powerful, slightly roasted botrytis tones of toffee and spices. You need a knife to cut this stuff, but as chewy and solid as it is, there's wonderful fruit here too, and way more lift than one would expect possible from such an extreme style. More a botrytis wine than a gewurztraminer. Burn has a 4,000-liter foudre of this stuff and planned to bottle it the week after my visit. He admitted that it would probably take him "decades" to sell it.

92-93

2007 Domaine Zind Humbrecht Riesling Brand Vieilles Vignes

(slightly cloudy appearance following the racking; 20 g/l r.s., vs. 10 for the regular Brand; this very ripe parcel was slow to ferment so Humbrecht kept it separate) High-pitched aromas of ripe peach and brown spices. A sweet, sexy fruit bomb with ripe but racy acidity giving it excellent thrust. The gripping finish conveys a chewy, almost tannic impression of dry extract, which may be partly due to the wine's leesy element. Interestingly, this went through ML while the regular Brand did not.

92-93

2007 Domaine Zind Humbrecht Riesling Rangen de Thann Clos St. Urbain

Cloudy appearance. Highly complex, soil-inflected aromas of minerals, flowers, mint, burnt stone and peppery spices. Dense, spicy and dry, with a youthfully reductive quality; the strong smoky minerality and saline element scream out Rangen. This is like chewing stone. Very dry (just two grams of residual sugar) but very rich riesling that combines high minerality and high pH. This appears to be stronger than the very good 2005, which was affected by some hydric stress in September.

92-94

2007 Josmeyer Gewurztraminer Hengst

($90) Pale, bright yellow. Reticent nose hints at lemon, spices, caraway seed and stone. Bright acidity here gives the wine's body a more sculpted character and leavens the wine's sweetness, but this big, rich, broad gewurztraminer is presently much less open to inspection than the Brand, despite its finer-grained texture. Today the wine's citrus and pineapple flavors are in the background. I'd give this at least four or five years to express itself. This and the Brand make for a fascinating pair of grand crus in 2007.

2006 Josmeyer Gewurztraminer Vendanges Tardives

Full yellow. Aromas of dried pineapple and caraway seed. Very sweet (74 g/l r.s.), lush and tactile, but with enough tannin/acid spine to give shape to the wine's rather glyceral texture (Meyer reports that this fruit was about 30% affected by noble rot). Offers impressive flavor intensity and finishes clean and long. Serve this with a mirabelle pie or with foie gras, suggests Meyer.

92 2007 Domaine Ostertag Riesling Muenchberg Selection de Grains Nobles

(9% alcohol, 170 g/l r.s. and 6.5 acidity; a berry-by-berry selection made before the VT was harvested) At once cool and liqueur-like on the nose, with high-toned aromas of white flowers, botanical herbs and fruit salad. Dense, sappy and saline, with brisk acid cut to the very sweet lime and floral flavors. A rather laid-back SGN: not hugely sweet or powerful. There's captivating minerality here, but today I prefer the VT for its impression of firmer acidity. Am I underrating this?

92(+?)?

2007 Domaine Albert Boxler Pinot Gris Brand

Discreet aromas of musky peach and minerals, plus a light smoky, flinty quality. Then supersweet and rich, in a more massive style than the Sommerberg. With hints of surmaturite and grilled fruit, and an impression of lower acidity than the Sommerberg, this conveys a more pliant texture. And yet it shut down quickly in the glass and was ultimately harder to taste. This powerful and very backward wine should be long-lived for pinot gris.

92(+?)

2007 Domaine Barmes-Buecher Riesling Leimenthal Vendange Tardive Cuvee Sophie

(from tiny concentrated grapes with little or no botrytis, according to Barmes) Bright, pale yellow. Tangy, superripe aromas of mandarin orange, white peach and honey. Very sweet and velvety but sappy and not at all heavy, with lovely purity of flavor and energy from calcaire A juicy fresh pineapple quality leaves the mouth feeling refreshed. The long, sweet finish offers terrific cut. Here, 60 grams per liter of residual sugar are nicely balanced by about 8 grams of acidity.

2007 Josmeyer Gewurztraminer Brand

Pale yellow. Pure, highly nuanced nose combines floral oils, smoked meat and cinnamon; very gewurztraminer. Moderately sweet but juicy, with solid acidity, a tactile old-vines quality and enticing spiciness framing the yellow fruit flavors. Finishes quite suave and long, with the wine's 15.1% alcohol nicely buffered by extract. Measurable acidity is just five grams per liter, but Meyer swore that this cuvee had even lower acidity in the brisk 1996 vintage.

2007 Domaine Zind Humbrecht Pinot Gris Rangen Clos St. Urbain

(15.2% alcohol, 22.5 g/l r.s. and 4 grams acidity) Pale yellow-gold. Musky yellow fruits, smoke, flint and dried meat on the very ripe, slightly aggressive nose. Lush, fat, sweet and full; a powerful, outsized wine with just enough firming acidity. Chewy but not phenolic on the finish. This should absorb some of its sweetness with extended aging. Humbrecht noted that this wine has more noble rot than the 2007 Rangen riesling, but much less than recent vintages of this bottling.

91(+?)?

2007 Domaine Marcel Deiss Huebuhl

(pinot gris and muscat on heavy clay soil that is nearly always affected by noble rot) Precise, complex nose combines stone fruits, flowers, smoke, spices and quinine. Supersweet, pure and intense, with terrific lift and perfume to the orange and spice flavors. Has a creaminess in the middle but firm acids and some unabsorbed CO2 give the finish a slight hard edge in the early going. A fascinating and very young wine, but tricky to assess today.

91+

2007 Domaine Marcel Deiss Gruenspiel

(one-third each riesling, gewurztraminer and pinot noir, from clay and gravel soil) Highly complex aromas of strawberry, blood orange, brown spices and flowers. Then juicy, tight and quite closed, showing limited texture today but terrific structure and grip. Very pure, juicy wine that will require at least four or five years to reveal its character. My score should turn out to be conservative.

91+

2007 Domaine Ostertag Pinot Gris A360P Muenchberg

(two-thirds new oak) Complex nose offers mirabelle, yellow peach and flinty minerality; here the terroir seems to eat the oak. Rich and broad yet sharply delineated, with excellent cut and acidity to its powerful flavors of fresh and dried yellow fruits. The combination of acidity and minerality somehow leavens the wine's 15.1% alcohol and gives it grip and drive. Ostertag has stopped doing batonnage, which he believes risks losing fruit, and now uses more SO2 than he did even five or six years ago. "It's a bad choice to lose fruit in Alsace," he told me, "as glorious fruit is what this region is all about." This wine, almost miraculously, does not come across as oaky today.

91(+?)

2007 Domaine Albert Boxler Pinot Gris Sommerberg

Pale straw. Very fresh aromas of vineyard peach, curry powder, ginger and violet. Bracing and light on its feet, with a high-pitched grapefruit pith flavor perfumed by a violet element. Wonderfully vibrant, energetic riesling-densely packed, penetrating and dry but not hard. It would be a crime to drink this now, though. 91+

2007 Domaine Marcel Deiss Langenberg

(from granite soil) Expressive, highly aromatic nose offers fresh apricot and ripe pear. A juicy, floral fruit bomb in the mouth but with a pronounced rocky quality and fresh mineral acidity giving it another dimension. A smoky quality emerged as the wine opened in the glass. Wonderfully sappy and sexy wine-and the only one of these 2007s to go through malolactic fermentation. "This vineyard can be a disaster in wet years, because the water doesn't drain," noted Deiss.

2007 Domaine Marcel Deiss Rotenberg

Bright, pale yellow. Ineffable calcaire-driven aromas of blood orange, peach, caraway seed and spices. The sexy blood orange flavor carries through in the mouth, which offers an exhilarating combination of moderate sweetness and racy, ripe acidity. Finishes juicy and very long, with an almost dusty texture. Deiss's Rotenberg is a combination of riesling and pinot gris. I enjoyed this, but Jean-Michel and his wife/enologist Marie-Helene Cristofaro felt strongly that it was showing awkwardly following the recent bottling, so it may well be even better than my notes suggest.

91(+?)

2007 Domaine Marcel Deiss Grasberg

Bright, pale color. Lemon, soft citrus fruits and chalk on the high-pitched nose and palate. Supple, saline and sweet (about 50 g/l r.s.) but with terrific balancing acidity to leaven the wine's silky texture. Not yet showing its inherent complexity but this really coats the palate with flavor. Deiss recommends trying this with lobster done in a mandarin orange vinaigrette.

91+

2007 Domaine Schoffit Riesling Sommerberg

(12.9% alcohol, 18 g/l r.s. and 7.8 acidity) Pale, bright, green-tinged color. Lime, quinine and mint on the nose. Perfumed and nicely delineated, with slightly sweet flavors of lime, flowers and powdered stone. Offers a seamless texture and conveys a strong impression of Sommerberg terroir but this might have been even better for a bit less sugar. But this is sexy wine. With the 2007 vintage, Schoffit has changed to fatter bottles for his grand crus, "like Deiss."

2007 Domaine Barmes-Buecher Gewurztraminer Herrenweg Full yellow. Very ripe, perfumed aromas of cinnamon, nutmeg, clove oil, rose petal and mint. Intensely flavored, sappy and juicy, with a penetrating aromatic quality and lovely grip and sugar/acid balance to its flavors of flowers and spicy essential oils. Dense but light on its feet. All yellow fruits today-no lichee or meat. Finishes with peppermint and clove notes. This fermented for a long time, according to Barmes. Will be explosive early. Flat-out great for this level.

2007 Domaine Barmes-Buecher Gewurztraminer Rosenberg

Pale yellow. Cured meats and spices on the nose, lifted by peppermint oil. Broad, lush and voluminous, with a silkier texture than the Herrenweg as well as a stronger mineral component. There's a slight youthful austerity to the flavors of pear, mirabelle and lichee that argues for some bottle aging. Finishes with an element of white flowers that was not apparent on the nose. More complex than the Herrenweg but not as immediate.

91(+?)

2007 Domaine Dirler-Cade Riesling Saering

Pale yellow. Pure aromas of quinine, ginger and crushed stone. Rich and highly concentrated but wonderfully dry, with piquant, youthfully strict flavors of lime zest and crushed stone. Finishes with terrific citric grip and noteworthy finesse. This is 13.1% alcohol, with 4 g/l r.s. and 8.4 grams of acidity.

91(+?)

2007 Domaine Dirler-Cade Riesling Kessler Heisse Wanne

(bottled the week before my visit) Good pale color. Subtle, musky aromas of lemon, lime and powdered stone, with a perfumed, almost muscat-like topnote of lime oil and fresh herbs. Silky and aromatic on entry, then densely packed and intense but a bit youthfully disjointed in the middle. Very impressive material here, with the elements of lime, flowers and herbs carrying through in the mouth. Finishes long and strong. Just five grams of sugar here. This one fermented until June, noted Dirler.

91+

2005 Domaine Marc Tempe Riesling Mambourg

(bottled in August) Gold-tinged yellow, with an unfiltered appearance. Captivating nose combines lime, lemon, red grapefruit, botanical herbs and a slightly spicy barrique note. Then dense and smooth yet at the same time penetrating, with sound acidity, piquant pink grapefruit and bitter citrus peel notes and suggestions of superripe fruits. Some serious tannins kick in on the long, rather penetrating finish, suggesting that this needs four or five years to harmonize in the bottle. But there's plenty of material here: Tempe notes that wine should be an aliment-and thus should not be stripped by filtration.

2005 Domaine Kuentz-Bas Riesling Pfersigberg

(the fermentation lasted a full year) Medium bright yellow. Soil-driven aromas of underripe pineapple, mandarin orange and crushed stone. Dense and sappy, with a light sweetness (8 g/l r.s.) more than buffered by bracing flavors of stone, peach and pineapple. A step up in intensity from the Collection Rare bottling. Finishes very long and expressive, with a strong impression of extract and excellent stony, minty lift. Just a hint of baked bread here from the foudre This was made from a combination of 15- and 45-year-old vines: Tottoli told me he may vinify these two components separately in the future.

2005 Domaine Marcel Deiss Burlenberg

($48; mostly pinot noir; done entirely in barriques, 40% new; 14.5% alcohol) Good deep red-ruby. Complex nose combines sappy black cherry, black plum, licorice, flowers, spices and smoked meat. Very rich and deep but a bit youthfully spiky today. Superb pinot stuffing here, with strong acids framing and carrying the fruit through a very long, firmly tannic finish. Deiss keeps one cluster per shoot, which holds the yield to around 20 hectoliters per hectare. Pinot noir in Alsace does not get better than this. (I will withhold judgment on the deeply spicy, tannic and impressive '06, which had been bottled the day before I tasted it.)

2005 Domaine Weinbach Gewurztraminer Altenbourg Vendanges Tardives

($114) Bright yellow. Tight nose hints at licorice. Currently painfully closed in the mouth, showing terrific juicy cut but a distinctly firm texture. Strong gardenia and floral elements currently keep the wine's peachy fruit in the background. This tastes drier today than its 77 g/l r.s. and will need a few years in the bottle to become more pliant.

91(+?)

2005 Domaine Kuentz-Bas Gewurztraminer Pfersigberg

(14% alcohol and 12 g/l r.s.) Bright yellow. Reticent but very fresh aromas of papaya, marzipan and subtle spices. Silky and fine-grained, with the subtle spice character following through on the palate. Quite dry for a wine that used to be made in a VT style, owing to earlier harvesting; in fact, this is downright delicate and understated, and not at all perfumey. Should make a flexible dinner-table companion. Tottoli suggests pairing it with curried lamb, or Creole dishes. 91

Priced from: 26.95

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2006 Domaine Weinbach Riesling Schlossberg Cuvee Saint Catherine L'Inedit

($98; made from the "richer terraces on the mid-slope") Medium yellow. Exotic pear liqueur, orange, honey and earth on the nose; showing plenty of botrytis character. Offers a creamy sweetness in the mouth (actually 25 g/l r.s.), with orange and honey flavors joined by tropical fruit hints. Relies more on its solid mineral spine than on its rather soft acidity for shape. Finishes suave, sweet and quite long. "These grapes are always too rich to vinify dry," notes Laurence Faller.

Priced from: 74.99

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2006 Domaine Albert Boxler Riesling Brand

($60) Pale straw-yellow color. Aromas of overripe peach, nectarine, smoke and stone. Glyceral, dense and sappy, with a saline aspect and strong stony minerality contributing to the impression of texture. Seems to grow thicker on the long, building finish. From fruit picked very early and in healthy condition, like the Muscat and the Riesling Sommerberg classique

91(+?)

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2006 Domaine Meyer Fonne Riesling Kaefferkopf

($39; 14% alcohol with 18 g/l r.s.) Pale yellow. Pure aromas of pineapple and crushed stone; perfumed but considerably less exotic than the Wineck-Schlossberg. Quite rich but clean in the mouth, with firm mineral-driven acidity giving the wine cut and grip. Perhaps fruitier than usual for this cuvee, but this is still the least vintage-influenced riesling in 2006. The wine's rather masculine, minerally, youthfully aggressive finish will require three or four years of cellaring. But this has excellent potential. Only Meyer's best parcel of Kaefferkopf went into this bottling in 2006.

2006 Domaine Schoffit Tokay-Pinot Gris Rangen Clos St. Theobald Vendange Tardive

(picked at SGN weight; 8.2% alcohol, 240 g/l r.s. and 12 grams acidity) Green-tinged cognac color. Sultana raisin, dried apricot, orange and coffee on the nose, plus a suggestion of roasted nuts. Supersweet and thick but with off-the-charts acidity cutting through the wine's 10W30- weight texture. Distinct flavors of raisiny torrefaction. It's hard to scrape this stuff off your palate, but a little bit goes a long way. Schoffit made just a tiny quantity of pinot gris Rangen in 2006, selling off most of it. This wine, atypically, came from the high-altitude portion of his 2.8 hectares of pinot gris in Rangen, as the top of the vineyard "kept the good rot."

2006 Domaine Marcel Deiss Grasberg

($67) Medium straw color. Exotic aromas of orange, apple, spices and stone, plus hints of honey and toffee. Sweet, tactile and dense with fruits and spices. Not pristine but opulent and impressively concentrated. A silky, fat wine with lovely length. Showing well.

2006 Domaine Weinbach Gewurztraminer Furstentum Vendange Tardive

($109) Pale, bright yellow. Pungent aromas of smoke, nutmeg and yellow fruits. Spicy and clean, with lovely purity of botrytis for the year. Glyceral in texture but not at all overly sugary at 81 g/l r.s. Not the last word in complexity, but a VT with firm spine and excellent length.

2005 Domaine Marc Tempe Gewurztraminer Schoenenbourg

Full golden-yellow color. Pure, sweet aromas of rose petal, cinnamon and cured meats; in contrast to the Furstentum, this screams out gewurztraminer. Suave, silky and quite elegant, with wonderfully smooth flavors of yellow peach, pineapple and spices and enticing inner-mouth aromatic lift. Plenty sweet but clean and fresh on the very long finish, thanks to lovely ripe acidity.

2005 Domaine Marc Tempe Gewurztraminer Mambourg Vendanges Tardives

Full yellow-gold. Liqueur-like aromas of mirabelle, flowers, cinnamon, clove and cured meat. Broad on the palate but not hugely sweet, conveying a more tannic impression and more warmth than the "regular" Mambourg offering. Liqueur-like flavors of mirabelle and spice. With residual sugar similar to the grand cru bottling and lower acidity, this is characterized more by thickness than by verve.

2007 Domaine Agathe Bursin Gewurztraminer Zinnkoepfle Bright, pale yellow. Candied lemon peel, yellow plum and subtle gingery spices on the nose. Broad, stony and cool, with a rather laid-back spice character and noteworthy verve. Rich and substantial but light on its feet. The subtly long finish is spicy but not phenolic.

2007 Domaine Bott-Geyl Gewurztraminer Sonnenglanz

Good bright, deep yellow. Very complex, pure nose melds exotic fruits, smoke, honey and brown spices, with some noble rot contributing to an impression of fresh acidity. Big, sweet and rich, with a penetrating, varietally accurate spice character leavening this masculine, muscular wine's opulence. Wonderfully full and rich; shares some of the honeyed character of the 2006 but comes across as finer than the earlier vintage. About 50 g/l r.s. here.

91-92

2007 Domaine Schoffit Riesling Rangen Clos Saint Theobald

(13.6% alcohol with 14 g/l r.s.; from vines lower on the hill, which were more affected by botrytis) Yellow fruits, flowers and honey on the nose, with a flinty/peppery nuance emerging with aeration. Fruitier and less obviously stony in the middle palate, but with an enticing perfumed quality. A fatter style than the Schistes, with less obvious cut, but nicely minerally and peppery on the persistent finish. Schoffit notes that he started picking pinot gris in Rangen on September 22, but brought in the riesling on October 8 and 10.

2007 Domaine Ernest Burn Muscat Goldert Clos Saint Imer Cuvee de La Chapelle

Full yellow color. Very ripe nose offers sexy floral oils, ginger and mint notes that carry through on the palate. Big, broad and off-dry, with impressive inner-mouth aromatic character for a wine that's been in bottle for only eight days. Superb and delicious muscat, at once delicate and very long. Burn recently planted a new parcel of muscat d'Alsace, and he told me the 15% young-vines component of this wine gives freshness and an exotic quality. "And with less sugar [this wine has just eight grams], the wine opens faster." Done entirely in stainless steel, as Burn believes that muscat is too fragile to be aged in foudre

2007 Domaine Ernest Burn Gewurztraminer Goldert Clos Saint Imer Cuvee de La Chapelle

(still on its fine lees in tank) Full yellow. Reticent, slightly blurry nose hints at smoke and earth. Very sweet (about 30 g/l r.s.) and chewy, with excellent density and depth to its flavors of yellow plum and brown spices. Quite subtle and fine-grained on the back end, but with a chewy, tactile texture that stimulates the salivary glands. Burn planned to pre- filter this wine with kieselguhr, then put it back into a foudre for another year.

91-92

2007 Domaine Ernest Burn Pinot Gris Clos Saint Imer Selection de Grains Nobles

(just bottled) Bright orange-gold. Racy aromas of orange peel and medicinal herbs; think Grand Marnier and Benedictine. Powerful and penetrating, with the tangy honey, apricot and orange peel flavors framed and lifted by bracing acidity of close to nine grams per liter. More fresh and structured than thick or roasted, this distinctly idiosyncratic and very long SGN eats its way through everything in its path. The candid Burn noted that he found this a tad mushroomy before it was bottled.

91?

2006 Domaine Weinbach Gewurztraminer Furstentum Selection de Grains Nobles

($336) Bright yellow. Lovely spicy lift to the aromas of yellow peach and rose petal. Juicy and penetrating, with a light touch suggesting a high- altitude wine. Not a pliant style, though, and a touch hard-edged on the finish. Tighter than the VT version but I don't find it quite as pristine.

91(+?)

2007 Domaine Zind Humbrecht Muscat Goldert

(12.7% alcohol and 6 g/l r.s.) Pale, green-tinged yellow. Restrained, pure aromas of lime oil, pear and spices. Dense, broad and spicy; quite dry but not hard. This hints at an almost riesling-like backbone but this is more a matter of calcaire than acidity, which is a moderate five grams. Needs time.

91(+?)

2007 Domaine Zind Humbrecht Pinot Gris Vieilles Vignes

(13% alcohol, 85 g/l r.s. and 5.5 acidity) Yellow-gold. Tangy, rot- ennobled aromas of honey and fruit salad. A near-confectionery, chewy fruit bomb whose sheer sweetness currently masks any inherent complexity. But these early-picked grapes (September 15!) also retained very good acidity. Olivier points out that "high-quality sweet wines were never meant to be drunk young." He may eventually release this as Vendanges Tardives.

2006 Domaine Zind Humbrecht Gewurztraminer Hengst Vendange Tardive

($140; 14.5% alcohol with 75 g/l r.s.; concentrated ripe botrytis, rare for this vineyard, resulted in a crop level under 20 hectoliters per hectare) Full gold. Superripe, complex nose melds orange peel, leather, honey, dried herbs and nutmeg. Thick and glyceral-rich, with noteworthy power and penetration to its flavors of yellow fruits, tea leaf and exotic spices. Finishes slightly aggressive, with a youthful tannic edge but also an impressive whiplash of fruit. Fascinating and complex wine: it's easy to taste today but probably needs a good decade to really display the Hengst terroir By then, it will taste drier.

91(+?)

