Hugel & Fils - Gewürztraminer Alsace Vendange Tardive 2015 (375ml)
Price: $59.99
Sale Price: $43.99
| Producer | Hugel & Fils |
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| Country | France |
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| Region | Alsace |
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| Varietal | Gewurztraminer |
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| Vintage | 2015 |
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| Sku | 05765 |
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| Size | 375ml |
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Synonymous with the Hugel family throughout their near 400 year legacy, Vendange Tardive represents the pinnacle of Alsatian winemaking. These exquisite dessert wines are not produced every year, only when climatic conditions are optimum for producing botrytis in their late harvest grapes (the same “noble rot” that makes Bordeaux’s Sauternes wines so glorious). Jean-Frédéric described 2015 as that perfect year, akin to the now legendary 1945 and 1976 vintages.
Gewürztraminer is well-suited to this late harvest style. Gewürz has naturally high sugar levels and is particularly susceptible to botrytis. All those gorgeous lychee, rose petal and ginger aromatics intensify, and the golden tropical fruit flavors crystalize countering wonderfully with saline minerality. Hugel’s Vendanges Tardive Gewürztraminer is produced exclusively from 42 year old vines planted in the Grand Cru Schoenenberg vineyard. The 2015 harvest was considered a bountiful year, and yet they produced just 10 barrels – for the whole world! Irresistible now, and this sweet gem will cellar superbly for another 50+ years.
James Suckling: 98 Points
“Welcome to rose-petal heaven! Very rich and succulent with bright acidity that lifts the lush, seriously concentrated body, the finish very long and bright with so much exotic, floral character. Great aging potential, thanks to the excellent freshness. Drink or hold.”
Wine Advocate: 96 Points
“The 2015 Gewurztraminer Vendange Tardive is very pure and clear on the intense and concentrated, slightly speck-ish nose that shows ripe pear yet also mineral aromas. Generous and bright on the palate, this is a rich but singing, very elegant and stimulating Gewürztraminer VT with a fascinating mix of salinity and very fine tannins. This is a refreshingly rich wine with a long and tensioned finish. It's a great, perhaps immortal wine! Tasted at the domaine in April 2024.”
Vinous Media: 95 Points
“Pale luminous straw-green. Remarkably elegant nose of minty botrytis, apple sauce, pear nectar, crystallized ginger and lemon curd. Then fresh and clean, displaying strong minty and chlorophyll notes to the apple and tropical fruit flavors. Finishes very long and multilayered, with enticing citrusy cut. The Schoenenbourg has plenty of clay, so the wines are often especially good in warm years such as 2015. The Hugels made about 6,000 bottles of this beauty (they made more VT wine in 2015 than the preceding 29 years, as almost all the Schoenenbourg was hit by noble rot). In fact, this wine was made with both air-dried (passerillé) grapes and noble-rot-affected grapes (only 20% of the total).”
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