2006 Domaine Marc Tempe Gewurztraminer Mambourg Selection de Grains Nobles

(tasted from cuve Orange-gold. Roasted yellow fruits and honey on the nose. Supersweet, silky and opulent, with a glyceral, chewy texture in conjunction with a firm acid impression suggesting a high percentage of noble rot. Chewier than the 2005 and ultimately more complex, but less suave in the early going. "In 2005 the noble rot came to very ripe grapes," said Tempe, "while in 2006 the grapes were at an earlier stage of ripeness when the botrytis arrived, which resulted in a wine with better acidity. We need botrytis on less ripe grapes to make great SGN." Some of Tempe's colleagues would no doubt challenge that assertion. (I will hold off on publishing notes on 2006s I tasted from foudres in Tempe's cellar, as they were extremely hard to judge in their virtually sulfur-free state.)

91-93

2005 Domaine Marc Tempe Gewurztraminer Mambourg Selection de Grains Nobles

(aged in 350-liter barrels purchased from Henri Boillot) Full deep yellow. Orange peel, peach, apricot and exotic spices on the nose. Superconcentrated, lightly gamey wine with an almost exotic fruit character and lovely balancing acidity. Powerful but not too heavy, almost in the style of a Sauternes. This too appears to be lower in acidity than the Mambourg normale but really needs time in bottle.

91(+?)

2007 Trimbach Gewurztraminer Vendanges Tardives

Palish bright yellow. Sexy, very expressive nose offers cured meats, cinnamon and lichee. Supersweet and fat with fruits and brown spices. Comes across as much sweeter than the riesling VT (it's carrying 72 g/l r.s and much lower acidity), but nicely balanced nonetheless. A real spice bomb in the mouth.

2007 Domaine Weinbach Gewurztraminer Cuvee Laurence

($63) Good bright yellow. Very fresh, vibrant nose offers sappy yellow fruits, rose petal and spices. Sweet and concentrated but still tightly wound, with excellent acidity framing and enlivening the densely packed citrus, quince and floral flavors. Admirable precise gewurztraminer. Finishes long, tactile and bracing, with very fresh acidity and a positive dusty quality without any bitterness.

2006 Domaine Weinbach Gewurztraminer Furstentum

($96) Bright yellow. Lovely clean aromas and flavors of yellow fruits and flowers. Glyceral and extract-rich, with noteworthy finesse and purity for 2006 gewurztraminer. Very sweet yet suave, and long and smooth on the back end, with no harsh phenolic character. The class of this grand cru shows through here.

2007 Domaine Weinbach Riesling Schlossberg

($49) Very pure aromas and flavors of ripe nectarine, lime and minerals. Quite juicy and precise in the mouth, with the wine's firm minerality and excellent acidity (8.2 g/l) giving it an even drier impression than its 5.7 r.s. would suggest. Laid-back, penetrating riesling-classic 2007. Should make a superb fish wine. The crop level here was just 34 hectoliters per hectare due to loss from hail, which Faller said was actually more of an issue in some of the estate's pinot gris and gewurztraminer parcels.

2007 Domaine Weinbach Pinot Gris Altenbourg

($78) Full yellow. Lovely floral lift to the pure stone fruit and orange flavors. Sweeter than the foregoing pinot gris examples (28 g/l r.s.) but with racy acidity giving the flavors an almost riesling-like clarity. An airy yet tactile wine with terrific verve and class. Finishes long and pure, with noteworthy spine for a leisurely evolution in bottle.

2005 Remy Gresser Riesling Moenchberg

Bright yellow. Very, ripe perfumed aromas of peach ad wet stone, with an exotic aspect that reminded me of pinot gris. Big, dense and rich, with good depth and a slightly glyceral sweetness to the peach and stone flavors. A very supple and inviting riesling with lovely breadth and length.

2007 Domaine Leon Beyer Gewurztraminer Vendanges Tardives

($55) Bright yellow. Pure, high-pitched aromas of yellow fruits, violet, peppermint and clove, plus a whiff of mango. Wonderfully sweet and dense yet somehow conveys a light touch in spite of its 57 g/l r.s. Much less glyceral in texture than the '06, due to a modest percentage of very clean botrytis. Utterly captivating flavors of peach liqueur, apricot and violet carry through the long, peppery finish. A whiff of rose petal remained in my empty glass.

2007 Domaine Leon Beyer Pinot Gris Vendanges Tardives

(57 g/l r.s.) Bright yellow. Subtly complex nose melds peach, toast and smoke. Very sweet but with superb acid cut giving the pure peach and spice flavors a penetrating quality for VT. Juicy rather than thick, with just a bit of botrytis. Classic old-style VT with purity and energy. I'd like to come back to this one in five years.

91(+?)

2007 Domaine Meyer Fonne Riesling Wineck-Schlossberg

($40; this very sunny site was harvested at 13.8% potential alcohol on September 17 with very ripe skins but good acidity, according to Meyer) Good pale color. Peppery aromatic herbs, raw pineapple, anise and flowers on the perfumed nose. Rich, dense and thick but vibrant, with soft citrus and elderberry flavors lifted by some unabsorbed CO2 Really resounds with minerality, mandarin orange and pepper on the back end. Still youthfully unevolved but sappy on the finish. Today this is the most floral of Meyer's trio of riesling grand crus, finishing with a lime tea note that reminded me of muscat Ottonel. Meyer volunteered that he would love to be able to make this style of wine every year.

91(+?)

2007 Domaine Meyer Fonne Pinot Gris Hinterburg de Katzenthal Vendanges Tardives

Good bright straw color, a bit deeper than the regular Hinterburg. Aromas of pineapple, curry powder and ginger, with earth and mineral notes and a smoky, toasty element that does not come from oak (the wine was made entirely in stainless steel). Sweet and spicy in the mouth, with enticing sugar/acid snap cutting the wine's glyceral texture and giving the youthful fruit and spice flavors a penetrating character. Firmly built, very young wine that will need a couple years of bottle aging to reveal its personality. Picked later than the regular Hinterburg but with no more botrytis.

2007 Domaine Dirler-Cade Pinot Gris Bux Vendanges Tardives

Pale color. Musky, complex nose combines orange, peach and butter; similar flavors in the mouth. Supersweet (65 g/l r.s.) and concentrated, with fresh acidity framing and carrying the wine's fruit through a very long finish. Not yet complex, but the power here suggests that this will reward patience.

2007 Domaine Dirler-Cade Gewurztraminer Bux

(14.4% alcohol, 20 g/l r.s.) Pale color. Five-spice powder and rose petal on the aromatic nose. In a suaver, finer-grained style than the basic bottling, conveying an old-vines richness and fat and mounting impressively on the back half. The exhilarating spiciness carries straight through to the very long finish.

2007 Domaine Dirler-Cade Gewurztraminer Spiegel

Pale color. Reticent nose shows more spice than fruit. Fat, sweet and sappy but closed. Quite chewy, but conveys a drier impression than the Kitterle today (it's actually 35 g/l r.s., vs. 41 for the Kitterle). Already highly perfumed but not really revealing its flavors. This wine, which includes the VT fruit in '07, really needs a few years to absorb its 14.5% alcohol.

91(+?)

2007 Trimbach Riesling Cuvee Frederic Emile

Good pale color. Rather austere on the nose, hinting at underripe pineapple, crushed stone and menthol. Dense, ripe and dry, with terrific sappiness giving a tactile quality to the dusty flavors of pineapple, grapefruit, lime, spices and stone. There's something subtly full about this broad, very long riesling. Here, too, the acidity is nearly eight grams, and the residual sugar less than one gram. Still an infant.

91(+?)

2006 Trimbach Riesling Clos Ste. Hune

Good bright, pale yellow. Sexy aromas of pineapple, mint and crushed stone; seems purer than the Frederic Emile. Then more pristine in the mouth as well, with little sign of botrytis to the citrus, stone and mineral flavors. Fatter than the Fred. Finishes broad, juicy and quite dry, with light resiny and fusel hints. A lovely 2006 riesling.

2007 Trimbach Pinot Gris Reserve Personnelle

(mostly from Osterberg fruit) Good pale yellow. Sexy, leesy aromas of peach, butter and fresh herbs. Rich and spicy in the mouth, showing more breadth than the Reserve bottling and a captivating sugar/acid balance. Highly concentrated peach and spice flavors are nicely supported by a mineral underpinning. Finishes longer and sweeter than the Reserve-and younger too. In an off-dry style, with 11 grams of residual sugar. But then this wine needs its sweetness to balance the 14.4% alcohol.

2006 Domaine Albert Mann Pinot Gris Hengst

($38) Medium bright yellow. More exotic on the nose than the Furstentum, offering mirabelle, violet, honey and cardamom, with hints of vanilla, smoke and acacia flower; I would have guessed this saw oak but it was done entirely in stainless steel. Silky, rich, broad and slightly sweet, with a mouthfilling texture and a more pleasing balance of body and alcohol than the Furstentum, which seems less harmonious today. Finishes spicy and long. In the style of the vintage, this offers great early appeal.

2007 Domaine Albert Mann Gewurztraminer Steingrubler

Good bright, pale yellow. Reticent but very pure aromas of curry powder, peppermint, fresh herbs and flowers. Soil-driven pear and spice flavors are framed and lifted by a strong mineral component, which leavens its 23 grams of residual sugar. Serious and understated rather than perfumed, this pure, firm gewurztraminer boasts a coolish and fairly dry finish tasting of star fruit. This would make a perfect wine for curries.

2007 Domaine Albert Mann Gewurztraminer Altenbourg Vendange Tardive

Bright straw-yellow. Explosive aromas of cured meats and gunpowder tea. Fat, rich and sweet but with just enough balancing acidity. A soft, smoky style of gewurztraminer with a flavor of exotic tea. Comes across as more harmonious than the pinot gris Altenbourg. This represents an entire parcel, not a trie

2007 Domaine Paul Blanck Pinot Gris Schlossberg

Bright yellow. More smoky, flinty minerality on the nose than pinot gris fruit. Penetrating, dense and saline, with firm acids and an impression of tannin giving grip and lift to the flavors of crystallized citrus peel and stone. Tastes less sweet than its 15 g/l r.s. A large-scaled, rather powerful, soil-driven wine that manages to maintain delicacy. Finishes firm, aromatic and persistent.

91(+?)

2007 Domaine Paul Blanck Gewurztraminer Furstentum Pale, bright yellow. Reticent nose reveals a tight core of spices, minerals and mint. Then broad, rich and quite dry (actually eight grams r.s.), with lovely lift and finesse for such a powerful wine. This has lower residual sugar and higher alcohol than the 2006 release and will need time to come into harmony. But it's precise for its size and subtle and long on the aftertaste.

91(+?)

2007 Domaine Leon Beyer Riesling Comtes d'Eguisheim

($55) Pale yellow. Cool aromas of powdered stone and ginger lifted by a whiff of orange peel. Dense and quite dry, with superb precision to its stone and spice flavors, as well as an intriguing suggestion of tropical fruits that no doubt reflects the late harvest. This classic riesling finishes with explosive length and terrific cut. This is a full 13% alcohol, with less than three grams of residual sugar.

91(+?)

2007 Domaine Leon Beyer Riesling R de Beyer

(for the first vintage, this bottling comes entirely from old vines, in Eichberg) Pale, bright, green-tinged yellow. Very pure, subtle aromas of crushed stone, mint and lime, with a hint of spice adding complexity. Broad and fruity, with lovely spice and mineral flavors dominating. Gives an initially sweet, almost glyceral impression but there's also plenty of balancing acidity here. Finishes powerful and a tad phenolic, almost tannic. I suspect this wine really needs a few years to come into harmony.

91(+?)

2007 Domaine Leon Beyer Pinot Gris Comtes d'Eguisheim

($55; from fruit picked at near-VT ripeness; five grams per liter of r.s.) Bright yellow-straw color. Superripe, nuanced nose combines orange, smoke, menthol and stone. Glyceral-rich but fruit-driven, with penetrating acidity framing and intensifying the peachy flavor. Dense with extract. The long, tactile finish leaves the salivary glands quivering. High in alcohol at 14% but not hot, perhaps due to its impression of low pH.

2007 Domaine Paul Blanck Riesling Schlossberg

Pale lemon-yellow. Pure, highly complex aromas of lemon, crushed stone, minerals and violet: this smells dry! Then juicy, tight and sharply delineated, with very fresh, dry, mineral-driven flavors of lemon, lime and mint. With aeration, this revealed its underlying richness without losing any of its grip or precision. Needs time but should ultimately surpass the Wineck-Schlossberg and Sommerberg bottlings. 91(+?)

2007 Domaine Paul Blanck Riesling Furstentum

Good pale color. Lemon, menthol and minerals on the rather cool nose. Pure, juicy and intense, with a lovely tangy quality to the crystallized lemon peel flavor. Offers a captivating sugar/acid balance and finishes with excellent length and a distinctly firm edge. This should develop more complexity with five or six years of bottle aging. Frederic Blanck notes that this wine comes from a variety of soil types, and that its components typically need time to harmonize.

91(+?)

2007 Domaine Paul Blanck Gewurztraminer Furstentum Vendanges Tardives

Medium yellow. Subtly spicy aromas of poire, clove, rose petal and peppermint. A sweet, intense fruit bomb in the mouth, with terrific intensity to the yellow peach and spice flavors. Considerable alcoholic clout gives structure and firmness to the long, sweet finish.

2007 Hugel et Fils Gewurztraminer Jubilee

($53) Deep straw-yellow. Subtle, reticent nose hints at smoked meat and dusty brown spices. Fat, dense and deep, with an enticing deep sweetness currently masking the wine's inherent complexity. With time in the glass, this exploded with spices. An extremely young wine with impressive power and length. This clocks in at 14.5% alcohol, the highest ever for this bottling.

91(+?)

2007 Domaine Dirler-Cade Muscat Spiegel

Pure, perfumed aromas of lime, lemon verbena, mint and licorice. Sweeter, fuller and creamier than the Saering, conveying an impression of richness without weight. Very precise for its size, and long and aromatic on the aftertaste. Three-quarters of these vines date back to 1964, according to Dirler. Just under 5 grams of residual sugar with 12.2% alcohol.

2005 Domaine Charles Koehly et Fils Gewurztraminer Gloeckelberg Vendanges Tardives

(14.5% alcohol with about 25 grams of r.s.) Good bright pale yellow. High-pitched aromas of spice, quince, orange zest and medicinal herbs. Less hot and more fruity in the mouth than the 2006 version; not hugely sweet but offers a more pleasing balance and finishes with a whiplash of flavor. Nothing rustic about this juicy, sharply delineated wine. Would make a perfect aperitif. 91

2007 Domaine Dirler-Cade Pinot Gris Kessler

Strongly soil-inflected nose offers musky ginger, smoke and crushed stone. Dense, sappy and highly concentrated, with peach and smoke flavors complicated by a hint of crystallized citrus peel. More complex than the Schwarzberg, but then this is grand cru. Displays lovely sweetness (26 g/l r.s.) from start to long finish.

2007 Domaine Marcel Deiss Engelgarten

(Deiss's vines here include riesling, pinot gris, pinot noir, muscat, sylvaner and chasselas) Very pale, bright yellow. Pungently spicy, reduced nose shows an almost muscat-like lime oil element along with curry powder and pepper. Dense but penetrating, with a very suave texture considering the sharp definition to its citrus, spice and pepper flavors. This gives a sweeter, fatter impression than the 2006, and finishes longer and smoother. But still an infant.

90(+?)

2007 Domaine Marcel Deiss Schoffweg

Pale yellow. Sexy spices and earth on the reticent nose. Rich and clean but youthfully closed, with penetrating acidity and pungent minerality giving the wine a distinctly dry impression. Spices and a toasty nuance emerge as the wine opens in the glass. Finishes long and dusty.

2006 Domaine Dirler-Cade Riesling Kessler Heisse Wanne

(from a 1959 planting in the dead center of this grand cru vineyard) Fairly closed nose shows more stone and earth than fruit today. Rich but light on its feet, offering good cut to its orange and crushed stone flavors. Comes across as less massive than the regular Kessler, and perhaps less affected by botrytis. Finishes chewy and persistent. Very interesting wine. The crop level here was just 30 hectoliters per hectare, noted Boxler.

2006 Domaine Albert Mann Riesling Altenbourg Vendanges Tardives

(from vines located just under the grand cru Furstentum; with deeper soils here, the botrytis comes more easily) Good straw-yellow. Very ripe aromas of pear, peach and coconut. Pure, racy and surprisingly backward, with a lively quality and brisk firming acidity to the flavors of candied mandarin orange peel, lime and peach. Finishes fresh and long, with very good penetration and juiciness for the vintage. There's something almost Mosel-like about this pure riesling. The Barthelmes did a "pre-picking" ten days prior to the actual harvest here, and the wine is much cleaner for it.

2006 Domaine Albert Mann Riesling Schlossberg

($40) Pale yellow. Slightly high-toned aromas of pear, stone, peppermint and flint. An extremely dry and stony Schlossberg that reminded me of the Mann examples from the '80s. Not quite hard but this is austere today and in need of patience. Offers very good volume without weight and an impression of strong dry extract. Spreads out nicely on the aromatic, mounting finish, but this is tough going today.

90(+?)

2006 Domaine Albert Boxler Riesling Brand "K"

($65; Kirschberg; from 60-year-old vines harvested early) Bright, pale yellow. Reticent but pure aromas of stone fruits, orange peel and crushed rock. Distinctly stony and unevolved riesling, with strong mineral and menthol notes currently dominating the underlying fruit. Offers a lovely weightless quality, but this is almost painfully young today and demands cellaring.

90+

2006 Domaine Albert Boxler Riesling Sommerberg E

($60; Eckberg on the label) Delicate aromas of lime blossom and spices, with a mineral austerity. Quite dry and minerally in the mouth, with tightly wound flavors of white nectarine, ginger, quinine and fresh herbs. Eckberg normally yields a fruity, facile style, notes Boxler, but there's nothing easy about this rather inscrutable wine today. Serious, dense and complex riesling that's currently keeping its personality under wraps. This is from the top of this steep, south-facing slope, on granite.

2006 Domaine Marc Tempe Rodelsberg

(bottled in August; 70% gewurztraminer and 30% pinot gris) Full yellow color. Pure aromas of spices, smoke and orange peel. Very firm and spicy, with excellent precision for a '06 and a gripping, almost tannic impression on the back end accentuated by a brisk lemony character. Fresh, fascinating wine, from very old vines cropped at barely 20 hectoliters per hectare, planted on poor reddish clay soil rich in iron oxide.

2006 Domaine Barmes-Buecher Gewurztraminer Hengst Vendange Tardive Pale straw-yellow. Reticent, subtle nose hints at spices, botanical herbs and flowers; comes across as purer than the Pfersigberg. Silky on entry, then plenty of concentrated exotic quince and apricot confit flavors; a hint of noble rot appears to have concentrated the wine's acids too. Finishes with slightly edgy acidity but very good length, verve and thrust-sappy rather than phenolic.

2006 Domaine Paul Blanck Gewurztraminer Furstentum

Medium yellow. Tangy yellow fruits, caramel and rose petal on the nose, with lovely lift from botrytis. A sweet, spicy, moderately glyceral fruit bomb in the mouth, with underlying minerality standing in for low acidity to give shape to this full, broad, tactile wine. Really pure fruit here, and impressively smooth and long on the back end. This may well age on its balance and stuffing, but it will also give early pleasure.

2006 Domaine Bott-Geyl Gewurztraminer Sonnenglanz

($50) Full yellow. Demonstrative nose combines spices, rose petal and subtle noble rot notes of honey and dried fruits. Very sweet and plump, verging on glyceral, but with good energy to the fruit and spice flavors. No lack of acidity or extract here. The building finish avoids the phenolic character frequently shown by this variety. Sweeter than the Furstentum, but this also has delicacy to go with its muscle.

2006 Domaine Zind Humbrecht Gewurztraminer Clos Windsbuhl

($85) Full gold-tinged yellow. Rather elegant aromas of mirabelle and smoked meat. Sweet, dense and strong in extract, with honey, smoke and spice notes complementing but not dominating the floral fruit. This one was made with about 30% botrytized fruit, which explains its texture and 32 grams of residual sugar. I like this.

2007 Domaine Bott-Geyl Gewurztraminer Furstentum

Pure, bright yellow. Very pure aromas and flavors of rose petal and brown spices. Hints of meat and aromatic herbs add nuance to the palate, with the deep spicy character giving the wine excellent lift. Finishes with excellent length.

90-91

2007 Domaine Zind Humbrecht Riesling Clos Windsbuhl

(13.2% alcohol, 1.4 g/l r.s and 5.8 acidity; the last vineyard picked in 2007, even after the VTs and SGNs-and with no botrytis, according to Humbrecht) Bright yellow. Musky, chalky aromas of peach, spices, smoke and lichee. More chalky earth than peachy fruits on the dense palate today; in a penetrating, rocky style, with bright but integrated acidity and noteworthy length. No ML here. I love this style. Olivier noted that this fruit was harvested a full 130 days after the flowering. (The Riesling Clos Hauserer was still fermenting its sugars.)

90(+?)

Priced from: 90

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2007 Domaine Agathe Bursin Riesling Zinnkoepfle

Full yellow. Smoky, soil-driven aromas of yellow fruits, crystallized orange peel, flowers and spices. Dense and tactile, with the impression of volume and a slight sweetness nicely leavened by harmonious ripe acidity. The crystallized orange peel note carries through in the mouth. Youthfully unevolved but already quite suave-and impressively persistent on the aftertaste.

2006 Domaine Agathe Bursin Gewurztraminer Zinnkoepfle Selection de Grains Nobles

Bright yellow-gold. Initially subdued orange and menthol aromas revealed a honeyed quality with aeration. Glyceral, quite sweet and chewy, but with a concentration of acidity and a honeyed botrytis character giving shape to the apricot and orange fruit flavors. Finishes slightly edgy and quite persistent. Here I find more SGN character than either the variety or the vineyard.

2007 Domaine Charles Koehly et Fils Gewurztraminer Altenberg de Bergheim Vendanges Tardives

Slightly hazy yellow. Exotic, explosive aromas of cured meats and spices perked up by a note of chlorophyll. Utterly lush and seamless, but with high-pitched chalk and floral elements giving this wine almost magical lift and leavening its 20 grams or so of residual sugar. Finishes with terrific fruit persistence. I love the balance here.

90-93

2007 Domaine Schoffit Gewurztraminer Harth Cuvee Caroline

($28; 15.2% alcohol with 38 g/l r.s.) Green-tinged yellow. Perfumed aromas of lime blossom, rose and cinnamon oil. Sweet, fresh and primary, combining a crushed fruit character with a lovely ethereal quality. Powerful but very fresh, finishing with a glyceral persistence, mounting perfume and no varietal burn. I'd wait a year on this, but don't bury this in your cellar and risk losing its enticing fruit.

2007 Domaine Schoffit Gewurztraminer Vendange Tardive

(from vines more than 50 years of age, and a crop level of just 34 h/h; 14.2% alcohol with 75 g/l r.s.) Pale, bright yellow. Reticent nose suggests ginger. Then glyceral, sweet and seamless, with fresh flavors of white peach and smoked meat. Offers a captivating balance of sucrosite and bright acidity. The pure finish shows no gewurztraminer bitterness. This and the Cuvee Caroline are superb examples of Schoffit's earlier- picking approach.

2007 Domaine Bott-Geyl Pinot Gris Sonnenglanz

Full deep yellow with a gold tinge. Ripe orange and apricot aromas complicated by smoke, earth and honey: very pinot gris! Sweet and intense, with lovely lift and acid spine giving this very concentrated wine an impression of sappiness that continues through the persistent finish. Bott notes that the acidity has been going up here since 2004, and attributes this to organic viticulture. Similar in style to the very pure 2005 release, but perhaps a bit more intense and complex.

90-92

2007 Domaine Bott-Geyl Gewurztraminer Sonnenglanz Selection de Grains Nobles (half bottle)

Deep gold. Carnal, deeply spicy nose offers orange liqueur, a whiff of resin and a roasted aspect. Supersweet and glyceral but sappy, with powerful botrytis flavors of apricot and marzipan. Finishes thick, dense and very long, with a repeating resiny nuance. Bott picked this fruit prior to the VT, and the wine finished with about 250 g/l r.s. (vs. 105 for the VT).

90-92

2007 Josmeyer Riesling Brand

Pale yellow. Sexy, nuanced nose combines citrus fruits, minerals and spices, all lifted by a violet topnote. Juicy, intense and penetrating, with ripe, integrated acidity framing the flavors of citrus fruit, white peach and flowers. This is quite easygoing and delicious for young grand cru riesling but also boasts excellent cut and verve and is built to age. An intriguing blend of 12.5% alcohol, 10 g/l r.s. and 8.3 grams acidity.

2007 Domaine Ostertag Riesling Heissenberg

Highly complex nose combines white flowers, spices, fresh herbs and smoke. Slightly sweet, spicy and quite primary, with lovely purity and intensity to the very ripe white peach and crushed rock flavors. Serious, terroir-driven riesling with impressive length. Prior to 2003, Ostertag used some barriques to age this wine because he felt that this hot site made an atypical riesling with a pinot gris-like character.

2007 Domaine Zind Humbrecht Pinot Gris Herrenweg Vendange Tardive

(15.3% alcohol, 68 g/l r.s. and 5.9 acidity) Bright golden-yellow. High- toned honeyed nose, with fruit in the background. A bit tight and youthfully disjointed today, with its high sugar and acids not yet in harmony. Less fruity than the Vieilles Vignes, finishing with a more strict structure and a slight youthful bitterness. Needs time.

90(+?)

2007 Domaine Zind Humbrecht Gewurztraminer Turckheim

(15.2% alcohol, 38 g/l r.s. and 3.7 acidity) Classic aromas of smoked meat and spices. Fat, sweet and fruity, with surprising freshness in light of its fairly low acidity. With aeration, this showed complex and varietally accurate notes of rose petal, clove, cardamom, herbal tea and new-car leather. Finishes long and smooth. (Incidentally, the wine simply labeled Gewurztraminer is also very ripe, broad and spicy, with somewhat elevated alcohol but less sweetness than the Turckheim bottling; I rated this one a solid 88.)

2007 Domaine Zind Humbrecht Gewurztraminer Heimbourg

(13.9% alcohol, 54 g/l r.s. and 2.5 acidity) Full yellow. Yellow fruits and spices on the very ripe nose. Smooth, fat and supersweet, with suggestions of exotic honeyed fruits. Not complex but boasts lovely fruit and really carries on the back end. This, too, has good lift from limestone. This fruit was picked late with superripe skins and virtually no malic acidity, according to Humbrecht.

2007 Domaine Weinbach Gewurztraminer Cuvee Theo

($49) Good light color. Varietally expressive nose combines peach, rose petal and nutmeg. Moderately dense yet weightless, with lovely life and lift to the flavors of yellow fruits, flowers and spices. This has the cut and grip of a riesling. Wonderfully stylish wine that fills the retronasal passage with faded rose and white flowers.

2007 Domaine Weinbach Riesling Cuvee Saint Catherine ($55; from vines lower down in the Schlossberg) Pale yellow. Very ripe yellow fruit nose shows less floral lift than the Schlossberg bottling. Broad and rich but youthfully subdued, with a more glyceral texture to its flavors of spicy yellow fruits and stone. Lower in acidity than the Schlossberg and perhaps a bit more deceptively user-friendly today, but this really needs some time in bottle to express itself.

90(+?)

2007 Domaine Kuentz-Bas Pinot Gris Eichberg

(from a small parcel cropped at 35 hectoliters per hectare) Bright, pale yellow. Soil-inflected nose offers musky minerality, smoke and menthol, with some high-pitched citrus scents emerging with aeration. Sweet, concentrated and rich, with tangy flavors of peach, citrus fruits and spices. At once tactile and smooth; plenty of stuffing and power here. Finishes quite vibrant, with lovely citrussy fruit but no impression of hardness. This fruit used to be routinely picked and vinified in a late- harvest style, noted Tottoli, but the '07 is carrying a more modest 27 grams of residual sugar.

2005 Domaine Kuentz-Bas Gewurztraminer Vendange Tardive

Good bright yellow. Spicy aromas of peach, clove and ginger; one can smell the acidity. Suave on entry, then quite silky in the middle, with intriguing floral and smoked meat nuances complementing the fruit. Not quite as pristine as this producer's 2007 gewurztraminers and a bit warm on the back half, but shows plenty of stuffing.

2007 Domaine Albert Mann Riesling Schlossberg

($45) Pale, bright yellow. Mineral-driven aromas of crushed stone, flint, flowers, white peach and lemon. Extremely dry and backward, with granite-influenced notes of botanical herbs, lemon verbena, mint, silex and quinine. An extremely austere riesling with Chablis-like cut. This is virtually bone-dry at less than two grams per liter. Interestingly, this is the only 2007 here that did its malolactic fermentation, but that certainly did not soften the wine. It's very hard to find this style in Alsace anymore. I suspect this will merit a higher score with three to five years of cellaring, but today it's tough going. Incidentally, Maurice Barthelme is thrilled to have such a dry grand cru riesling, but brother Jacky, who is responsible for winemaking, prefers a more pliant style and generally prefers to pick later than Maurice does.

90+

2007 Domaine Zind Humbrecht Gewurztraminer Wintzenheim

Yellow-gold with a green tinge. Aromatic herbs, linden tea and smoke on the sexy nose. Sweet, lush and soft but not flat. Finishes spicy, long and quite smooth. A dessert style of gewurztraminer-or serve it with cheese.

2007 Domaine Paul Blanck Riesling Wineck-Schlossberg

(the yield here was cut by hail) Bright, pale yellow. Cool, pure aromas of minerals, mint and ginger, plus hints of tropical fruits and almond. Broad, rich and pliant; tastes sweeter than its five grams of residual sugar would suggest but ripe acids give shape to this very persistent riesling.

2007 Domaine Paul Blanck Riesling Sommerberg

Pale yellow. Pure nose offers very good citrus lift, with a deeper note suggestive of coconut. Lovely ripe citrus flavors dominate in the mouth; more about fruits than minerals today but with no lack of intensity or thrust. Finishes bright and long. This is from deeper soils on top of decomposed granite.

2007 Domaine Meyer Fonne Riesling Schoenenbourg

($40; from very clean grapes harvested on October 10, according to Meyer) Pale straw color. Very pure aromas of lemon, curry powder, flowers, spices and fresh herbs, with a whiff of reduction. Lemony and brisk but more intensely flavored than the Pfoeller, with more personality to its flavors of underripe pineapple, ginger and flowers. A saline element contributes to the dusty quality of the long, stony finish. The vines here are only about 15 years old but yield tiny grapes due to a high proportion of millerandage

90(+?)

2007 Domaine Meyer Fonne Pinot Gris Hinterburg de Katzenthal

Exotic stone fruits and mango complemented by flint and smoke and a whiff of marmaladey botrytis. Fat and sweet but not at all heavy, thanks to harmonious acids that energize the wine's fruit. This concentrated, very ripe, peachy fruit bomb boasts almost riesling-like energy, like many of my favorite pinot gris examples from this vintage. Meyer suggests serving this with foie gras or alongside a fresh fruit salad.

2007 Domaine Marc Kreydenweiss Pinot Gris Moenchberg

Bright yellow. Musky, soil-driven aromas of violet, smoke, flint and spices, plus a hint of peach. Dense, large-scaled (14+% alcohol) and ripe but not at all a fruit bomb-at least not yet. This spicy, pure, minerally wine starts firm and just off-dry (actually, 11 grams r.s.) and then gains in sweetness and softens up as it opens in the glass. Needs time in bottle to show its full range of aromas and flavors. This sunny site was picked very early, on the second day of the harvest (September 20).

90(+?)

2007 Domaine Dirler-Cade Pinot Gris Schimberg

Pale color. Subtle aromas of peach, orange and stone. Dry, clean and spicy, with good acid cut easily handling the wine's eight grams of residual sugar. The very ripe fruits are complicated by a note of licorice, which adds to its flexibility at the dinner table.

2006 Josmeyer Riesling Hengst L'Exception

($90; picked in late October with a lot of noble rot) Pale yellow. Candied fruit salad, menthol, herbal tea and caraway seed on the nose. Quite sweet (36 g/l r.s.) and silky but without the energy or nuance of the '07 rieslings from Hengst. Conveys a flavor like white flowers steeped in herbal tea. Not heavy and not deficient in acidity, but this hasn't integrated its sweetness yet.

2007 Domaine Barmes-Buecher Riesling Steingrubler

Pale, green-tinged color. Cool aromas of quince, lime, mint, minerals and crushed stone. Complex but youthfully subdued, with good breadth to the flavors of mandarin orange, white peach, lime zest and flowers. Today the wine's firm mounting acidity and its substantial sweetness (17 g/l r.s.) are at odds. But its impression of dry extract and its chewy back end suggest it will repay aging. In any event, this won't even be released until 2010. The crop level here was just 28 hectoliters per hectare, said Barmes, adding that the grapes were golden in color and that the clusters were loose, not compact. He has recently purchased some more Steingrubler and will be planting riesling here after leaving the land fallow for a year.

90(+?)

2007 Domaine Paul Blanck Gewurztraminer Altenbourg

Pale bright yellow. Tight aromas of citrus peel and ginger, with a hint of smoked meat. Subtle, minerally and fairly dry (under ten grams per liter r.s., according to Blanck), with lemon and spice flavors nicely framed by ripe acids. Very easy to drink, well-balanced and food-friendly. And nicely aromatic on the finish. 90

2007 Domaine Paul Blanck Pinot Gris Altenbourg Vendanges Tardives

Pale yellow. Extremely reticent nose hints at citrus fruit and mint with aeration. Impressively concentrated and intense but not yet complex; quite sappy but still tastes even sweeter than its 50 grams per liter of residual sugar. The wine's moderately glyceral texture is nicely enlivened by ripe acidity and a deep spiciness. This should repay aging. About 30% botrytized fruit here, but not from a special selection, notes Blanck.

90(+?)

2007 Domaine Rene Mure/Clos St. Landelin Riesling Vorbourg Clos Saint Landelin

($60) Citrus zest, fresh herbs, mint and a buttery nuance on the nose. Dense and spicy, with noteworthy concentration and purity to the citrus and stone flavors. Strong acidity leavens the stuffing of this broad, full riesling and gives it a fairly dry impression. In a very ripe style but quite impressive and built to age.

2007 Domaine Rene Mure/Clos St. Landelin Pinot Gris Lutzeltal Vendange Tardive

Straw-gold color. Musky aromas of orange and ripe peach show a honeyed sweetness. The exhilarating honeyed quality carries through on the glyceral, rot-ennobled palate, which boasts powerful crystallized stone fruit flavors buffered by strong acidity. For a wine carrying 145 grams of residual sugar this is quite penetrating.

2007 Domaine Rene Mure/Clos St. Landelin Gewurztraminer Zinnkoepfle Vendanges Tardives

Very clean aromas of flowers and spices. Fairly glyceral and broad yet succulent in the mouth, with lovely floral perfume complicated by a whiff of exotic herbs and herbal tea. Not hugely sweet (actually 50 g/l r.s.) but a bit more aggressive today than the muscat VT. Finishes quite fresh, with an exotic suggestion of mandarin orange and a light touch. Showing none of the meaty side of the variety today.

2007 Domaine Rene Mure/Clos St. Landelin Gewurztraminer Vorbourg Clos Saint Landelin Vendanges Tardives

Straw-gold color. Resiny spices, honey, botanical herbs and spearmint on the nose. Sweet and powerful on entry, then more complex and lively in the middle palate than the example from the Vorbourg. For a wine with such a creamy middle, this one offers excellent definition and lift. Finishes long and spicy. 90-91

2005 Domaine Charles Koehly et Fils Gewurztraminer Altenberg de Bergheim Vendanges Tardives

Bright yellow. Perfumed, fine aromas of spices and flowers, with good tangy lift from calcaire Moderate sweetness is nicely buffered by ripe acidity. Firmly structured, fine-grained wine with a long and smooth finish. This is starting to open now and is already a very pleasing drink.

2007 Domaine Dirler-Cade Riesling Spiegel

(bottled just days before I tasted it) Pale yellow. Musky aromas of ginger and crushed rock, with a distinct fusel nuance. Gives a denser, sweeter impression on entry, then turns broad and quite dry in the middle and on the back end, with white peach fruit currently overshadowed by stone and earth. This needs a good seven or eight years in the cellar. Just two grams of r.s. here, with 8.1 acidity and 13.3% alcohol.

90+

2007 Domaine Ernest Burn Riesling Goldert Clos Saint Imer Cuvee de La Chapelle

Pale yellow. Bright aromas of citrus peel, menthol and spices. Broad and quite dry in the mouth (just eight grams of residual sugar), with a dusty, fine-grained texture and a light touch. There's plenty of underlying richness here, but Burn says this very brisk riesling will need at least six or seven years to express itself. Finishes long and scented, with excellent grip. Very strong for this bottling.

90-92

2007 Josmeyer Pinot Gris Hengst

Pale straw-yellow color. Lemon, spices, quinine, ginger and a complex leesy nuance on the nose. Sweet on entry, then round and creamy in the middle, with flavors of ripe peach, smoke, licorice and musky spices nicely framed by ripe acidity. A big boy (15.1% alcohol) with a deep, fruity core and considerable extract. Finishes with fine tannins and very good length. This can be drunk now or held for a few years.

2006 Domaine Bott-Geyl Pinot Gris Sonnenglanz Vendanges Tardives

($53; at 20% potential alcohol, these grapes were too rich to make a "plain" Sonnenglanz grand cru in '07, or even to go into Les Elements, according to Bott) Golden yellow. Pungent aromas of dried fruits, fresh apricot, spices and honey; smells like a wine with high acidity. Then dense but quite brisk, with powerful acidity (9.5 grams per liter, according to Bott) giving lift to the peach and honey flavors. Not a thick style but for all its fire and brimstone I don't find outstanding complexity or class. This has 13% alcohol and about 120 g/l r.s. Bott noted that this wine had a very stony character during its fermentation, "like a white Burgundy."

2006 Domaine Paul Blanck Pinot Gris Furstentum

Good medium yellow. Reticent aromas of dried fruits, acacia flower and white truffle; clean for 2006 pinot gris. Then dense and moderately sweet, but with good framing acidity for the classic varietal flavors of orange, apricot, smoke and spices. Finishes intense and persistent, with a restrained sweetness. Very successful for 2006 pinot gris.

2007 Domaine Rene Mure/Clos St. Landelin Muscat Vorbourg Clos Saint Landelin Vendanges Tardive

Lime oil, lemon verbena, fresh herbs and menthol on the pure, perfumed nose. Sweet, concentrated and penetrating, with strong floral and botanical herb components giving the wine lovely inner-mouth perfume. Solid acidity leavens the wine's sweetness (90 g/l r.s.). Wonderfully primary muscat with a flavor of crushed grapes. This can age.

90(+?)

2006 Domaine Weinbach Tokay-Pinot Gris Cuvee Laurence

($75) Reticent but clean aromas of ripe stone fruits. Sweet, pliant and creamy, with good breadth and a solid core of fruit. Finishes brisk and a tad dry but not bitter. Very pinot gris, and a success for this variety in 2006. (In comparison, the spicy Cuvee Ste. Catherine showed a slightly earthy quality, less freshness and a dry edge on the back.).

Priced from: 60

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2006 Domaine Barmes-Buecher Gewurztraminer Pfersigberg

Straw-yellow. Liqueur-like aromas of mirabelle, Grand Marnier and plum wine. Rich, ripe and honeyed, with poire and quince suggestions of surmaturite A big, silky wine with elevated alcohol. Finishes velvety and fresh.

2006 Domaine Barmes-Buecher Gewurztraminer Steingrubler

Pale straw-gold. Pure, deeply pitched aromas of peach and spice. Less rich than the stunning 2007 but boasts good depth for 2006, with subtle notes of griotte cherry, marzipan and minerals. Finishes chewy and flavorful, with very good length and lift. This also tastes less sweet than its 36 g/l r.s. would indicate.

2006 Domaine Paul Blanck Gewurztraminer Mambourg

Bright, full yellow. Reticent nose offers yellow fruits and smoke. Sweet and silky on the palate, with spicy stone fruit and mango flavors complicated throughout by hints of licorice and flowers. Conveys an impression of solid extract and finishes persistent and quite smooth.

2006 Domaine Marcel Deiss Gruenspiel

($67) Full yellow-gold color. Sexy aromas of orange and honey, plus a suggestion of red fruits. Sweet and opulent, with a distinctly tropical mango flavor complicated by spices. Not showing the obvious structure of the 2007, and slightly bitter on the finish, with a hint of orange peel.

2006 Domaine Dirler-Cade Gewurztraminer Kessler Vendange Tardive

(72 g/l r.s.) Medium yellow-gold color. Musky aromas of spices and fresh herbs. Like a concentrated fruit cocktail in the mouth, with apricot and spice flavors nicely framed by balancing acidity. This has plenty of stuffing and finishes with very good spicy persistence. Cleaner, fresher and smoother than the 2006 gewurztraminers that preceded it in my tasting. "This began with the best material by far of our gewurztraminers in '06," Dirler admitted.

2006 Domaine Bott-Geyl Gewurztraminer Sonnenglanz Vendanges Tardives

($53) Deep yellow with gold highlights. Deeply pitched nose dominated by mirabelle Thick, sweet and opulent but not yet expressive, with a floral quality to its yellow plum flavor and a growing spiciness on the finish. This benefits from decent acidity, but I don't find quite the length that I expect from this style. Today the regular Sonnenglanz shows more definition. (Bott told me he has stopped making a vendange tardive from Furstentum, as he feels he would compromise the basic grand cru bottling if he didn't include the superripe, late-picked grapes.)

2006 Josmeyer Gewurztraminer Hengst

Bright, pale yellow. Reticent, elegant nose offers lemon and minerals. Sweet, creamy and essentially gentle in the middle; less complex than the 2007 but conveys a light touch. Slight suggestion of pineapple flambee. Silky in the middle but a bit firm-edged on the back.

2006 Domaine Albert Mann Gewurztraminer Steingrubler

($38) Bright yellow. Fresh, spicy aromas of mirabelle, violet and eucalyptus. Sweet, spicy and nicely concentrated, with a creamy middle supported by harmonious, ripe acidity. Finishes chewy, spicy and slightly phenolic, with more soil character than the generic bottling, which is all about the variety.

2006 Domaine Schoffit Gewurztraminer Rangen Selection de Grains Nobles (500 ml)

(13.1% alcohol, 150 g/l r.s. and 9 grams acidity) Full gold with a bright yellow rim. Extravagantly ripe aromas of clove, honey, toffee and leather. Supersweet but with superb acidity giving shape to the honey and resin flavors. A powerful, thick wine that lacks finesse but finishes quite long and spicy, with a repeating honeyed note and little in the way of phenolic harshness.

2006 Domaine Marcel Deiss Engelgarten

($49) Pale yellow-straw color. Exotic aromas of apricot, peach, pear and honey, plus a candied hint of orange marmalade. Then almost shockingly stony and austere in the mouth, conveying a strong pineapple quality and a youthfully dry edge. I can't remember when I tasted a young wine that showed such a radical difference between nose and palate. Soil- driven wine, finishing with a slight dry edge.

89(+?)

2006 Domaine Marcel Deiss Rotenberg

($67) Full yellow-straw color. Subdued aromas of honeyed fruit salad, lifted by a chalky element. Distinctly dry and rocky, with mineral and wet stone flavors currently dominating hints of tropical fruits. I find this harder to taste today than the 2007. There's plenty of material here, but the wine comes across as disjointed and less pure than the '07.

2007 Domaine Barmes-Buecher Riesling Clos Sand

Bright, pale yellow. Vibrant aroma of citrus zest, with a subtle hint of exotic fruits. Juicy, firm and sharply delineated, with excellent acid cut to the lemon and stone flavors. The citrus zest character follows through on the palate, making this wine extremely easy to drink. This is just 12.1% alcohol, with 2 grams of r.s. and 8.9 grams of acidity. As digeste as this is, it also has the backbone to age: Barmes says the 2004 is perfect now.

2007 Josmeyer Pinot Auxerrois "H" Vieilles Vignes

Pale straw color. Precise aromas of citrus fruits, spices, smoke and hay. Suave on entry, then youthfully tight in the middle, with good energy and mineral cut to the mounting citrus flavors. This is higher in alcohol but drier (just three grams r.s.) than the Lutins. Not quite the length for outstanding, though.

2006 Domaine Bott-Geyl Gewurztraminer Schlosselreben Vendanges Tardives (half bottle)

Full deep, bright yellow. Liqueur-like mirabelle, rose petal, nutmeg and crushed stone on the nose. Very sweet and spicy, with a penetrating quality (from the calcaire component in the soil here?) giving the wine surprising structure. Glyceral in texture but finishes with very good spicy grip and lift.

2007 Domaine Agathe Bursin Pinot Gris Zinnkoepfle

Pale, bright yellow. Restrained aromas of citrus peel, smoke and licorice; rocky more than fruity. Rich, broad and moderately sweet, but with nicely integrated acidity giving life to the deep, stony flavors of peach, flowers and spices. More about terroir than variety. Finishes fairly dry and with sneaky length. Give this a couple of years.

89(+?)

2007 Domaine Barmes-Buecher Riesling Herrenweg de Turckheim

Bright, pale yellow. Pungent aromas of citrus peel, herbs, pine cone and spices. Rich and spicy in the mouth, with fresh acidity framing the crystallized lemon flavors. A juicy, sappy wine with a tactile texture and very good grip. From a hotter site-and it went through malolactic fermentation-yet this shows excellent cut.

2007 Domaine Barmes-Buecher Riesling Rosenberg

Bright, pale yellow. Complex aromas of lemon, herbs and stone; more minerally than the Herrenweg. Deeper in the mouth but shut down quickly in the glass. Broad, rich, stony wine but lemony, tight and quite dry, even austere, in need of at least a couple years of bottle aging. Finishes saline, minty and pure, with a light touch. From colder soil than the Herrenweg. An excellent "village" wine.

89(+?)

2007 Domaine Charles Koehly et Fils Riesling Altenberg de Bergheim Vendanges Tardives

(done entirely in stainless steel) Bright yellow. Pure yellow fruits and spices on the nose. Rich, fat and broad, with a tangy pineapple flavor. Loads of fruit and excellent length here but conveys an impression of surprisingly soft acidity.

89-90

2006 Domaine Paul Blanck Pinot Gris Schlossberg

Bright yellow. Sexy nose combines tangy orange and apricot with smoke and truffle. Quite sweet and deep, with enticing flavors of honeyed peach, spices and white truffle. Finishes with good saline chewiness and noteworthy persistence. Plenty of botrytis here, but mostly of the noble persuasion.

2007 Domaine Barmes-Buecher Pinot Gris Rosenberg Calcarius

Full yellow with a gold tinge. Exotic aromas of acacia honey and white truffle. Very rich and sweet, but with healthy acidity giving the wine good cut and a firm edge. In fact, this is a bit disjointed today in spite of its solid spine. From a site that Barmes describes as "like a bowl: a humid spot where the fog sits and botrytis routinely develops."

2007 Domaine Barmes-Buecher Gewurztraminer Witzenheim Cuvee Maxime (500 ml)

(in a VT style, but without botrytis influence) Full yellow-gold color. High- toned aromas of orange peel, flowers and spices. Fat, sweet and full, with a creaminess in the middle palate but adequate framing acidity. Less noble and complex than the last couple of wines, and a bit tannic on the firm, honeyed back end. This was made from very ripe skins that were starting to break down, noted Barmes.

2007 Domaine Dirler-Cade Muscat Saering

Pale color. Subtle, musky aromas of blood orange, quinine, mint oil and flowers; more Saering than varietal character here. Suave and quite dry, with excellent lift to the blood orange and floral flavors. This would make a terrific aperitif but would also go well with a chevre with herbs. Just 12% alcohol and 3 grams r.s.

89 2007 Domaine Dirler-Cade Riesling Bollenberg

Reticent, pure aromas of stone fruits, lemon and lime. More massive today than the Belzbrunnen but less complex, with blazing acidity currently subduing the white peach flavor. Very tight and austere riesling with a firm, slightly tannic finish and no excess fat. Dirler says this will be better than the Belzbrunnen in ten years. Both of these bottlings have pHs around 3.0, according to Dirler, with lots of tartaric acidity.

89+

2006 Domaine Albert Boxler Pinot Gris Sommerberg

Full yellow-gold. Crystallized stone fruits, pineapple, orange and a hint of honey on the nose. A sweet, glyceral fruit bomb complicated by a smoky, peaty note and nicely framed by harmonious acidity. Not the last word in complexity but finishes with very good length-not to mention clean botrytis tones for pinot gris in 2006.

2007 Domaine Dirler-Cade Riesling Belzbrunnen

Bright, pale yellow. Very pure aromas of lemon, ginger and crushed stone. Sweet on entry, then all energy in the middle palate, with penetrating citrus flavors sharpened by harmonious racy acidity. This really leaves the palate vibrating. Carrying a very high 9.2 grams of acidity, according to Dirler, with just 6 grams of residual sugar. This would be perfect with a grilled fish.

89+

2007 Domaine Albert Boxler Gewurztraminer

Bright yellow. Perfumed aromas of yellow plum and rose petal. Dense, fat and sweet, with open-knit flavors of yellow fruits and sexy brown spices. A full, broad, long wine that's currently perked up by some unabsorbed CO2 Very impressive for entry-level gewurztraminer.

2006 Domaine Albert Mann Riesling Cuvee Albert

($25; made from a blend of the estate's best non-grand cru parcels) Palish yellow. Fruit-driven aromas of peach and fresh apricot, along with exotic notes of mandarin orange and coconut. Ripe and dense but brisk, with lovely cut to its mineral and crushed stone flavors. This tastes drier than its 11 grams of residual sugar, no doubt due to nearly 9 grams of acidity. Finishes firm and persistent. The riesling was affected quickly by grey rot, admitted Barthelme, who picked this fruit mostly on September 21 and 22, before the second rainy period.

89 2006 Domaine Ostertag Pinot Gris A360P Muenchberg

Ripe aromas of yellow peach, spices, earth and nutty oak; less pristine than the 2007. Broad, ripe and round; smaller-scaled than the 2007 and conveying a drier impression. Ultimately a less fruity style but boasts strong minerally soil tones. Finishes with good length and energy. Opulent but extremely dry, at less than 2 grams per liter r.s., compared to 11 for the 2007.

2006 Trimbach Riesling Cuvee Frederic Emile

Pale, bright yellow. Crystallized lemon peel, fresh herbs and a whiff of exotic fruits (from botrytis?) on the nose. Densely packed but juicy rather than glyceral, with a slightly raw character to its citrus and mineral flavors. Neither fat nor particularly classic, this seems caught in no man's land. The edgy finish reveals notes of apricot fruit and skin. I'm not wild for this today, but then it will not be released for a good two years.

89?

2006 Domaine Weinbach Riesling Cuvee Saint Catherine

($62; bottled with a glass stopper) Pale, green-tinged yellow. Peach, lime and spice aromas lifted by a floral topnote and complicated by a flinty nuance. Richer and fleshier than the Schlossberg, conveying a broader, drier, smoother impression in the mouth. Doesn't offer the lift of a top year but this is very good. Just five grams of sugar here.

Priced from: 47.99

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2006 Domaine Weinbach Riesling Schlossberg Cuvee Saint Catherine

($82; 65-year-old vines on mid-slope) Good pale yellow. Subtly complex, oily nose melds lime, crushed stone, fennel and caraway seed. Rich and fairly dry (six grams r.s.), but rather closed today. Shows more alcoholic power than the Cuvee Ste. Catherine (this one is 13.9%) and a slightly tannic quality on the back. A bit dumb and inexpressive today.

89(+?)

2006 Domaine Zind Humbrecht Riesling Heimbourg

($65; 14% alcohol with 8.8 g/l r.s.) Bright lemon-yellow color. Floral honey, ripe citrus fruits and apricot on the nose; hints at a late-harvest character. Then broad and sexy in the mouth but racy, with a slightly glyceral, honeyed texture cut by firm acidity. A very tactile, nicely balanced wine with a subtle sweetness. Finishes gripping and long. Today I prefer this to the 2007, but of course the newer vintage was not yet in bottle in September.

Priced from: 45.95

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2006 Domaine Zind Humbrecht Riesling Rangen de Thann Clos St. Urbain

($110; 14% alcohol, 32 g/l r.s.) Deep yellow color. Tangy tropical fruits, honey, ginger and resin on the nose, along with the vineyard's characteristic smoke and flint qualities (reminded me of Mosel-like schist). Quite sweet and concentrated, with a tactile saline quality as well as fairly strong acidity from noble rot. Perhaps a tad bitter-edged, and less pristine than the 2006. "From 60% blue grapes that were fragile but not shriveled," according to Humbrecht, who originally declared this wine as VT only to watch it ferment to a high level of alcohol. This idiosyncratic wine should age slowly, in spite of its somewhat deep color.

Priced from: 84.95

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2007 Domaine Ostertag Pinot Gris Fronholz

(done entirely in barriques, one-third new) Pale, bright yellow. Pure, high-pitched aromas of white peach, violet and spicy oak. There's a slight sweetness here (12 g/l r.s.) that's leavened by limey lift and impressive density-not to mention 14.3% alcohol. A juicy, fruit-driven wine with a very smooth finish. Pinot gris for the riesling lover. (In comparison, the 2006 was lower-toned and came off as too dry.)

2007 Domaine Ostertag Pinot Gris Zellberg

(40% new oak) Bright, pale yellow. Citrus peel and nutty, spicy oak on the nose. More plump than the Fronholz but no sweeter, with lower- pitched flavors of mirabelle and peach. Conveys an impression of alcoholic body (it's 14.3%), with its chalkiness somehow making the wine seem even larger in the mouth. Finishes generous and long, in almost a Burgundian style.

2007 Domaine Zind Humbrecht Pinot Gris Rotenberg

(14.4% alcohol, 29 g/l r.s. and 4.4 acidity) Bright yellow. Aromas of smoke, honey, menthol and clove. Extremely rich, with flavors of honeyed fruit salad and enough acidity to give it grip and leaven the wine's sweetness. Just a tad warm with alcohol but there's good structure here, not to mention some evidence of botrytis.

2007 Domaine Marcel Deiss Muscat Bergheim

($34) Pale yellow. Lime, lemon, grapefruit and mint oil on the aromatic nose. Pure and precise, with lovely floral cut and superb fruit in the mouth. Like chewing on ripe grapes. Perfectly integrated acids and a minty touch give this superb energy. In making this wine Deiss begins by doing a strict selection to eliminate rotten grapes. The "clean portion" then ferments quickly, after which he adds a botrytis fraction to draw out the end of the fermentation and give the wine more complexity. This approach clearly worked in 2007.

2007 Hugel et Fils Pinot Gris Jubilee

($39) Pale straw-yellow color. Aromas of quince, pear, mirabelle, flowers and minerals. Very ripe but sappy, with a slightly glyceral texture leavened by harmonious acidity. Finishes with a bit of youthful aggressiveness but plenty of energy. Very young today.

89(+?)

2006 Domaine Albert Mann Pinot Gris Furstentum

($36) Pure, delicate aromas of pear, white peach, peppermint and spices. Sweet and spicy, with lovely lift and minty freshness. Creamy yet dry, with silky fruit and sound acidity. This cuvee used to feature more botrytis but the Barthelmes picked the fruit on the early side in 2006. Still, this is carrying 14.2% alcohol.

2007 Domaine Marc Kreydenweiss Pinot Gris Le Lerchenberg

Pale yellow. Subtle aromas of pineapple, minerals and crushed stone. Juicy, dry and aromatic, with noteworthy lift to the flavors of pineapple, violet and powdered stone. Finishes sappy and tight, with penetrating lemony flavor and echoing notes of violet and dusty stone. This struck me as pinot gris in a riesling style, with a dusty aftertaste that calls for food.

2007 Domaine Charles Koehly et Fils Riesling St. Hippolyte

(just bottled) Pale green-yellow. Pure aromas of lime, peppermint, menthol and crushed stone. Supple and aromatic but at the same time dry and crisp, offering terrific granitic cut and intensity. Finishes gripping and long but very unevolved. This would make an excellent shellfish wine.

89(+?)

2006 Domaine Albert Boxler Riesling Sommerberg "D"

($65; Dudenstein on the back label) Bright straw-yellow color. Fruity aromas of pineapple and lemon cream complicated by a whiff of honeyed botrytis. The fattest and fullest of these three examples from Sommerberg and the easiest to approach now thanks to its pliant texture. Flavors of apricot, orange, pineapple and crushed stone are nicely complemented by some honeyed high tones. A round wine with a good balance for early enjoyment. Just a tad edgy on the finish. This has the most botrytis of these Sommerberg rieslings, as this is a hotter, earlier-maturing site lower down on the hill, but Boxler noted that the percentage of rot was still very low.

2007 Domaine Ernest Burn Pinot Gris Goldert Clos St. Imer Vendanges Tardives

Full, bright gold. Aromas of pear liqueur, honey and damp earth. Supersweet and smoky in the mouth, with slightly gamey flavors of honey, spice and earth. A distinctly honeyed rather than fruit-driven style of pinot gris with a thickness leavened by lively acidity. Finishes with strong spice character.

89-91

2007 Josmeyer Pinot Gris 1854 Fondation

(a selection made from old vines in Colmar, Wintzenheim and Turckheim) Pale straw. Aromas of mirabelle, smoke, spices and mint. Fairly large-scaled and rich, with very ripe flavors of peachy fruit salad and smoke. A good bit of sugar here is balanced by the wine's 14.1% alcohol and 7 grams of acidity, but the wine's various elements need time to knit. Again, this doesn't convey the class of the best Josmeyer wines.

2007 Hugel et Fils Pinot Noir Jubilee

($42) Good medium red. Riper and deeper but less open and fruity on the nose than the 2006, showing a medicinal aspect to the smoky plum and red cherry aromas. Broad, rich, dense and sweet, with an enticing pliant texture and a mineral undertone to its black cherry flavors. A fairly large-scaled and impressive Alsace pinot noir that finishes with sweet, smooth tannins. This may well merit a 90+ rating with four or five years of bottle aging.

89(+?) 2007 Domaine Zind Humbrecht Riesling Thann

(from young vines) Dried fruits, smoke and spices on the slightly exotic nose; smells like late-picked fruit. Rich, broad and silky, with a glyceral, honeyed quality and considerable fat. Sweeter than the foregoing riesling samples; this tastes like it's from another region. In fact, this went through malolactic, while the Turckheim and Gueberschwihr examples did not. Not complex but sexy.

2007 Domaine Agathe Bursin Riesling Dirstelberg

Medium yellow. Fruit-driven aromas of fresh peach and orange blossom. Dense, supple and youthful, with a firm acid spine and solid mineral underpinning giving the wine drive. Just off-dry, but the brisk acidity gives the juicy finish very good cut.

2005 Domaine Kuentz-Bas Pinot Gris Selection de Grains Nobles Cuvee Jeremy

(from the grand cru Florimont) Good pale color. Subtly candied aromas of orange marmalade and honey; by no means explosive today. Supersweet but a bit one-dimensional, with a slightly roasted character but also solid acidity to the flavors of boiled sweets (rose candy?). Offers a slightly glyceral texture but I don't find the depth or complexity of a classic SGN.

2007 Domaine Albert Mann Riesling Cuvee Albert

($28) Pale yellow. Sappy, open aromas of quince and lemon; smells like crushed grapes. Dry, aromatic and fine; vibrant but not quite austere. Lovely dry riesling with a sappy flavor of fresh pineapple. Interestingly, the 2006 version is higher in alcohol, residual sugar and acidity, but it struck me as a more old-fashioned style of riesling.

2007 Domaine Zind Humbrecht Gewurztraminer Gueberschwihr

(14.5% alcohol, 26 g/l r.s. and 3.9 acidity) Full yellow-gold color. Mirabelle, clove oil, cinnamon and herbal tea on the nose, with fruit in the background. Shows more cut than the foregoing examples, with an almost riesling-like floral quality and an impression of acidity that reminded me of a moderately ripe tangerine. This is harder to taste today, finishing with a youthfully tannic edge. Shows a very different balance due to the calcaire element.

89(+?)

2007 Domaine Paul Blanck Riesling Rosenberg (from east-facing vines planted on granite) Pale yellow. Bright aromas of dusty stone, quinine and lime convey an impression of mineral austerity. Then dense and dry in the mouth, with a saline quality and very good cut and lift to the citrus and powdered stone flavors. This brisk, tactile riesling really tickles the taste buds.

2006 Domaine Bott-Geyl Pinot Gris Furstentum

($45) Pure, open nose offers orange, apricot and hint of butter. Juicy, plump and moderately sweet, with clean fruit flavors and good grip and length on the back. This has solid structure for the vintage. The fruit here had relatively little rot, said Bott: "It looked like another vintage here."

2007 Domaine Meyer Fonne Riesling Pfoeller Vendange Tardive

(from fruit picked on October 23, two weeks after the regular Pfoeller) Bright yellow. Fruity but reticent aromas of tangy peach, nectarine, curry powder and pepper; there's something gruner veltliner-like about this. Then quite sweet but penetrating, with firm acids cutting the wine's mid- palate creaminess. Finishes spicy and slightly edgy. Very primary today, but not showing the complexity or distinction for an outstanding rating.

2007 Domaine Meyer Fonne Gewurztraminer Kaefferkopf

($43) Bright gold-tinged straw. Musky, superripe aromas of pineapple syrup, honey, nutmeg and clove. Tightly wound, intensely spicy and firmly structured, with only moderate sweetness to its crunchy fruit flavors. Finishes firm-edged and strict, with a light tannic impression. Only about 15% botrytis here, noted Meyer. This will need patience. Gewurztraminer for the riesling lover.

89(+?)

2007 Domaine Marc Kreydenweiss Gewurztraminer Kritt

($39; 14% alcohol with 12 g/l r.s.) Pale yellow. Subtle aromas of spices, flowers and spearmint. Juicy, pure and precise, with noteworthy finesse to its rose petal and spice flavors. Not yet complex but laid-back and very nicely balanced. Finishes persistent, fresh and refined, with no sign of the lichee or meaty side of the variety.

2006 Hugel et Fils Gewurztraminer Vendanges Tardives

($75) Pear, honey and spices on the nose, along with hints of resin and earth. Supersweet-verging-on-confectionery, with a honeyed noble rot character currently dominating the middle palate. Showing less nuance today than the 2007 Jubilee, but finishes with good juicy grip. A rather high 108 g/l r.s. here. (Incidentally, I raised my score on the '05 VT to a solid 92 points. The earlier vintage shows exotic but clean and complex aromas; a wonderfully suave entry and lovely inner-mouth perfume; and the grip, structure and sheer concentration to gain in bottle for many years. But it's also a taste treat today.)

2006 Domaine Rene Mure/Clos St. Landelin Gewurztraminer Clos Saint Landelin Selection de Grains Nobles

Full, deep orange-gold. Aromas of orange, toffee, damp earth and walnut. Fat, silky and supersweet; voluptuous but well-proportioned. Displays much cleaner botrytis flavors here than in Mure's Muscat VT from the same vineyard. Finishes round, sweet and long, with the orange flavor carrying through to the aftertaste.

2007 Domaine Dirler-Cade Pinot Gris Schwarzberg

Musky peach, smoke and flint on the nose. Fat, sweet and fruity but more massive and powerful than the Schimberg. Very successful for this style, if a tad phenolic on the back end. This wine's highly concentrated fruit flavors and palate presence suit it well as an aperitif, but the Schimberg would probably work better with food. This is 14.3% alcohol with 24 grams of r.s.

2007 Trimbach Riesling Reserve

(from mostly owned vineyards around Ribeauville; includes some juice from the grand cru Osterberg) Pale, green-tinged yellow. Lime, menthol and crushed stone on the nose; smells icy! Juicy, pure and brisk, with sharply focused flavors of citrus fruits and minerals. Serious riesling, with a penetrating, long finish. Trimbach told me this wine finished with less than a gram of residual sugar.

2007 Domaine Leon Beyer Riesling Les Ecaillers

($40) Quite closed on the nose, hinting at mint and lime with aeration. Then denser and fruitier in the mouth than the Reserve, but with lovely lift to the flavor of orange oil. A broad, dry, rather serious riesling from the grand cru Pfersigberg-and another great choice for fans of dry riesling from Alsace. (A retaste of the '05 showed a somewhat fatter and more exotic style of wine-more expressive today but without quite the breed and thrust of the young '07. But the earlier vintage will give more pleasure over the next couple of years.)

89(+?)

2005 Domaine Kuentz-Bas Riesling Collection Rare

($33; from a single domain parcel on clay-and-limestone soil that has always been vinified separately here) Pale straw-yellow. Fresh almond, soft citrus fruits and a floral nuance on the nose, along with a subtle minerality. Fairly fat, broad and sweet, but with intriguing saline minerality giving the wine an impression of structure and firming the finish.

2007 Domaine Kuentz-Bas Gewurztraminer Vendange Tardive Cuvee Caroline

Fresh, pale yellow. Pure, varietally precise aromas of yellow peach, ginger and cured meats. Silky, spicy and densely packed but in a fairly delicate style for VT. Here the wine's high alcohol (15%) takes the place of lowish acidity to buffer the 80 grams of residual sugar. Finishes broad and a bit warm. Doesn't quite have the flavor authority for an outstanding rating.

2007 Domaine Albert Mann Gewurztraminer

($26) Pale yellow. Varietally expressive aromas of pineapple, lichee, spices and rose petal. Lovely glyceral wine with ripe acids and brisk pepper and spice notes buffering its 14% alcohol. Finishes dense, tactile and fresh, with a peppery quality that should make it flexible at the dinner table. The finish leaves the palate feeling clean.

2007 Domaine Albert Mann Pinot Gris Altenbourg Vendanges Tardives

Straw-gold. Lower-toned on the nose following the riesling, with musky notes of smoke, honey, blond tobacco and white chocolate. Creamy in the middle, with very good acid cut to its cherry and white chocolate flavors, but less intensity than the riesling Schlossberg. Finishes with lingering red fruit notes and a moderately tannic impression. I don't find the purity or lift here of the best 2007s from Mann.

2007 Domaine Paul Blanck Pinot Gris Wineck-Schlossberg

(these vines are now ten years old; Blanck is confident that pinot gris has outstanding potential on granite) Bright yellow. Lovely citrus aromas complicated by smoke and stone. Rather sweet on entry, then a slightly disjointed fruit bomb in the mouth, with the wine's acids not yet in harmony with its citrus and stone fruit flavors. There's plenty of life here though, and I suspect that this wine will have absorbed some of its sweetness by the time it's released in a couple years.

89(+?)

2006 Domaine Agathe Bursin Gewurztraminer Zinnkoepfle Vendanges Tardives

Full yellow. Extravagant aromas of honey, spices, orange, peach syrup and tropical fruits. Sweet and spicy but less complex than the '07 Zinnkoepfle, with flavors of honeyed fruit salad and lichee. Juicy but distinctly easygoing and sweet. I'm not sure where this can go in the bottle.

2007 Domaine Charles Koehly et Fils Pinot Gris Altenberg de Bergheim Vendanges Tardives

Bright yellow. Superripe yellow fruit aromas show more tangy lift than those of the Gloeckelberg. Dense, glyceral and sweet, with a tactile texture and terrific energy. This shows more definition and thrust on the back end, no doubt due to the calcaire soil (the Gloeckelberg is on granite).

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2007 Domaine Charles Koehly et Fils Gewurztraminer Gloeckelberg Vendanges Tardives

(the fruit came in with 17.8% potential alcohol) Full yellow. Spicier than the Altenbourg on the nose, with a floral element. Supersweet and tangy in the mouth, with a flavor of honeyed fruit salad. Comes across as sweeter than the Altenbourg but less evolved. An almost spicy impression of acidity gives the long finish surprising freshness.

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2006 Domaine Meyer Fonne Gewurztraminer Wineck-Schlossberg Vendanges Tardives

(from 50-year-old vines planted on a steep, east-facing granite slope on the border with Kaefferkopf) Full yellow-gold. Exotic aromas of orange and medicinal herbs (Benedictine?). Then concentrated, rich and quite sweet (70 g/l r.s.), but with penetrating acidity and a flinty minerality giving the wine almost painful cut today. Complicated by a peppery impression of mountain herbs. Not yet complex but this will be very interesting to follow. Wears its near-14% alcohol gracefully.

2005 Domaine Marc Tempe Riesling Grafenreben

(bottled in August of this year) Bright yellow. Subtle, vibrant nose hints at pineapple, dried fruits, menthol and mint. A silky, sweet, concentrated fruit bomb of a riesling, combining brisk bitter orange and grapefruit elements with suggestions of exotic fruits. Offers lovely fat and length. A more feminine version of the comparatively massive '06. I'm tempted to describe this as a pinot gris style of riesling. Tempe estimates that this wine has ten grams of residual sugar.

2003 Domaine Marc Tempe Pinot Gris Schoenenbourg Vendange Tardive

(bottled this August, out of a new barrel) Full yellow-gold. Exotic dried fruits, honey and spicy oak on the rather liqueur-like nose. Sweet and fat yet racy, with ripe acids framing the superripe peach and oak spice flavors. Finishes with good grip and a slight phenolic dryness. Is this lively enough for mid-term cellaring? I'd certainly wait a couple of years to allow this to integrate its oak-and then serve it with foie gras.

2007 Domaine Bott-Geyl Riesling Schoenenbourg

Complex nose melds lime blossom, quinine, caraway seed and medicinal herbs. Just off-dry but with ripe, harmonious acidity intensifying the citrus and floral flavors and giving the wine lovely inner-mouth perfume. The palate-staining finish offers terrific cut and aromatic character. Bott supplemented his holdings here by purchasing some 50+-year-old vines in 2004.

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2007 Domaine Bott-Geyl Gewurztraminer Sonnenglanz Vendanges Tardives

Deep yellow-gold. Liqueur-like aromas of mirabelle, Grand Marnier, honey, spices and roasted nuts; plenty of botrytis here. Then supersweet and intense in the mouth, with an almost candied quality to the fruit. Not heavy but less expressive today than the "regular" grand cru bottling, with a hint of damp earth botrytis. Finishes with lovely subtle length but I found myself wanting more lift. This needs some time to open but will probably not be suited for long keeping.

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2007 Domaine Albert Boxler Pinot Blanc Reserve

Pale color. Pure aromas of lime, mint and powdered stone. Tightly wound and quite dry (under two grams per liter r.s.), with bracing flavors of lime peel and peppermint. Finishes stony and brisk, with a piquant citrus peel character. This wine has the structure of a dry, stony riesling, and needs a year or so to harmonize. Outstanding pinot blanc.

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2006 Domaine Albert Boxler Muscat ($30) Pale, bright yellow. Musky aromas of lemon-lime and stone, plus an exotic whiff of lichee that may be the result of a higher-than-normal percentage of muscat d'Alsace. Supple, broad and quite dry, with a suave texture and serious persistence. A very rich muscat for the dinner table.

2007 Domaine Albert Boxler Riesling Reserve

Bright yellow. Crushed stone and pineapple on the nose. A step up in density and sweetness of fruit from the basic bottling, but similarly very closed today. This is deeper, finer-grained and longer, and finishes with very good grip and finesse.

2007 Domaine Ernest Burn Pinot Gris Goldert Clos Saint Imer Cuvee de la Chapelle

Bright golden-yellow. Very ripe but reticent aromas of peach, honey and spices, with more exotic botrytis suggestions of exotic fruits emerging with aeration. Fat, spicy, dense and sweet, with a tangy honeyed quality and firm-edged acids not quite in harmony today. At once glyceral and racy, in a rather powerful, penetrating style, with a lightly phenolic edge that currently buffers the wine's sweetness. Hard to figure today, as its fruit is in the background, but long on the aftertaste.

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2006 Domaine Ernest Burn Riesling Clos Saint Imer Goldert Vendange Tardive

Full yellow. Aromas of overripe pear, white plum, menthol and honey. Creamy-sweet and dense, with a strong botrytis aspect to the exotic fruit and botanical herb flavors. Finishes fairly brisk and clean, with a suggestion of grape skins. A fairly thick wine but with very good framing tartaric acidity. Burn planned to bottle this at the end of September.

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2007 Domaine Zind Humbrecht Muscat Herrenweg

Bright yellow. Penetrating aromas of lime and spearmint oil complicated by a leesy nuance; reminded me of ripe sauvignon. Then supple but quite firm, with brisk acidity framing the lemon, fresh herb and mineral flavors. Finishes dry (just 2.2 g/l r.s.) but not hard. Thanks to the inclusion of some recent plantings, this wine now features a higher percentage of the slower-ripening muscat d'Alsace, which should result in a more structured, less grapey wine. "Today muscat ottonel has no acidity," explained Humbrecht. "It ripens too quickly and gets too perfumey." This is carrying 14% alcohol.

89 2007 Domaine Zind Humbrecht Riesling Turckheim

(13.2% alcohol with 3.5 g/l r.s.) Pale yellow-gold. Austere but rich nose hints at dried fruits. Then dense and fat in the mouth, with hints of peach and honey. A very concentrated wine whose alcohol gives it an impression of slight sweetness. Finishes with somewhat exotic notes of orange, honey and dried fruits.

2007 Domaine Zind Humbrecht Pinot Gris Herrenweg

(15.6% alcohol, 20.5 g/l r.s. and 5.2 acidity) Bright yellow. Musky white peach and honey on the nose. Fairly sweet fruit and honey flavors are supported by surprising spine, making this taste a bit drier than its residual sugar would suggest. Still, at 15.6% it's a bruiser. Olivier suggests pairing it with fruit-based exotic fusion cuisine, or with caramelized duck with honey.

2007 Domaine Ostertag Riesling Fronholz

Pale, green-tinged color. Apple, pear and spices on the nose, with a hint of exotic crystallized peach (but this was done entirely in stainless steel). Juicy, tight and quite primary, with a penetrating quality to the flavors of ginger and crushed stone. Very dry, minerally wine with a long, scented aftertaste and excellent grip.

2006 Domaine Ostertag Gewurztraminer Fronholz Vendanges Tardives

Pale, green-tinged color. Spicy yellow fruits and botanical herbs on the nose. Very sweet (95 g/l r.s.), silky and opulent but without quite the youthfully sappy quality of the 2007. Glyceral in texture but with a bit less acid tension and cut. Fresh apricot and mango flavors are complicated by more of the roasted side of noble rot. Very good for the vintage.

2007 Domaine Zind Humbrecht Riesling Gueberschwihr

Bright, pale, green-tinged yellow. Cool aromas of lime oil and minerals lifted by a floral topnote. Juicy, tight and brisk, with classic riesling flavors of lemon, lime and crushed stone. This tastes drier than its 5 g/l r.s. Penetrating wine with good structure.

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2006 Domaine Zind Humbrecht Gewurztraminer Goldert Vendanges Tardives

($110; 15% alcohol and 52.5 g/l r.s.) Full yellow-gold. Pungent peppery botrytis adds a distinctly exotic character to the aromas of rose petal, cinnamon and clove. Powerfully spicy and a bit alcoholic in the mouth, like a liqueur of clove.

2006 Domaine Weinbach Pinot Gris Altenbourg

($86) Palish yellow. Tangy, expressive aromas of soft citrus fruits, minerals, smoke and earth. Rich, broad, creamy and fine-grained; sweet at 30 g/l r.s. but not at all over the top. More soil-driven smokiness than fruit showing today. Finishes with a suggestion of sesame seed. This would be ideal with sweet and sour dishes.

Priced from: 62.99

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2006 Domaine Weinbach Gewurztraminer Altenbourg

($86) Bright yellow. Deep, ripe aromas of mirabelle, pineapple, spices and porcini. Plump, broad and sweet, with an exotic pineapple and coconut character that suggests a pina colada. Conveys an impression of elevated alcohol and lowish acidity. This would be good alongside rich cheeses or foie gras.

Priced from: 62.99

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2007 Domaine Weinbach Muscat Reserve

($45) Lime blossom and citrus oil on the pure, perfumed nose. Broad but quite dry and elegant, with a sappy quality and lovely floral lift. A serious and nicely full muscat, finishing firm but with no rough edges. "More a round ottonel wine," notes Laurence Faller, who described the '06 version as more of a minty, muscat d'Alsace style.

2007 Domaine Weinbach Riesling Cuvee Theo

($41) Good pale, green-tinged color. High-pitched, precise aromas of lime, fresh herbs, flowers and mint. Juicy and penetrating, with brisk acid cut to its fairly rich lemon and lime flavors. This really cleanses the palate and leaves the taste buds vibrating.

2007 Domaine Weinbach Pinot Gris Cuvee Saint Catherine ($65) Good pale straw color. Peach and mirabelle on the fruit-driven nose. Rich but fairly dry (11 g/l r.s.), with peach and spice flavors complicated by a note of marzipan. Less creamy in the middle than the '06 but ultimately richer, more aromatic and more elegant. Finishes with sneaky length. I'd wait a year or two before pulling the cork.

2007 Domaine Weinbach Pinot Gris Cuvee Laurence

($67) Pure, bright straw-yellow. Highly aromatic stone fruits and spices on the nose. Initially quite backward and tightly wound, but showed a creamier texture with aeration and lovely floral lift. A fairly sweet style of pinot gris but with good grip and persistence.

2007 Domaine Weinbach Gewurztraminer Reserve Personnelle

($39) Medium yellow. Precise aromas of orange peel and spices. Round, supple, rich and fine-grained, offering perfumed spiciness in the middle palate and on the fairly sweet but vibrant finish. Very elegant wine.

2006 Domaine Barmes-Buecher Riesling Hengst

Bright, pale yellow. Pure aromas of minerals and crushed stone. Firmly built, even a bit youthfully austere, with dominant flavors of underripe pineapple, lemon and minerals. Plenty of snap here but not at all a fleshy or fruity style. A tad hard on the back and in need of substantial bottle aging. Will this become more pliant?

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2006 Domaine Albert Boxler Riesling Sommerberg

($55) Pale yellow. More exotic nose dominated by pineapple. Sweet on entry, then firm, minerally and tight in the middle, even a bit youthfully tough. Ultimately a bit more exotic and glyceral than the Eckberg, but still with a firm mineral underpinning to the pineapple and apricot flavors. Finishes with a distinctly tannic impression. These vines were picked early, "before the second rain," and Boxler admitted that the grapes would have been perfect with another week of sun "but not rot."

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2006 Domaine Dirler-Cade Riesling Kessler

Good pale yellow. Minerals, crushed stone and vanilla on the nose, plus a fusel nuance. Fatter and sweeter than the Spiegel, with flavors of orange, grapefruit and pineapple and rather soft acidity. A step up in volume and length from the Spiegel, but also a touch dry on the end. More than a hint of botrytis here.

2006 Domaine Dirler-Cade Riesling Belzbrunnen

Bright, pale yellow. Pure but subdued aromas of lemon, stone fruits and caraway seed. Richer and broader than the Bollenberg (this fruit was harvested later), with sweet peach fruit complemented by minerality and a hint of butter. Ultimately more complex than the Bollenberg, offering a nice combination of power and finesse.

2006 Domaine Meyer Fonne Riesling Pfoeller

($36) Very ripe on the nose, but with vibrant, musky citrus and chalk notes. Then tighter-grained in the mouth than the Wineck-Schlossberg, with less evidence of botrytis and a more obvious stony character giving a lighter touch to the wine. Still, there's an essential creaminess to the mid-palate and a hint of exotic fruits. Ripe acidity firms the persistent finish. Just six grams of residual sugar here, according to Meyer.

2007 Domaine Marcel Deiss Riesling

($33) Pale, bright yellow. Very pure nose hints at menthol and crushed stone. Pure and concentrated, with a texture and ripeness of fruit that come as a surprise after the reticent nose. The lime flavor nicely combines verve and subtle sweetness. Finishes brisk and persistent.

2007 Hugel et Fils Riesling

($24) Pale, bright color. Reticent, pure nose hints at citrus peel and mint. Quite tight in the mouth, with strong acidity keeping the grapefruit and stone flavors in check today. But this juicy wine finishes with plenty of verve and length. I wouldn't broach this until at least the summer of 2009. This has 7.8 grams of acidity after about 20% of the wine went through malolactic fermentation.

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2007 Domaine Rene Mure/Clos St. Landelin Riesling Vorbourg

($45) Pale yellow. Candied orange peel, mint and stone on the nose. Supple and plush but fairly dry, with a fine-grained texture and fairly strong acidity. This very young wine, bottled just three weeks before I tasted it, needs a year or two to harmonize its acids.

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2007 Domaine Rene Mure/Clos St. Landelin Pinot Gris Vorbourg Clos Saint Landelin

($59) Pale color. Orange, peach, citrus fruits, toast and a whiff of bubblegum on the nose. Sweet and concentrated if a bit youthfully aggressive, with firm acidity and lively pear and green apple notes contributing to the impression of spine. There's a hint of dried apricot here but this comes across as quite tight today and in need of a year or two of cellaring. Drier than most recent vintages of this bottling.

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2007 Domaine Rene Mure/Clos St. Landelin Sylvaner Cuvee Oscar Clos Saint Landelin

($48; from vines between 50 and 60 years of age) Good pale color. Floral aromas of lime blossom and menthol. A sweet fruit bomb on entry, but with ripe, harmonious acidity framing the rich yellow fruit flavors in the middle palate. With its 40 grams of residual sugar, this would work as an aperitif or served with a cheese course. Mure simply let the fruit hang, and told me that the sugars and acids went up. This may say "demi-sec" on the back label.

2005 Domaine Charles Koehly et Fils Pinot Gris Gloeckelberg Vendanges Tardives

Good pale color. Very ripe but subdued aromas of yellow peach and butter, plus a suggestion of dried fruits. Smooth, sweet and fat but still quite young. Finishes with good mineral grip but with a slight bitterness that still needs time to harmonize. (A bottle of the 2001 struck me as alcoholic and raisiny, but the 1996 was a knockout, and seemingly younger than the '01.)

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2006 Domaine Charles Koehly et Fils Gewurztraminer Gloeckelberg Vendanges Tardives

Bright yellow. Pure, granite-influenced aromas of quince, ginger and smoked meat; quite clean for 2006. Plump and silky on entry, then rich, broad and powerful in the middle, with some alcoholic warmth currently giving the back end a slightly harsh quality. Needs time.

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2005 Domaine Charles Koehly et Fils Pinot Gris Altenberg de Bergheim Vendanges Tardives

Bright orange-tinged yellow. Exotic spices and herbs along with a whiff of white raisin on the nose. Superrich but not particularly fruity, with an eau de vie-like flavor of marzipan liqueur. Powerful, spicy wine but a bit dry-edged. Koehly says this is still way too young but I wonder about its ultimate balance. (The '01 version of this wine was honeyed and exotic but quite pleasing and vibrant, while a 2002 Altenbourg SGN showed supersweet fruit and edgy acidity that were still at war with each other, and finished with limited complexity and a resiny note. The '06 SGN was wild and fascinating, full of life yet a bit rustic in its finishing flavors.)

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2007 Hugel et Fils Pinot Gris Tradition

($27) Pale color. Sexy aromas of peach, honey, flowers, butter and fresh herbs. Sweetly spicy in the mouth, with lovely ripe acidity giving firmness to the rather creamy mid-palate. This makes the '06 version seem dry-edged in comparison. This wine's 4.5 grams of residual sugar are masked by lively acids.

2007 Josmeyer Pinot Gris Fromenteau

(13.8% alcohol, with 9 grams of r.s.) Musky aromas of quinine, mint and earth. Fairly dense on the palate, with a rather laid-back quality to the lemon and smoke flavors. A bit sweet and rich for a Josmeyer pinot gris, in need of some more definition.

2007 Josmeyer Gewurztraminer Les Archenets

Pale, bright yellow. Lemon, pineapple, rose petal and spices on the nose. A sweet (20 g/l r.s.), pure fruit bomb in the mouth, with creamy pineapple and stone fruit flavors complemented by soft brown spices and framed by ripe acidity. Finishes smooth and persistent. Serve this as an aperitif now or give it a couple years to absorb some of its sugar and then pair it with a curry.

2007 Domaine Schoffit Riesling Harth Tradition

($27) Pale yellow. Fruitier on the nose than the Graves, offering white peach and ginger. Then a bit broader and less austere in the mouth, but still with very good acid cut to the flavors of lemon and orange peel. Some unabsorbed CO2 suggests that this will calm down with 6 to 12 months of patience. Schoffit is now picking riesling earlier than previously "to maintain acidity and minerality" and this and the Graves bottlings are excellent examples of his new style.

2007 Domaine Schoffit Riesling Graves Vieilles Vignes

Pale, green-tinged color. Ginger and white pepper aromas suggest a very dry wine. Then quite dry in the mouth (actually 4.5 grams r.s.), with flavors of lemon, ginger, quinine and mint complemented by a delicate floral nuance. Lovely bracing, linear riesling with a dusty back end and a light touch. Very easy to drink.

2007 Hugel et Fils Muscat Tradition

($24) Bright, pale color. Subtle aromas of quinine, mint and lily of the valley. Ripe, fresh and aromatic, with good acid spine giving cut to the finish. Firmly structured for tradition; this will get mintier with a few years of bottle aging.

2006 Domaine Zind Humbrecht Pinot Gris Clos Windsbuhl

($75; from vines planted in the '60s and '70s) Full yellow. Honeyed exotic fruits on the expressive nose, along with a toasty nuance. Supersweet honey, apricot and spice flavors convey a lush, low-acid impression following the 2006 rieslings. But this surprisingly accessible wine finishes quite smooth. Following a very long fermentation, this finished with 45 grams of r.s., compared to just 8 for the riesling from the same vineyard.

2007 Domaine Paul Blanck Riesling Patergarten

Pure aromas of flowers and minerals, with hints of vanilla and spice. Juicy and tight, with very good acidity and cut to the citrus flavors. Finishes with noteworthy precision and length. This was fermented and aged in large casks.

2007 Remy Gresser Riesling Kritt

($26) Aromas of grapefruit, pineapple and stone, plus a slightly exotic whiff of fruit salad. Dense, supple and juicy, with a tactile quality. The wine's hint of sweetness is nicely balanced by a citric edge. Plenty of flavor here, but this pliant riesling needs a year or so to harmonize.

2007 Domaine Marcel Deiss Pinot Blanc Bergheim

($27; bottled the day before my visit) Pale, bright yellow. Precise aromas of grapefruit, pineapple, lemon and flowers. Juicy, minerally and quite dry, combining an enticing mid-palate creaminess with lovely cut and grip. The minerally finish leaves the salivary glands quivering. This is a blend of all five pinots, aged 50% in foudres and 50% in barriques 88

2006 Domaine Rene Mure/Clos St. Landelin Pinot Noir Clos Saint Landelin

($84; aged in 100% new oak) Moderately saturated medium red. Aromas of cherry, plum, roasted meat and sweet oak. Silky and suave in texture, with intriguing flavors of blueberry, dark cherry, graphite and meat. A solidly built and intriguing pinot, finishing with firm tannins and good juicy length. The aftertaste here is less dominated by oak than the "V," which was aged in only 50% new oak.

2007 Domaine Rene Mure/Clos St. Landelin Gewurztraminer Vorbourg Vendanges Tardives

Subdued aromas of apricot, candied rose petal, spearmint and clove; conveys a strong impression of crushed grapes. Fuller and more botrytis- influenced, with its alcoholic power currently dominating its floral perfume. Not terribly sweet, yet this comes across as a bit more heavy and roasted than the Zinnkoepfle VT. Finishes with a touch of dryness- but then this wine is in a low SO2 stage and will not be bottled until late winter.

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2007 Remy Gresser Gewurztraminer Kritt

($27) Pale straw-gold color. Lightly floral aromas of cinnamon, clove and lichee. Juicy and pure, with a restrained sweetness to the pliant floral and spice flavors. A tactile but smooth gewurztraminer with nicely integrated acidity and a light touch.

2007 Domaine Agathe Bursin Parad'Aux

(pinot Auxerrois) Bright, light yellow. Pure, scented nose offers ripe white peach, orange peel, flowers and spices. Almost shockingly dry in the mouth, with good cut and inner-palate perfume to its subtly intense fruit flavors. Lively integrated acids extend the floral, spicy aftertaste. This should make a very useful food wine.

2007 Domaine Marc Kreydenweiss La Fontaine aux Enfants

(from eight-year-old vines on decomposed granite and schist soil behind the Kastelberg, recently purchased by Kreydenweiss; 50% pinot blanc and 50% pinot Auxerrois) Bright straw-yellow. Musky, complex aromas of pear, peach syrup and smoke. Rich but dry, with a smoky, musky quality to the flavors of white fruits, spices, minerals and stone. Finishes quite dry and minerally. This was only lightly filtered because it's totally dry. 88

2007 Domaine Marc Kreydenweiss Riesling Clos Rebberg

Pale yellow. Aromatic nose combines lemon, crushed stone, mint and flowers. Juicy, intense and quite dry; in a lean style but impressively precise and harmonious already. Finishes rocky and firm, with lovely lingering perfume. Time in bottle will bring out the wine's inherent rocky minerality.

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2007 Domaine Kuentz-Bas Riesling Tradition

Pale, green-tinged color. White flowers, stone and a whiff of quinine on the rather shy nose. Dry but not hard, with good lemony cut to the crunchy citrus and mineral flavors. Bright acids leave the palate feeling refreshed. Very good basic dry riesling.

2007 Domaine Kuentz-Bas Pinot Gris Collection

Pale color. Smoky yellow fruits on the nose: very pinot gris. Fatter and more concentrated than the Tradition, with a slightly grilled quality but solid framing acidity to the apricot, spice and smoke flavors. A broad, large-scaled wine that comes across as a bit youthfully disjointed today; I'd give it a year or two for its 14.5% alcohol and ten grams of sugar to come into harmony. Finishes with a tactile dusty quality.

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2007 Domaine Kuentz-Bas Gewurztraminer Tradition

Pale, bright yellow. Highly aromatic nose combines lemon, cured meats and cinnamon oil. Uncompromisingly dry but not hard, with enticing spicy and floral perfume. Serious for normale, and a terrific food wine. Some clients don't like this very dry style of gewurztraminer, notes Tottoli, but it certainly has the courage of its convictions.

2007 Domaine Kuentz-Bas Gewurztraminer Collection

Pale, bright yellow. Reticent, high-pitched nose hints at white pepper, quinine and peppermint. Juicy and sharply delineated, with firm acids making this taste drier than its 20 grams of residual sugar. Densely packed in the middle, with subtle spice and floral components. With aeration, the youthfully bitter-edged finish showed lovely aromatic perfume. Needs a year or so to open.

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2007 Domaine Marc Kreydenweiss Pinot Gris Clos Rebberg (this fruit was harvested at the end of November, after the riesling, according to Kreydenweiss) Good bright yellow. Pungent aromas of peach, honey, coconut and spices. Broad and full, with flavors of crystallized citrus peel and spicy oak. This tastes much sweeter than its five grams of r.s. but that's the 14% alcohol talking. The grapes had withered, but the percentage of botrytis was not more than 15%, said Kreydenweiss. The wine's slightly tannic finish calls for food. Hard to figure.

88?

2006 Domaine Marc Kreydenweiss Pinot Gris Moenchberg

($105) Fairly pale color. Pineapple, menthol and a whiff of bandaid on the nose. Quite sweet in the mouth, with honey and spice notes currently dominating the wine's fruit. "There was plenty of rot here in 2006, both grey and noble," noted Kreydenweiss, who added that this fruit was picked with the same potential alcohol as in 2007 but that this wine finished with 20 grams of residual sugar. Finishes with a hint of dusty tannins. Could use more lift.

2007 Trimbach Pinot Gris Reserve

Rather spicy, austere nose suggest a pinot gris made by a riesling lover. Then supple in the mouth, with notes of orange and menthol, plus a suggestion of fruit syrup. Shows a slightly glyceral quality but solid buffering acidity. Ultimately round and silky, but finishes with very good focus and grip. Thanks to its 7.2 grams per liter of acidity, this tastes drier than its 7 g/l r.s. would suggest. "It's very difficult to make a dry pinot gris in Alsace," notes Trimbach, who then admitted "If I could make only riesling, I'd be happy."

2007 Josmeyer Pinot Les Lutins

(pure Auxerrois) Pale straw-yellow. Bright floral nose shows a leesy complexity. Suave in texture, with complex flavors of citrus fruits, white peach, spices and flowers, and a lovely touch of sweetness (actually seven grams). Very ripe for this bottling, with good body and energy. Here, too, the acidity is nicely integrated with the wine's fruit. From a selection massale on a steep limestone slope.

2007 Domaine Dirler-Cade Gewurztraminer

(14.7% alcohol, with 14 grams of sugar) Pale lemon-yellow color. Pungent, varietally accurate aromas of clove, cinnamon, rose petal and cured meats. Supple, lush and round, with the spicy cured meat character dominating the palate. Ripe acidity provides shape and extends the finish. From a crop level of just 25 hectoliters per hectare, according to Dirler.

2007 Trimbach Gewurztraminer Reserve

Yellow-straw color. High-pitched, perfumed aromas of lichee, cinnamon and cured meat. More delicate and less fat than the basic bottling, delivering more finesse but less obvious flavor impact in the early going. Still, this is juicy and classic gewurztraminer with a subtle minerality and a bit of finishing tannin. I suspect the mass market will like the regular bottling as much as this one.

2007 Domaine Leon Beyer Riesling Reserve

Good pale color. Cool aroma of dusty stone. Fresh and penetrating, with terrific cut and minerality to the flavors of lime, quinine and crushed stone. Finishes juicy and long. This needs a couple years of bottle aging. A sizable component from the grand cru Eichberg contributes structure.

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2006 Domaine Albert Mann Pinot Gris Cuvee Albert

($28) Pale straw-yellow color. Pear, mirabelle, flowers and smoke on the nose. Surprisingly silky and pure in the mouth, with a light touch in spite of lowish acidity. Soft but fresh pinot gris in an easy-drinking style. Just a touch of exotic fruits.

2007 Domaine Albert Mann Pinot Blanc

($16) Pale color. White peach and acacia flower on the pure nose. Juicy and just off-dry, with lovely cut and precision to the flavors of lemon, peach and white flowers. Not especially complex but utterly delicious.

2007 Domaine Albert Mann Auxerrois Vieilles Vignes

($19; just bottled) Pale color. White nectarine, licorice and flowers on the nose. Juicy and quite dry-in fact a bit tight after the bottling. This, too, boasts very good cut and intensity; good lift from calcaire actually gives this a drier impression than the pinot blanc despite the fact that it's lower in acidity (4.8 g/l, vs. 5.7) and higher in residual sugar (8.5 grams, vs. 6). I'd give this persistent wine 18 months or so to become more pliant.

88(+?) 2007 Domaine Albert Mann Pinot Gris Cuvee Albert

($29) Pale color. Soil-driven aromas of smoke, butter and pastry dough. Broad and sweet but with almost riesling-like acid grip and a saline element giving it a sappy quality. Finishes with a slight peppery quality. This needs to be served with food. "It's getting hard to make totally ripe pinot gris in Alsace without big sweetness," notes Barthelme. "But 2007 is a great year, finally, for dry, smoky, pure pinot gris."

2007 Domaine Paul Blanck Pinot Gris Patergarten

Pale, bright yellow. Subdued but pure aromas of peach, apricot pit and smoke. Ripe, moderately dense and off-dry, with good cut to the spice and fruit salad flavors. Saline and stony undertones leaven the wine's sweetness. No botrytis here, according to Blanck. Finishes dusty and firm.

2006 Domaine Paul Blanck Pinot Gris Wineck-Schlossberg

Subtle aromas of stone fruits and smoke. Broad, dense and a bit oily; sweet but not overly so. Offers expressive if somewhat full-blown flavors of honey and white truffle. Finishes with a slightly dusty, phenolic finish and good length. Reasonably well balanced but doesn't have the lift or structure for a higher score.

2007 Domaine Charles Koehly et Fils Pinot Gris Gloeckelberg Vendanges Tardives

Bright yellow. Peach, smoke and butter on the ripe nose. Supersweet and glyceral, with strong stone fruit flavors supported by underlying minerality. Finishes with very good length.

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2007 Domaine Meyer Fonne Riesling Vignoble de Katzenthal

Good pale yellow. Pure, subdued aromas of pineapple, stone and ginger; more complex than the Riesling Reserve. Then richer and sweeter in the mouth (actually just five grams of r.s.), with ripe peach and white nectarine flavors enlivened by penetrating but harmonious acids. Finishes juicy, dense and pristine, with lingering stone fruit flavors. Meyer told me this was a bit riper than he would have liked, but there's balance and spine here due to the wine's firm acidity.

2006 Domaine Marc Tempe Riesling Grafenreben

(in barriques awaiting bottling) Pale golden-yellow. Complex nose melds exotic fruits and flowers. Then fairly tight and fresh in the mouth, with a floral quality giving lift to the fruit and a saline element contributing to the wine's back-end grip. Finishes rather suave and gripping, not to mention fairly dry for a wine from this cellar. This should benefit from two or three years of bottle aging.

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2005 Domaine Marc Tempe Gewurztraminer Furstentum

(bottled in August) Bright medium yellow. Slightly roasted, resiny nose. Sweet, rich and fat with fruit, but on the heavy side and seemingly a bit advanced. Notes of superripe yellow fruits and marzipan. Recommended only for fans of this massive style. I don't find a lot of varietal character.

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2007 Domaine Meyer Fonne Pinot Gris Reserve

Good bright straw color. Bright, expressive aromas of flowers, spices, vanilla and flint. Dense and peachy, with just a hint of sweetness to the intense flavors of stone fruits, orange, smoke, spices and butter. Slightly phenolic and dry-edged on the back end, and still youthfully tight. There was very little botrytis here, noted Meyer, who aged half of this wine in a new foudre

2007 Domaine Meyer Fonne Gewurztraminer Reserve

(this includes fruit from vines Meyer is now renting in the Riquewihr area) Good pale yellow. Aromas of yellow plum and spices. A supersweet, ripe fruit bomb in the mouth, but with good precision to its creamy, spicy flavors despite an impression of lowish acidity. At once full and fresh, but showing limited complexity today. A tad edgy on the persistent finish. This was picked with potential alcohol of 16.3% and finished with about 40 grams of residual sugar.

2007 Domaine Marcel Deiss Pinot Gris

($36) Pale, bright yellow. Pure, reticent aromas of stone fruits, with some exotic hints. Broad, sweet and spicy but not yet complex; some rather sharp, cool acidity still needs a year or so to integrate with the wine's varietally accurate fruit. Deiss told me he picks his pinot gris on the early side to preserve acidity and to make an appetizing style of wine.

2007 Domaine Bott-Geyl Pinot Gris Les Elements Full medium yellow. Musky aromas of stone fruits, orange, smoke, butter and earth. Concentrated fruit is perfectly cut by bright acidity, giving this very young and slightly sweet (14 g/l r.s.) pinot gris a fairly dry impression. Bott notes that by the time this is released a year from now it will have digested a bit more of its sugar.

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2007 Domaine Zind Humbrecht Pinot Gris Heimbourg

(bottled without filtration) Pale straw. Subdued aromas of peach, lemon, honey and mint. Quite dry, even austere, with a penetrating quality to its dried fruit and spice flavors. A rather powerful and phenolic style. With alcohol of 14%, low acidity and r.s. just under two grams, this comes off as a bit topheavy today.

2007 Domaine Zind Humbrecht Pinot Gris Calcaire

(14.6% alcohol, 29 g/l r.s. and 3.4 acidity; from young vines in Clos Windsbuhl) Pure, subtle fruit salad aromas lifted by stone. Very sweet and ripe, with good life in the mouth considering its low acidity (this went through ML). A fat style with modest nuance.

2007 Josmeyer Riesling Le Kottabe

Pale, green-tinged yellow. Vibrant aromas of spearmint oil, lemon, fresh herbs and spices. Quite dry, bright and stony, with a crunchy fresh grape character thanks to firm but ripe acidity. Subtle riesling with very good length. Since 2000, Meyer has done two passes through the vines for riesling, one at the beginning of the harvest and one two or three weeks later. This wine represents a combination of the two, while the Pierrets is made entirely from the second trie

2007 Josmeyer Riesling Les Pierrets

("Lot 236," destined for the U.S. market) Pale yellow. Reticent nose hints at citrus peel. Quite dry, juicy and exuberant in the mouth, with intriguing flavors of lemon, quinine, minerals and ginger. Finishes dusty and persistent, with a vibrant note of lime blossom. (I tasted two other casks of this wine, which Meyer had kept separate because of their likely different aging curves; "236" was broader and deeper-pitched, with a lightly fusel quality, but the least integrated of the three, while "237" seemed to be a more Australian style of riesling, with soil-driven flavors of yellow fruits, smoke, honey and earth. I scored all three wines in a narrow range but they were quite different in style.)

88 2007 Domaine Ostertag Gewurztraminer Vignoble d'Epfig

Pale, green-tinged color. Rather delicate aromas of cured meats and spices. Quite sweet in the mouth-in fact almost shockingly so following so many dry wines. A real fruit bomb in a very ripe style, with good extract and spicy lift to the peach, nectarine and apricot flavors. Finishes with excellent length and a lovely light touch for a wine with a good 50 grams of residual sugar. "Serve this with baroque foods, not with modern dishes," Ostertag suggests, "like guinea fowl with cream sauce and honey."

2006 Domaine Ostertag Gewurztraminer Fronholz Selection de Grains Nobles

(10.7% alcohol, 125 g/l r.s. and 4.9 acidity) Surprisingly pale yellow for SGN. Aromas of mirabelle and cherry-almond; reminded me of plum wine. Rich but alcoholic in the mouth, with a bitterness that came as a shock following the wonderfully smooth 2007 SGN. Not a particularly glyceral style, and much less pure than the '07. I marked this down for a slightly advanced nutty note on the finish. Ostertag told me he made his 2007 SGNs from fruit selected at a leisurely pace, berry by berry, while in 2006 he picked whole clusters from sites affected by rot because it was essential to harvest quickly.

88?

Priced from: 31.69

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2007 Domaine Zind Humbrecht Riesling Herrenweg

(tasted from cask) Pale, cloudy yellow. Aromas of candied lemon peel and smoke. Slightly sweet but with lovely juicy cut to its fresh flavors of ripe peach, flowers and spices. Again, not complicated but varietally accurate, with an enticing sugar/acid balance.

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2007 Domaine Weinbach Sylvaner Reserve

($24) Pale, green-tinged color. Pretty floral nose shows a flinty hint of reduction. Dense and minerally, with good lift to the spice and floral flavors. Nicely balanced, dry sylvaner, but still with a touch of reduction.

2006 Domaine Weinbach Muscat Reserve

($50) Pale, green-tinged yellow. Pretty, scented aromas of honeysuckle, lime blossom and mint; smells like crushed grapes. Juicy, stylish, dry muscat with a lovely light touch. Nothing harsh about it. 88

Priced from: 36.99

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2007 Domaine Weinbach Pinot Blanc Reserve

($29) Good medium yellow. Subdued but pure aromas of peach, orange and butter. Silky and fresh; suaver and finer-grained than the 2006 version. This mounts nicely on the back half, showing an enticing hint of sweetness (actually just three grams per liter of residual sugar) to the peach and spice flavors. A classic basic pinot blanc bottling with a lingering finish.

2007 Remy Gresser Pinot Gris "W"

($48; young vines from the grand cru Weibelsberg) Palish yellow. Sexy aromas of fruit salad, smoke, earth, butter and spices. Sweet, fat and generous, with just enough acidity and limestone lift to frame its fruit. Not complex but satisfying, thanks an enticing sugar/acid balance.

2006 Domaine Barmes-Buecher Riesling Steingrubler

Bright, pale yellow. Riper, more exotic aromas of pineapple and soft citrus fruits. Broad, spicy and fairly dry, with a creamy impression and good but not outstanding depth. Good minerality gives firmness to the finish. A very clean wine but I found myself wishing for a bit more flavor.

2006 Domaine Paul Blanck Riesling Furstentum

Pale yellow. Began with rather exotic, gewurztraminer-like aromas of smoke, truffle, earth and coconut, then showed more vibrant lemon and rose petal nuances with aeration. In a sweet, easygoing, rather honeyed style, with an open-knit texture. The lightly dusty finish hints at licorice and lichee.

2006 Domaine Paul Blanck Riesling Sommerberg

Good pale yellow. Hints of nuts, truffle and coconut on the nose. In a rich, broad, sweet style, with good stuffing to its fat tropical fruit flavors. Plenty of botrytis here as well. An easygoing riesling with good density for the year.

88 2006 Domaine Albert Boxler Riesling Reserve

($35) Full straw-yellow. Cool aromas of lemon, lime blossom and mint. Denser and sweeter (15 g/l r.s.) than the basic riesling, with somewhat more exotic, eau de vie-like flavors of mirabelle, pineapple, minerals and flowers. This comes mostly from young Sommerberg vines picked later than the riesling used to make the grand cru bottlings.

2006 Domaine Dirler-Cade Tokay-Pinot Gris Kessler

Pure yellow-gold color. Yellow fruits and hints of toast and earth on the rather syrupy, slightly muted nose. Silky on entry, then exotic but shapely in the middle palate, with honey, orange and dried apricot flavors nicely framed by balancing acidity. Finishes a bit dry, in need of more vibrancy.

2006 Domaine Dirler-Cade Riesling Bollenberg

Peach and orange aromas lifted by a sexy floral topnote. Sweeter (about 10 grams r.s.) and richer than the basic riesling, with fruit-driven flavors of orange, peach and melon. Harmonious acidity extends the finish of this very fruity, almost exotic riesling.

2006 Domaine Dirler-Cade Riesling Spiegel

Pale, bright yellow. Canned fruit salad on the nose. Then tighter in the mouth than the Belzbrunnen examples, with good cut but a faint hard edge to the lemon and lime flavors. Quite tightly wound today despite possessing good depth. Finishes with a tannic impression and an element of fresh herbs. (The Dirlers did not make a Riesling Saering in '06-or a muscat or gewurztraminer either-as they picked too late and had "pourriture orange, and too much of a mushroom taste," according to Jean-Pierre.)

2006 Domaine Meyer Fonne Riesling Wineck-Schlossberg

($38; from 20-, 30- and 50-year-old vines; the young vines in this grand cru went into the Katzenthal bottling in '06) Bright yellow. Intriguing nose melds orange, nectarine, smoke and flint. Denser and sweeter than the Vignoble de Katzenthal, with a silkier texture and an exotic spice element. Quite creamy and fat in the middle, no doubt due to an element of noble rot ("the grapes turned violet in just three or four days," noted Meyer). Finishes rich and long but with a firm edge.

88 2006 Josmeyer Tokay-Pinot Gris Brand

($95) Bright yellow-straw. Less pure than the '07 Hengst on the nose, offering honey and spices along with resiny and earthy nuances. Broad, spicy and quite dry (just three grams r.s.!), conveying more honey and spice than primary fruits. Finishes a bit warm. I would drink this one on the young side.

2006 Domaine Bott-Geyl Riesling Schoenenbourg

($50) Yellow-gold. Subdued nose hints at musky peach. Off-dry in style, with good intensity to the peach and apricot flavors and a firming touch of minerality that gives decent grip to the finish. Bott told me he had to pick this fruit quickly. Probably best suited as an aperitif or with cheese at the end of a meal.

2006 Hugel et Fils Riesling

($24) Pale, bright yellow. Pineapple, crushed stone and a whiff of exotic flowers on the nose, along with a fusel nuance. Then juicy and lively in the mouth, with good intensity to the pineapple and stone flavors. This wine included fully 95% of the house's riesling fruit in '06, including a good bit of Schoenenbourg, which has contributed minerality and depth.

Priced from: 16.99

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2006 Domaine Barmes-Buecher Gewurztraminer Rosenberg

Pale yellow-gold. Aromatic nose combines clove, minerals and flowers. Rich and spicy, with good stuffing to the yellow fruit and white pepper flavors. More about finesse than structure. Finishes drier and more edgy than its 18 grams r.s. would suggest.

2006 Domaine Leon Beyer Gewurztraminer Reserve

(this is Beyer's top dry gewurztraminer cuvee from 2006, which means it includes declassified fruit from the grand crus Eichberg and Pfersigberg) Straw-gold. Exotic yellow fruits and a touch of honeyed botrytis on the nose. Fat, sweet and powerful; a very large-scaled and ripe gewurztraminer that tastes sweeter than its four grams of residual sugar would suggest. The broad, honeyed finish offers good length. Lacks nobility but would make a nice match for a curry.

88 2006 Domaine Paul Blanck Gewurztraminer Altenbourg

Bright, pale yellow. Subtle nose hints at lemon and rose. Pure, plump and stylish, with an attractive restraint to the lemon and spice flavors. Not at all an overly perfumed example of the variety. Ripe acids give the wine shape and life.

2006 Domaine Dirler-Cade Muscat Spiegel

Subtle musky nose shows some earthy low tones. Then nicely delineated and fairly deep, with lemon-lime, floral and spice flavors; with air this showed softer citrus fruits. Finishes with good length and grip. Purer and more serious than the basic muscat that preceded it. This would be a perfect match for basil and tomato on toast or a soft chevre with chives, but I'd give it a year or two in the bottle first.

2006 Domaine Meyer Fonne Gewurztraminer Kaefferkopf

($40) Expansive nose offers mirabelle, pineapple, flowers and a hint of bitter quinine. Broad, pliant and rich, with sweet pineapple, clove and earth flavors of decent purity. Finishes fat and persistent, with a mineral firmness and a slight hard edge. Richer than the '06 riesling from this site (this is carrying 45 grams of residual sugar) but less pure. Am I underrating this?

2006 Domaine Bott-Geyl Gewurztraminer Furstentum

($50) Bright yellow. Discreet aromas of brown spices. Suave and perfumed, with good definition and finesse to the floral and spice flavors. Ripe but not at all overripe-and not a meaty style of gewurztraminer. With its back-end lift and relatively low 15 grams of residual sugar, this should make a flexible food wine.

2006 Hugel et Fils Gewurztraminer Jubilee

($53) Good bright yellow. Open nose offers exotic pineapple and a lightly roasted character; I might have picked this as a riesling affected by botrytis. Sweet, broad and full; less complex than usual for this bottling but clean and concentrated. Finishes with a lightly bitter edge.

2006 Domaine Marcel Deiss Schoffweg

($67) Pale, bright straw. Liqueur-like aromas of candied apple and coffee, with a hint of incipient oxidation. Supple in the mouth but not fruity, with a dominant flavor of brown spices. Deiss maintains that this is reduced but I find it a bit advanced for its age. Finishes with good length but a dry edge.

88?

2006 Trimbach Gewurztraminer

(the only Trimbach gewurztraminer from this vintage) Medium gold- tinged yellow. Varietally pure and expressive aromas of spice and lichee. Spicy and dry, with decent density and no shortage of flavor intensity. Finishes with good spicy persistence. I preferred this for its flavor intensity to the Pinot Gris Reserve, which is an admirable effort for the year but finishes with a slightly dry edge.

2006 Domaine Weinbach Gewurztraminer Cuvee Laurence

($70) Enticing, clean aromas of yellow fruits, smoke and spices. Sweet, supple and rich; not especially complex but suaver than the Theo, with flavors of yellow fruits, honey and wildflowers. Finishes fairly firm but not dry.

2006 Domaine Zind Humbrecht Gewurztraminer Rangen Clos St. Urbain Vendange Tardive

($140; 16% alcohol with 38 g/l r.s.) Full orange color; looks like a pinot gris SGN! Idiosyncratic, extreme aromas of toffee, roasted coffee bean, porcini and earth; smells a bit like Tokaj. Extravagantly ripe, high-toned flavors of smoke, mushroom, toffee and coffee, plus a note of plum liqueur. Powerful more than sweet, with the wine's surprisingly firm acidity and salty minerality not yet in harmony with its fruit flavors. In fact, where is the fruit? Finishes long and warm, with notes of marzipan and walnut. An oddball-and not for the faint of heart.

88?

2006 Domaine Zind Humbrecht Gewurztraminer Heimbourg

($72; this finished fermenting at the end of August 2008 and had just been racked; 14.8% alcohol with 6 g/l r.s.) Aromas of medicinal herbs, lemon grass and mint. Glyceral but fairly dry, with a firm structure and no shortage of acidity. Highly aromatic throughout, with an exotic floral quality adding appeal. Humbrecht notes that most of his 2006 gewurztraminers finished with between 5 and 12 grams of residual sugar-in other words, drier than the driest 2007s.

88-89

2007 Domaine Agathe Bursin Pinot Gris Pale bright yellow. Subtle nose hints at honey, minerals, flowers and stone. Juicy and off-dry, with spice and subtle peach fruit showing moderate depth and complexity. Lovely balance and freshness makes this very easy to drink.

2007 Domaine Charles Koehly et Fils Pinot Blanc

(100% true pinot blanc; Koehly had just bottled a portion of this cuvee) Pale lemon-yellow. Brisk aromas of lemon-lime, quinine and mint. Penetrating and bone-dry, with mineral-driven flavors of citrus peel, quinine and crushed stone. This is positively riesling-like. The long, saline finish tickles the taste buds. This would be great with grilled fish or smoked salmon. "The Alsatians don't understand pinot blanc," offered Koehly, implying that it can be serious wine indeed.

88(+?)

2006 Domaine Schoffit Muscat Cuvee Tradition

Pale green-tinged yellow. Aromatic nose combines lime oil and spearmint. Juicy, spicy and dry, with lovely cut to the flavors of lime, spices and fresh herbs. Finishes firm, clean and persistent. This would make a nice aperitif. Twelve grams of residual sugar are nicely balanced by 7.7 grams of acidity.

2007 Domaine Barmes-Buecher Sylvaner Rosenberg Vieilles Vignes

Bright, pale yellow. Lime, candied lemon, hazelnut and a hint of minerals on the nose. Broad, supple and just off-dry (actually just three grams of r.s.), with lovely fruit and an almost glyceral texture that may have something to do with the fact that this wine went through malolactic fermentation. Barmes considers sylvaner to be a vegetal variety, so he does a natural oxygenation in demi-muid to minimize this character. There's nothing remotely vegetal about this minerally style of sylvaner, which tickles the retronasal passage on the persistent finish.

2007 Domaine Schoffit Muscat Cuvee Tradition

(most of Schoffit's 2007s went through malolactic fermentation, but not this one) Pale yellow. White flowers, lime and a whiff of cassis bud on the nose. Lively and high-pitched in the mouth, with perfumed notes of pepper and spearmint lifted by racy acidity. A slightly off-dry muscat (9 g/l r.s.) with lovely length and grip, and a light touch.

2007 Domaine Barmes-Buecher Pinot Gris Pfleck (tasted from cuve Medium yellow. Rather powerful aromas of musky lemon and mandarin orange complicated by hazelnut (but this was done entirely in stainless steel). Rich, fat and rather powerful, showing more alcohol today (about 14%) than acidity. Offers some exotic citrus flavors but I find this a bit unwieldy at present, even austere in the context of this cuvee Is it too dry (at nine grams r.s.) for its alcohol? (Barmes will not offer a pinot gris Herrenweg as this juice went into his Cremant in '07.)

88-89

2006 Josmeyer Pinot Gris Fromenteau

($38) Good pale lemon-yellow. Lemon, orange peel, spices and a hint of earth on the nose; nicely high-pitched for 2006 pinot gris. Dense, spicy and pure, with good floral lift and extract. Not particularly complex but clean and nicely balanced. This includes the Hengst juice in 2006.

2005 Domaine Charles Koehly et Fils Riesling Altenberg de Bergheim

Pale yellow. Pure aromas of pineapple and crushed rocks, with a fusel nuance. Fat and plush on entry, then surprisingly dry in the middle, with a slightly bitter edge to the flavors of pineapple, crushed stone and mint. Finishes with very good length and grip. This still needs time.

88(+?)?

2006 Domaine Schoffit Gewurztraminer Harth Cuvee Caroline

($28) Bright greenish-yellow. Perfumed aromas of lime blossom and spices, plus a whiff of honey. Rich, fat and sweet (36 g/l r.s.) but with ripe acids giving shape to the spicy, fruit-driven flavors. Not complex but finishes clean and persistent. Would make a good companion to curry dishes.

2007 Domaine Dirler-Cade Pinot Cuvee Vieilles Vignes

(100% pinot blanc) Ripe, fruit-driven aromas of peach and lemon. More taut and delineated than the Pinot Reserve, with juicy acidity keeping the lively flavors under wraps today. Finishes with very good cut and length. I'd hold this for a year.

2007 Domaine Dirler-Cade Sylvaner Cuvee Vieilles Vignes

Aromas of lemon, lime, spices, mint and licorice. Dense and plush for sylvaner but bone-dry (just one gram of r.s.!). Serious and rather powerful wine, with strong material and good length. An exceptionally good sylvaner, from vines picked over a period of six weeks. This is 13.7% alcohol, without chaptalization.

2007 Domaine Bott-Geyl Riesling Burgreben

($25) Medium yellow. Zesty lime pith and oil aromas complicated by a whiff of exotic fruits. Suave on entry, then fruity and fresh, with a light touch to its white peach, citrus and floral flavors. A rather delicate style, but finishes firm and persistent. Slightly sweet.

88-89

2007 Domaine Bott-Geyl Riesling Kronenbourg

($30) Good pale color. Orange blossom and crystallized orange peel on the nose. Quite pure and bright on the palate, with mineral and spice notes perking up the peach and orange fruit flavors. At once dense and delicate. This has a structure similar to that of the Burgreben but comes across as drier today. Bott feels this is his "most complex lieu-dit in 2007, the closest in quality to the grand crus."

88-89

2006 Domaine Dirler-Cade Riesling Belzbrunnen Fontaine des Amoureux

(a VT-style wine made from 80% botrytis grapes on vines in their third leaf) Sexy aromas of orange, honey and spices. Very sweet (42 g/l r.s.) and concentrated, with lovely intensity and cut to the fruit-driven flavors of peach and apricot. A big, broad fruit bomb with slightly lower acidity than the regular Belzbrunnen and a youthfully aggressive finish.

2007 Domaine Albert Boxler Pinot Blanc

(this and the following 2007s were bottled about a week prior to my visit) Pale yellow. Sappy, vibrant aromas of lemon, lime, chlorophyll and crushed stone; quite complex for pinot blanc. Then dense and dry, with considerable finesse and floral lift. Brisk acids give this terrific juicy appeal.

2007 Domaine Albert Boxler Sylvaner

Pale straw. Discreet nose hints at citrus fruits, mint and stone. Juicy and fruity, with lovely intensity and cut and lovely lime blossom lift. Excellent for sylvaner: try this with choucroute, or with trout done with almonds.

2006 Domaine Kuentz-Bas Riesling Collection Pale, bright yellow. Lower-pitched on the nose than the '07 version, offering exotic orange zest and a floral element. Sweeter and suppler, with a more open-knit texture and a flavor dominated by orange. Has the same 13.5% alcohol as the '07 but conveys more volume and breadth, possibly because it's much less influenced by oak than the new vintage, which Tottoli told me was vinified in an old foudre that had recently been scraped. (Shaving years of tartrate deposits off the inside surfaces of a cask is one way winemakers renew their old barrels.).

2006 Domaine Dirler-Cade Tokay-Pinot Gris Schimberg

Pale yellow-gold. Musky peach, spices and smoke on the fairly clean nose. Supple, sweet and fat with orange and peach flavor. A broad, easy-drinking wine with a slightly dusty finish. This well-drained high- altitude site flowers late and was picked late, noted Boxler, with very little botrytis.

2006 Domaine Ostertag Riesling Muenchberg

($69) Pale, bright yellow. More exotic on the nose than the '07, with suggestions of orange, pineapple and honey. Then broad, fat and full, with strong smoky, nutty and spicy soil tones dominating the fruit. A very powerful style of riesling with a thickness that suggests elevated alcohol. Has a lot in common with the 2006 pinot gris from the same grand cru, but today the A360P is more opulent and accessible.

88(+?)

2006 Domaine Schoffit Riesling Rangen Clos Saint Theobald Vendange Tardive

(14.5% alcohol, 58 g/l r.s. and 9.8 grams acidity) Gold with a green tinge. Cleaner and more subdued on the nose than the regular Rangen; not giving up much today. Very sweet and honeyed, but with a distinctly smoother, rounder texture than the regular Rangen due to better integration of acidity. Still, this is very good at best as it seems to be in a no-man's land, showing limited site or varietal character.

2006 Domaine Schoffit Riesling Sommerberg

Pale, green-tinged yellow. Complex aromas of flowers, lime, fresh hay, stone and caraway seed. Floral, delicate and dry, with a youthfully stony quality, good purity for the vintage and modest flesh. Not yet demonstrating much personality but has the juicy acidity and structure to age.

88(+?) 2006 Trimbach Riesling Reserve

Pale, bright yellow. Pineapple, grapefruit and crushed stone on the nose. Juicy and aromatic in the mouth, with noteworthy energy to its clean flavors of underripe pineapple and stone. A very good food wine with a light touch. Finishes stony and classic, with good length.

Priced from: 21.99

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2006 Domaine Weinbach Riesling Cuvee Theo

($46) Pale, bright yellow. Delicate aromas of flowers, stone and oyster shell. Not as pristine as Faller's 2007 rieslings but offers very good cut to its lemon and stone flavors. The persistent finish features good verve. Tastes drier than its 7 g/l r.s. would suggest.

Priced from: 46.99

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2006 Domaine Weinbach Riesling Schlossberg

($55; from vines at the top of the hill) Aromas of spices, earth, hay and quinine, plus a sweet whiff of marzipan. Fairly sweet and glyceral, with good underlying minerality and more herbs and mint than primary fruit showing today. Conveys an impression of riper grapes than the Cuvee Theo but lower acidity.

Priced from: 43.99

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2006 Domaine Zind Humbrecht Riesling Herrenweg

($52; Lot 144; 8.4 g/l r.s.) Bright yellow. Intriguing aromas of minerals, herbal tea and underripe pineapple. Juicy and bright, with lovely intensity and lift. Good firm, classic riesling but with a creamy quality in the middle. Less fruity than the 2007 version but I like the wine's cut and chewiness.

Priced from: 35.95

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2006 Domaine Zind Humbrecht Riesling Clos Hauserer ($68; 13% alcohol, 15 g/l r.s.) Stony lemon and mandarin orange aromas, with hints of musky exotic fruits. Fat and sweet but with less precision today than the Heimbourg. The mid-palate flavors of honey and flowers are brightened and tightened on the end by racy lemony acidity.

88(+?)

Priced from: 61.59

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2006 Domaine Zind Humbrecht Riesling Clos Windsbuhl

($90; just 12.5% alcohol, with 8 g/l r.s.; as in 2007, this was the last vineyard harvested, and the one with the least botrytis influence, according to Humbrecht) Bright lemon-yellow. Smoky lees, lemon and crushed stone on the nose. Quite dry and penetrating, even a bit youthfully screechy, with austere lemon and mineral notes not quite in harmony with more advanced suggestions of nuts and baked bread. This fermented for a full year before being racked and was in a very reductive state for much of that time. A difficult if intriguing wine that needs time in bottle.

88(+?)

Priced from: 64.99

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2006 Domaine Zind Humbrecht Muscat Goldert

($63) Fairly pale yellow with green highlights. Limey fruit with a slightly syrupy noble rot character and almost riesling-like citrussy acidity. Finishes quite dry, even youthfully hard-edged, with very good cut and lingering mineral character. Humbrecht describes this as an extreme vintage for this wine due to very small yields. This should repay some cellaring.

87(+?)

Priced from: 33.39

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2006 Domaine Albert Mann Gewurztraminer

($24; includes most of the Furstentum fruit in 2006) Pale yellow. Perfumed aromas of lichee, spices and flowers. Fat, rich, sweet and soft, with varietally accurate flavors of yellow fruits and spices. Rich for this cuvee, and not quite as sweet on the back end as the 24 g/l r.s. would suggest.

87 2006 Domaine Marc Kreydenweiss Clos du Val d'Eleon

($36) Medium yellow. Complex aromas of smoky stone, baked bread and honey; a bit reductive. Silky on entry, then brisk and lemony in the middle palate; offers a round, chewy texture but comes across as quite dry (actually four grams of r.s.). The saline, earthy, broad finish is clean for the year and offers good lift. Antoine considers this to be one of the estate's most successful offerings in 2006.

2006 Domaine Weinbach Sylvaner Reserve

($27) Pale, green-tinged color. Floral, minty nose, with a hint of exotic fruits. Supple and fairly dense, with good floral intensity and framing acidity. Finishes with solid grip and length. Try this with oysters, or with charcuterie.

2006 Domaine Weinbach Gewurztraminer Cuvee Theo

($54) Bright yellow. Pungent, rot-ennobled aromas of orange, honey, smoke and earth. Less sweet in the mouth (24 g/l r.s.) than the nose suggests, offering flavors of mirabelle, smoke and menthol. A faint phenolic bitterness running through the wine gives the finish an edgy quality.

Priced from: 39.99

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2006 Domaine Marc Tempe Gewurztraminer Zellenberg

((tasted from cuve Cloudy appearance. Exotic aromas of pink grapefruit, orange peel, dried fruits and spices; a bit liqueur-like. Then impressively intense on the palate, with an exotic resiny quality and an eau de vie character to the dried fruit, spice and nutty flavors. A bit of an oddball) more concentrated and powerful than usual for this bottling but somewhat aggressive on the back end. Tempe notes that the wine has not yet been sulfured, and that the slightly oxidative apple and nut notes will disappear.

87-89?

2006 Domaine Barmes-Buecher Gewurztraminer Witzenheim Cuvee Maxime (500 ml)

Fairly pale straw-yellow. Exotic fruits, clove and hints of honey and truffle on the rather subdued nose. Sweet and chewy but one- dimensional, with a slightly aggressive character to the spicy fruit flavors. A faint dry edge cuts off the fruit today. Left behind spices and herbs in the empty glass. 87

2006 Domaine Charles Koehly et Fils Riesling Altenberg de Bergheim

Slightly reduced aromas of crushed stone and mint. Then almost shockingly dry and a bit hot in the mouth, with a slightly bitter quality that belies the wine's 35 grams of residual sugar. Quite disjointed today.

87(+?)?

2007 Domaine Barmes-Buecher Riesling Tradition

Bright yellow. The aromas of grapefruit and pineapple show a leesy complexity. Juicy, crunchy flavor of white peach. Nicely chewy, vibrant riesling with good acidity and length. Barmes described this as a pleasant, immediately riesling "in which terroir is less important."

2006 Domaine Dirler-Cade Pinot Gris Schwarzberg

Orange-gold color. Slightly syrupy aroma of orange liqueur. Very sweet and syrupy in the mouth, without the detail or relative finesse of the Schimberg. With its 79 grams of residual sugar and 9 grams of acidity, this is like a small-scaled SGN, but I find it distinctly unrefined.

87?

2007 Domaine Dirler-Cade Muscat

(mostly declassified Saering) Pale color. Lovely aromatic lift to the aromas of citrus peel, mint and tarragon. Juicy, brisk and light on its feet; in fact this is downright weightless. Highly perfumed wine with a touch of tannins on the end. Just 11.5% alcohol, as the Dirlers had to pick these vines early due to the arrival of bees.

2007 Domaine Dirler-Cade Pinot Reserve

Very pale color. Musky aromas of peach, orange, spices and hazelnut. A touch of sweetness (just four grams) is countered by firm acids, giving this rather broad wine very good cut and extending the finish. Should make a flexible dinner table wine.

2007 Domaine Dirler-Cade Edelzwicker Reserve

(features a good bit of muscat) Pale color. Very floral aromas of lime oil and fresh herbs. Dry and penetrating, with good texture, intense fruit and real length. Not at all thin. This could handle the dreaded wine-killer, asparagus. 87

2007 Domaine Schoffit Pinot Gris Tradition

($26; no malolactic fermentation) Pale yellow. Aromas of peach, lime, butter, smoke and earth. Supple and off-dry, with a slightly glyceral texture to the peach flavor. Finer-grained than the 2006 version, but still a bit youthfully disjointed, showing a firm edge of acidity and slightly elevated alcohol. This big boy needs time to knit.

87(+?)

2007 Domaine Bott-Geyl Les Pinots d'Alsace Metiss

($18) Musky aromas and flavors of ripe stone fruits, butter and smoke. Offers serious intensity for this level, with an exotic fruit aspect contributing to its early appeal. Good firm wine, owing to some unabsorbed CO2 and a nicely dry finish.

2007 Domaine Bott-Geyl Riesling Les Elements

($23; tasted from tank) Good pale color. Musky quinine, brown spices and minerals on the leesy nose (all of these unbottled rieslings had been on their original lees until a week prior to my visit). Juicy, pure and dry, with lovely cut to the citrus, flint and spice flavors. Finishes firm and persistent. Will make a very good entry-level wine.

87-88

2007 Domaine Albert Boxler Riesling

Pale, bright yellow. Pure aromas of lime, licorice and crushed stone. Juicy and quite dry, with a flavor of bitter lemon and a distinct citric edge on the finish. Not quite hard but uncompromising and very backward for basic riesling.

87(+?)

2007 Domaine Dirler-Cade Riesling

Bright, pale yellow. Pristine aromas of white peach, citrus fruits, ginger and crushed stone. Juicy, tight and dry; a rather penetrating basic riesling with noteworthy intensity. Should be a very useful food wine. "This is a vintage for aging," notes Dirler, who recommends that collectors hold his rieslings for two to five years.

87(+?)

2006 Domaine Marc Kreydenweiss Riesling Wiebelsberg

($105) Bright, pale yellow. Pungent crushed rock and a whiff of musky pineapple syrup on the nose. Fruit-driven flavors of lemon, pineapple and spice seem less complex than usual for this grand cru, in spite of sound framing acidity. There's something heavy about this, as well as a slight bitter edge on the back. One senses that the finesse of the site was compromised by botrytis in 2006. (The '07 was still fermenting its sugar at the time of my September visit.)

2006 Domaine Marc Kreydenweiss Riesling Clos Rebberg

($49) Pale yellow. Pungent aromas of pineapple, stone and earth-"like a German riesling, except for the fact that it did its malolactic fermentation," notes Antoine Kreydenweiss. Rich, classic and dry, with citrus and wet stone flavors complemented by a spicy nuance. Lower- pitched and less pristine than the suaver 2007, though, without that wine's floral perfume. (There's also an SGN from these vines, but this incredibly thick, high-acid elixir was still fermenting its massive load of grape sugar in September, and had reached just 4.5% alcohol.)

2006 Domaine Albert Boxler Pinot Gris Brand

Bright, pale yellow. Peach, spices, flowers and flinty minerality on the nose. Supple and sweet but a bit flat in the middle following the rieslings. This smooth pinot gris is all about fruit, but shows limited complexity and comes across as a bit sweet today.

2006 Domaine Albert Boxler Pinot Blanc Reserve

($35; 100% pinot blanc from Brand) Medium straw color. Purer, higher- pitched aromas than the basic pinot blanc, offering orange, peach and white flowers. Similar flavors in the mouth are perked up by sound balancing acidity and the mineral verve that comes from Brand. Hints at a concentration and light sweetness from some botrytis but comes across as clean for the year and more or less dry on the finish.

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2006 Domaine Schoffit Riesling Rangen Clos Saint Theobald

(14.4% alcohol with 50 g/l r.s.) Full gold color, almost like cognac. Smoky, exotic aromas of pineapple, honey and flint, plus a lightly fungal quality. Sweet honey and overripe fruit salad flavors are cut by piercing acidity (10.2 grams). Finishes with a suggestion of bitter botrytis and a repeating honeyed quality. Not my style.

87? 2006 Domaine Zind Humbrecht Riesling Gueberschwihr

($42) Slightly exotic aromas of spices, honey and dried fruits. Then dry but not austere in the mouth, with a firm spine of crushed rocks and a juicy, slightly bitter-edged aftertaste. Today the Turckheim is both more austere and more leesy.

2006 Domaine Zind Humbrecht Riesling Turckheim

($42) Good full yellow. Honey, spices and a whiff of reduction on the nose; showed pineapple with air. Good cut and structural underpinning to the mineral and dried fruit flavors. Still quite young and not an easy style today, with the stony minerality currently to the fore. Humbrecht notes that many of his '06s were bottled late and thus spent a long time on their lees. This wine was quite sweet for the first year, but then went from 30 grams r.s. to barely 4 during the harvest of 2007.

87(+?)

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2006 Domaine Marc Tempe Riesling Zellenberg

(bottled in August) Bright medium yellow. Reticent aromas of pineapple, minerals, wildflowers and caraway seed. A bit sweet on entry, then purer in the middle than the Zellenberg pinot blanc, with sneaky acidity giving the fruit more grip. This pliant riesling should give early pleasure. (The Riesling St. Hippolyte, in cuve awaiting bottling, showed high-pitched lemon and orange notes but also a slightly resiny quality. It came across as cleaner in the mouth but finished with a faint dry edge and seems a bit less vibrant than the Zellenberg. I rated it 86-87.)

2006 Domaine Barmes-Buecher Riesling Rosenberg

Good pale yellow. Lime, underripe pineapple and crushed stone on the minerally nose. Broad and dry, with juicy acidity giving a pungent quality to the fresh pineapple flavor. Not as saline as the '07 but vibrant and stony for the year.

2006 Hugel et Fils Muscat Tradition

($24) Subtle aromas of mint and flowers. Fresh and bright, with lovely inner-mouth lift to the lime blossom and mint flavors. Clean and lively for the vintage.

87 2007 Domaine Rene Mure/Clos St. Landelin Riesling Cote de Rouffach

Aromas of citrus peel, flowers, fresh herbs and menthol, complicated by brown spices. Moderately ripe and on the dry side, with intriguing fruit- driven flavors of pineapple, peach and lime oil. Fresh, firm riesling with a lingering, dry finish.

87-88

2005 Domaine Kuentz-Bas Riesling Vendange Tardive

Pale, bright yellow. Honey, resin and an earthy nuances on the nose, which lacks lift. Sweet on entry, then a tad bitter in the middle, with flavors of lime, earth and petrol. Finishes a tad dry. Lacks real distinction and doesn't quite come alive.

2007 Domaine Ernest Burn Pinot Gris

Good medium yellow. Oily yellow fruit aromas are complicated by flowers, spices and fresh herbs. Fat and dense, with a slightly exotic suggestion of overripe peach. Finishes long and fairly sweet, with repeating spice and exotic fruit notes. Less bitter-edged than the pinot blanc, and perhaps ultimately better-balanced.

87-89

2007 Josmeyer Gewurztraminer Les Folastries

Pale yellow. Rather elegant, complex aromas of cinnamon, clove, rose petal and cured meats. Suave on entry, then a bit high-toned in the middle, with good lift to the lemony flavor but a slightly spiky quality to the acids today. This is considerably more restrained and less filled in today than another cuvee of the same wine that's probably not destined for the U.S. market. Both are rather powerful wines, carrying 15+% alcohol.

87(+?)

2007 Domaine Paul Blanck Riesling

($26) Pale yellow. Subdued aromas of citrus fruits, stone and menthol. Juicy lemon and spice flavors offer good cut. The persistent finish shows solid spine. This really needs a year or so of patience.

2007 Domaine Leon Beyer Pinot Noir Reserve

($55) Moderately saturated pale red, a shade darker than the regular pinot bottling. Initially tight nose showed some cherry and menthol with aeration. Silky and suave in texture, but less fruity and expressive today than the normale The broad finish features dusty but fine-grained tannins. This needs time to harmonize in bottle. Neither of these pinots saw any oak.

87(+?)

2007 Domaine Marcel Deiss Gewurztraminer

($45) Bright, pale yellow. Smoked meat and brown spices on the nose; not a floral style of gewurztraminer. Broad but a bit youthfully closed, with clear varietal character to the cured meat and spice flavors. Not a complex wine but gives a drier impression than the pinot gris and is very easy to drink.

2007 Domaine Ostertag Les Vieilles Vignes de Sylvaner

($20) Pale, green-tinged color. Pretty aromas and flavors of pear, lime, mint and flowers. Brisk and energetic, with good cut and precision. Very pure on the aftertaste.

2007 Hugel et Fils Pinot Blanc Cuvee Les Amours

($18) Pure aromas of stone and citrus fruits and flowers. Then ripe and dense in the mouth, with very good lift to the apple and pear flavors. Strong, pure pinot blanc with a solid kernel of fruit nicely framed by lively acidity (half of the wine went through malolactic fermentation).

2007 Domaine Leon Beyer Pinot Gris

($20) Pale yellow-gold color. Explosive nose offers fresh soft citrus scents, toast and white truffle. Rich, dense, spicy and dry, with very good cut and freshness. For a basic pinot gris offering, this boasts noteworthy power, even a bit of youthful aggressiveness.

2007 Domaine Agathe Bursin L'A de B

(a blend of six white varieties) Pale yellow. Complex aromas of citrus fruit, flowers, spices, licorice, lichee and herbs. Supple, soft and rather broad, with suggestions of spices, rose petal and banana. Fairly plump but maintains a light touch. Finishes with good subtle length and grip.

2007 Domaine Marc Kreydenweiss Clos du Val d'Eleon

(a 70/30 blend of riesling and pinot gris) Bright, pale color. Subtle aromas of smoke and flowers. Juicy and quite dry, almost austere, with a flinty, stony quality contributing to the impression of grip and cut. Less complex today than the 2007 Clos Rebberg, with less fruit showing. This, too, will go stony with time in bottle.

2006 Domaine Marc Kreydenweiss Pinot Gris Clos Rebberg

($49) Bright yellow. Expressive if exotic aromas of apricot and honey. Plump and open-knit; shows less sheer dimension than the '07 version but offers sneaky palate-coating texture and a smooth, lingering, rather clean finish.

2007 Domaine Kuentz-Bas Riesling Collection

Very pale, bright yellow. Exotic pineapple and cinnamon spice on the nose; showing a rather obvious foudre influence today. Dry and penetrating in the mouth, with firm acidity giving the lemon and lime flavors a youthful austerity. I'm a bit put off by the spice component that runs straight through the wine and gives the finish a faintly bitter edge. Will the wood element be absorbed?

87(+?)?

2007 Domaine Kuentz-Bas Pinot Gris Tradition

Pale color. Musky, soil-inflected aromas of white peach, flowers, ginger and minerals. Juicy, spicy and intense, with good volume and cut. Not especially complex but silky and fairly broad. This is drier (under three g/l r.s., according to Tottoli) than in the old days for this bottling, but the malolactic fermentation has given the wine a roundness. Still needs six months or so in the bottle.

2007 Domaine Kuentz-Bas Pinot Gris Collection Rare

(still aging in stainless steel; 14.8% alcohol with about 35 grams of residual sugar) Slightly jammy, liqueur-like aromas of peach, pear, exotic flowers, minerals and crushed stone (this wine comes from "two terroirs with a tendency to go into surmaturite quickly," according to Tottoli). Very sweet in the mouth, with a tangy honeyed element and a rather exaggerated eau de vie quality. This big boy, which features barely 15% botrytized fruit according to Tottoli, is a bit hard to figure in its current form.

87-89?

2007 Domaine Kuentz-Bas Pinot Noir Collection

Pale red with a light rim. Polite aromas and flavors of red and black cherry and spices. Nicely concentrated and brisk, with a gently extracted impression and plenty of primary fruit showing. Finishes with fine tannins and a lingering smoky quality. Very easy to drink. (I preferred this bottling to the '05 Collection Rare, which was more saline and oaky, and a bit dry on the finish.)

2006 Domaine Albert Mann Pinot Noir Grand H

Good full, deep red. Aromas of black cherry and licorice, with a hint of reduction. Sweet, oaky black cherry and cassis flavors are complicated by game, cinnamon and smoky oak. Still a bit tight and dominated by its spine of tannins. This pinot, from vines averaging nearly 50 years of age, spent 15 months in barrel.

87(+?)

2006 Domaine Albert Mann Auxerrois Vieilles Vignes

($19; sealed with a screwcap) Pale color. Fresh, pure nose offers peach and flowers. Juicy, fresh and moderately dense, in a rather sweet style for Auxerrois at nine grams of residual sugar. Turns a bit dry and peppery on the end. Maurice Barthelme told me this fruit was picked extremely early, on September 14, before the first damaging rain storm on the 17th

2007 Domaine Leon Beyer Pinot Noir

($20) Pale red. Red cherry and strong spice character on the nose. Juicy, spicy and stylish, with fresh red fruit aromas complicated by a whiff of meat. Finishes with broad, dusty tannins and a lingering aromatic character.

2007 Josmeyer Riesling Le Dragon

Pale straw-yellow. More herbs and pepper than fruit on the nose today. Juicy and aromatic in the mouth, with good lemony lift. Fatter than the Kottabe but with a bit less cut and a couple grams more residual sugar. Finishes with a dusty, firm-edged quality.

2007 Domaine Marc Kreydenweiss Pinot Blanc Kritt

($39; a 50/50 blend of pinot blanc and pinot Auxerrois) Pale yellow. Subtle aromas of stone fruits, flowers and mint. Juicy and brisk, with lemon and stone fruit flavors complicated by a leesy quality. Still a bit hardened by the recent bottling but very good for this cuvee 87

2007 Domaine Kuentz-Bas Sylvaner Collection

Palish yellow. Lovely floral perfume on the nose. Juicy, spicy and pure, with a slightly bitter citrus peel note giving the floral flavor good lift and grip. Finishes fairly dry (actually five grams of r.s.), with noteworthy class. This one actually comes from 55-year-old estate vines, whereas the other Collection bottlings are from purchased fruit.

2007 Domaine Meyer Fonne Pinot Gris Dorfburg

($34) Pale straw-yellow. Reticent, pure, slightly raw aromas of yellow peach, pepper and ginger. Stony, peppery and moderately ripe, with good power and thrust but a distinctly herbal element. There's moderate residual sugar here, but the overall impression is of skins that could have been riper.

2007 Josmeyer Pinot Auxerrois/Pinot Noir

(Meyer was not sure yet how this blend would be labeled) Pale straw color. Lemon and lime on the nose, plus a slightly rustic crushed leaf note; one can smell the acidity here. Broad and ripe, with well- distributed acidity and solid supporting structure. Finishes with a flavor of underripe pineapple. An intriguing wine, a bit less classy than Meyer's 2007 Pinot Blanc but with more harmonious acidity. Meyer notes that the pinot noir component contributes stronger acidity but is also the source of the wine's rustic aspect.

2007 Hugel et Fils Gewurztraminer

($26) Bright, pale yellow. Pure, perfumed nose offers yellow fruits, flowers, smoked meat and a hint of banana: this couldn't be anything but gewurztraminer. Then supple, broad and just off-dry, with lovely freshness to its rich yellow fruit and spice flavors. A very good tradition bottling.

2007 Domaine Leon Beyer Riesling

($20) Pale, green-tinged yellow. Reticent nose hints at mint and crushed stone. Juicy, limey, firm and penetrating; a very dry, subtle wine with excellent cut. The finish dusts the palate with lime zest. Try this with tuna carpaccio.

87 2007 Trimbach Gewurztraminer

Good pale, bright yellow. Highly expressive aromas of cinnamon, nutmeg, lichee and cured meats. Round, ripe and pure, with generous, pliant fruit of noteworthy sweetness. Offers lovely varietal character and balancing acidity. Not especially complex or long, but finishes without phenolic bitterness, which is rare for a house's basic gewurztraminer. This is a major cash-flow item for Trimbach, as about 140,000 bottles were made.

2007 Domaine Leon Beyer Pinot Blanc

($15) Subtle, musky aromas of peach, apple and stone. The almost chardonnay-like stone fruit flavors are nicely framed by ripe acids. A very fresh, leaner version of pinot blanc with a clean finish. I'd wait a year on this one. Obviously from grapes picked early.

2007 Domaine Kuentz-Bas Auxerrois Collection

(this fruit went into the pinot blanc bottling until 2004) Pale yellow. Smoky, slightly reduced nose of exotic fruits, with a faint grilled aspect. Fat, broad and moderately sweet, with subtle hints of honey, apricot and aromatic herbs. Not a particularly fruity style. Finishes broad, dry and rather powerful, with a slight warmth.

2007 Domaine Albert Mann Senteurs des Vignes

(the estate's Gentil equivalent) Pale straw color. Expressive aromas of yellow fruits, lichee and spices, with hints of violet and lily of the valley. Juicy, fruity and fresh, with citrus and flower blossom notes. A nicely sappy style for enjoying next summer.

2006 Domaine Bott-Geyl Riesling Les Elements Bottrytis L'Exception

Bright, pale yellow-gold. Aromatic nose combines pineapple, ripe peach, honey and caraway seed. Very sweet fruit salad flavors show an almost glyceral texture and very good intensity. This fruit was harvested early, with potential alcohol around 15.5%, according to Bott; it finished with about 25 g/l r.s.

2007 Domaine Paul Blanck Pinot Auxerrois Vieilles Vignes

($27) Pale yellow. Aromas of fresh hay and acacia flower. Fat, slightly sweet flavors of peach and pear are framed by harmonious ripe acidity. A plump, easygoing wine-and a very good vintage for this bottling owing to its healthy acidity.

2007 Domaine Ostertag Pinot Blanc Barriques

Pale yellow. Aromas of mirabelle, pear and spices, plus a high-toned suggestion of eau de vie Juicy, leanish and subtle; quite dry but not hard, perhaps rounded a bit by the malolactic fermentation. A bit of new oak here does not overwhelm the wine's fruit.

2007 Domaine Ostertag Pinot Gris Barriques

Pale yellow. High-toned spices and mirabelle on the nose. Intensely flavored but uncompromisingly dry, with penetrating lemony cut. The slightly high-toned character repeats on the finish. This needs food. Today I'm finding the new oak component in some of Ostertag's pinots to be a bit overbearing.

2007 Domaine Meyer Fonne Riesling Pfoeller

($38) Pale yellow. Expressive citrus, spice, herb and pepper aromas, with a note of smoky, flinty reduction. Juicy but slightly bitter-edged fruit is currently dominated by strong citrussy acidity, giving this recently bottled wine (all of Meyer's wines were bottled about three weeks before my visit) an extremely dry, strict quality. Almost brutal today. This fruit appears to have been harvested quite early.

87(+?)?

2007 Domaine Meyer Fonne Muscat Vignoble de Katzenthal

Good pale color. Fresh, perfumed aromas of spring flowers, lime and peppermint oil. Juicy and dry, with excellent cut and a light touch. A delicate but concentrated and penetrating wine that really needs a year in bottle to express itself. Production was tiny due to hail.

2007 Domaine Meyer Fonne Sylvaner "F" Vieilles Vignes

(from Furstentum) Bright straw color. Complex aromas of flowers, herbs, lemon and hazelnut. Quite dry, almost austere, with a penetrating quality to the flavors of white fruits, lemon, lime, flowers, spices and licorice. Finishes dry and a bit edgy, with a riesling-like peppery quality that remains this side of vegetal.

87 2007 Domaine Schoffit Pinot Blanc Auxerrois Vieilles Vignes Graves

(($21; this has a slightly higher percentage of true pinot blanc than the Pinot Blanc Auxerrois bottling not labeled Graves, not to mention a completely different balance) 13.2% alcohol, 3 g/l r.s. and 5.4 acidity, vs. 12% alcohol, 12 g/l r.s. and 5 acidity): Bright, pale, green-tinged color. Laid-back aromas of lime, mint and white flowers. Juicy, spicy flavors of lemon, lime and minerals; quite dry but not austere thanks to its good density. Finishes brisk and sappy.

2006 Domaine Marc Tempe Pinot Gris Zellenberg

(bottled the week before my visit) Full yellow-gold. Expressive aromas of orange and honey, plus a hint of underbrush and a whiff of SO2 Sweet, ripe and fairly fat, with decent acidity but limited definition and grip. A round pinot gris with a slightly dusty finish. A good effort for the year but could use more complexity.

2007 Domaine Bott-Geyl Gewurztraminer Les Elements

($29) Complex, oily aromas of mirabelle and spices; a bit liqueur-like. Then opulent, silky and aromatic in the mouth, with distinctly primary flavors of fresh stone fruits, spices and minerals given shape by harmonious acidity. Very nicely concentrated for a wine at this level of the hierarchy. This is carrying about 20 grams of r.s., which Bott describes as fairly dry for this bottling.

87-88

2007 Domaine Ernest Burn Riesling

Bright, pale yellow. Expressive aromas of crystallized lemon, orange, stone and fresh herbs. Juicy and fresh, with good intensity, a suggestion of banana and a touch of sweetness. Finishes fairly dry.

2007 Domaine Ernest Burn Pinot Blanc

Bright, pale yellow. Good lift and smoky complexity to the aromas of lemon, peach, orange, flowers and spices; this smells concentrated. Then broad, spicy and serious if a bit warm, with good volume and length. Finishes just off-dry and a bit edgy. The wine's 13.5% alcohol nicely buffers its 12 grams of residual sugar.

87-88

2007 Domaine Zind Humbrecht Pinot d'Alsace

(mostly Auxerrois) Pale color. Excellent lift to the aromas of orange, lemon and smoke. Dry and firm, with bright acidity framing the citrus and white peach flavors. Spicy, lingering finish. This really should be held until next summer.

2007 Domaine Zind Humbrecht Zind

(two-thirds chardonnay and one-third Auxerrois; still in cask) Bright yellow. Musky aromas of lemon and chalk. Sweet, fruit-driven yellow fruit flavors are at once round and bright, with good spicy lift and a coolness from the calcaire-rich soil of Clos Windsbuhl. A superb example of this cuvee

87-88

2007 Domaine Ostertag Riesling Vignoble d'Epfig

Pale yellow. Bright aromas of lime and quince; these wines came as a relief following the succession of barrique-aged pinots here. Juicy and dry but pliant, with aromatic herbs and spices complicating the lemon and lime fruit. Finishes with a touch of dried fruits. Should make a flexible accompaniment to food.

2007 Domaine Ostertag Muscat Fronholz

Pale color. Pure, high-pitched aromas of flowers, spearmint oil and anise, with honey and lichee in the background. Quite dry and serious but supple, with a lively citrus character and an impression of brisk acidity in spite of the fact that this did its ML. Extremely backward for muscat, but long and perfumed on the aftertaste. "This is too dry for an aperitif," warns Ostertag, who advises pairing it with dishes based on vegetables, or with raw fish.

87+

2007 Domaine Zind Humbrecht Riesling Heimbourg

(racked) Very pure aromas of lemon-lime, peach and flowers; much fruitier than the Rangen. Sweet, silky and easygoing; less structured and complex but much more friendly today than the Rangen. Olivier notes that both of these wines come from sun-drenched sites, but Rangen is considerably cooler owing to its higher altitude.

87-89

2007 Trimbach Muscat Reserve

Pale color. Floral nose dominated by lime blossom. Juicy, pure flavors of citrus fruit and flowers deliver very good cut and intensity and come across as bone-dry. Muscat was the toughest grape to get ripe in 2007, noted Pierre Trimbach, adding that this cuvee was chaptalized a full degree and a half, to 12.4%.

2007 Trimbach Riesling

Pure, subdued aromas of citrus peel, flowers and menthol. Pure and intense for this basic-level riesling, with good grip to the very dry flavors of white peach, lemon, flowers and minerals. (Come to think of it, the 2005 version was quite successful too, given that this wine is mostly from purchased grapes.) Finishes with good length and focus. This is 12.5% alcohol with a relatively elevated 7.9 grams of acidity, which Trimbach says is the highest of all his '07 bottlings except for the pinot gris SGN.

2007 Domaine Weinbach Riesling Reserve Personnelle

($32) Pale, green-tinged color. Delicate, reticent nose hints at chlorophyll, smoke and stone. Ripe and sweet but lacking a spark today. Offers good clarity but finishes a bit narrow. Just a tad ahead of the '06 in quality.

2006 Remy Gresser Riesling Duttenberg

($29) Medium straw color. Dusty stone and a whiff of mango on the nose. Moderately dense and juicy, with good cut but slightly edgy acidity to the grapefruit skin flavor. Clean and fresh for the vintage and just off- dry.

2007 Remy Gresser Pinot Noir Brandhof

($25) Medium red. Sappy aromas of red cherry and spices, with some floral and minty high notes. A juicy, spicy, light pinot with noteworthy lift and verve from calcaire Not fleshy or complex but offers good cut and finishes with decent grip. Needs food.

2006 Domaine Barmes-Buecher Riesling Herrenweg de Turckheim

Good pale color. Fresh pineapple and crushed stone on the nose. Juicy, concentrated and pure, with ripe flavors of pineapple, minerals, lemon grass and Thai curry. From fruit picked before the second major rainy spell in '06. Finishes spicy and clean-and drier than its ten grams of residual sugar would suggest.

87 Priced from: 21

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2006 Domaine Paul Blanck Riesling Rosenberg

($34) Medium-deep yellow. Cool aromas of minerals and caraway seed, plus a whiff of white truffle. Essentially juicy and fine-grained, with a lively quality to its citrus fruit, but also with an attractive creaminess in the middle palate. Less exotic than the Patergarten.

2006 Domaine Paul Blanck Riesling Wineck-Schlossberg

Medium bright yellow. Reticent nose opens quickly to reveal dried fruits, smoke and honey, plus a tropical fruit nuance. Big, round and soft, showing considerable evidence of exotic botrytized fruit. But I find this a bit lacking in focus for grand cru, and blurry on the back end.

2006 Domaine Paul Blanck Riesling Patergarten

Good full yellow. Minerals, smoke and flowers on the nose. Ripe and easygoing, with peach and exotic fruit flavors giving this considerable early appeal. Tastes sweeter than its five grams of r.s., but finishes with good grip and freshness. The gravelly soils here typically yield a ripe style, notes Blanck.

2006 Domaine Albert Boxler Riesling

($32) Good bright, full yellow. Open nose offers pineapple and wet stone. Sexy fruit-driven riesling with fresh flavors of apricot, nectarine and orange. The wine's touch of sweetness (about 8 g/l r.s.) is cut off by a mineral firmness on the back end. This is from young grand cru vines harvested late, with some botrytis.

2006 Domaine Dirler-Cade Riesling

Musky aromas of peach and stone. On the simple side but fruity and nicely balanced, with peach, stone and floral flavors framed by ripe acids. Finishes sappy and fresh, with no shortage of backbone. This was made from the early-picked riesling parcels.

2006 Domaine Meyer Fonne Riesling Vignoble de Katzenthal

($26; two-thirds from vines on granite, and one-third declassified grand cru) Medium yellow. Aromatic nose of pineapple and crushed stone. Supple and juicy, with good intensity to its peach and pineapple flavors. A granitic flinty quality firms and extends the finish and gives the wine lift. Sweeter fruit here than the basic riesling, which came across as a bit hard-edged in comparison.

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2006 Domaine Bott-Geyl Riesling Mandelberg

($50) Bright yellow color. High-pitched aroma of pineapple syrup. Then suave and pliant in texture; less obviously sweet than the Schoenenbourg (they're both around 20 g/l r.s.) but with a very different structure. This is a bit more austere than usual at this stage: Bott noted that it's normally the Schoenenbourg that's shy in its youth. But both of these wines should probably be consumed within the next four or five years.

2006 Domaine Leon Beyer Gewurztraminer Vendanges Tardives

($55) Medium yellow-gold. Aromas of mirabelle, smoke and earth; not as pristine as the '07. Plump and sweet, with a glyceral honeyed character just this side of heavy. Undeniably fat wine but not squeaky clean.

2006 Domaine Albert Boxler Gewurztraminer

($30; includes declassified Brand in this vintage) Pale, bright yellow. Aromas of yellow plum, flowers and spices. Supple, soft and fruity, with a pliant, rather suave texture but modest nuance. Finishes reasonably dry (the r.s. is just under 15 g/l), without the phenolic edge frequently shown by this variety.

Priced from: 33.99

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2006 Domaine Ernest Burn Cuvee Speciale

(a blend of botrytis-affected "sylvaner, pinot blanc et al"; aging in foudre Full gold. Somewhat Sauternes-like aromas of tropical fruits and honey, with a suggestion of bitter botrytis. Sweet and thick, with firm acidity framing its exotic orange peel and mango flavors, but betrays a slightly bitter edge in the mouth and on the aftertaste. Glyceral-rich but not particularly fresh or delineated in the middle palate. Not the best botrytis here.

86-88?

2007 Domaine Barmes-Buecher Pinot Blanc Rosenberg

(in cuve; this blend of the pinots Auxerrois, blanc and beurrot spent six months in demi-muid Pale, bright yellow. Pure lemon and spice aromas complicated by a saline mineral nuance; there's something Burgundian about this. Then dense, quite dry and rich, with good depth and spice character. Not in a particularly vibrant stage but fat, full and classic. I expect this rather inscrutable wine to merit a score at the top end of my range when its fruit emerges.

86-88

2006 Domaine Marcel Deiss Huebuhl

($67) Full medium gold. Honey and earth on the nose, with a distinct mushroom element. Combines a very sweet barley sugar candy quality with a slight finishing bitterness, which gives the wine a disjointed character. I don't find much fresh fruit here. Hard to figure, but not my style.

86(+?)?

2006 Domaine Marcel Deiss Mambourg

($125) Good medium yellow color. Spices and mocha on the nose, with little fruit showing. Then quite dry in the mouth, with strong smoke and nutty oak notes hiding any fruit. Plenty deep but very awkward today. Deiss says there's no oxidation here and that this fruit was picked before the damaging rains, with a yield of just 17 hectoliters per hectare, but this smells too advanced for me.

2006 Hugel et Fils Pinot Noir Jubilee

($42) Pale red. Cherry, raspberry, spices and a hint of earth on the nose. Leanish and penetrating, with juicy acidity enlivening the maraschino cherry flavor. Finishes with dusty tannins and a slight dryness. Note that this is 12.7% alcohol, vs. 13.8% for the '07.

2006 Domaine Zind Humbrecht Pinot Gris Rangen Clos St. Urbain

($85; 15.5% alcohol, 11 r.s.) Dark orange-gold color suggests a dessert wine, as in past years like 1998 and 1993. Exotic, nobly rotten aromas of apricot, beeswax, shoe polish, fig and dried fruits. Then almost shockingly dry and penetrating in the mouth, with powerful acidity (around 8.5 grams) leading Olivier to give this an indice of "1". Finishes a bit tart, with a note of citronella. A love-it-or-hate-it style of pinot gris, and it's not for me.