Winemaker Notes
This Clos Ste. Hune is precise and pure with white flowers, mirabelle plum, and white pepper. It is dense and underscored by magnificent acidity. The concentration and salinity dance together, extending the sublime finish, which reveals a truly great vintage of a perfectly balanced wine.
Professional Ratings
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James Suckling
So incredibly fresh and expressively youthful, but also extremely deep and harmonious. Great white and yellow peach fruit with touches of white flowers and fine garden herbs. When I first tasted this it was mouthfilling, but during the following years it has slimmed down to a sleeker silhouette, but without losing any of the giant concentration. A great masterpiece of concentration and racy elegance. You can’t taste the 14.3% alcohol, also because of the effusive natural acidity. Drink or hold.
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
The 2019 Riesling Clos Ste Hune 100e Anniversaire is very clear, fresh and coolish on the precise and refined, very detailed nose that is a clear reflection of the terroir expressed with saline lemon aromas. Generous yet refined on the palate, this is a more classical Riesling compared to 2018, so it's a bit more austere, less textured but more precise and incredibly saline. The tannins are still biting a bit but already playing with the saline acidity, and I assure you that this is a great and balanced classical Riesling that will make its way over the years. Personally, I adore this style (or vintage) since it shows the finesse and purity of the clos rather than its power and richness at this stage. Keep it for at least 10 or, if you can, 20 years. Tasted at the domaine in April 2024 and again on the occasion of the 100th anniversary of Clos Ste Hune at the beginning of November, with the same result, but another note: Coming with the ancient label, the intensely yellow colored 2019 Clos Sainte Hune is clear, bright, fresh and savory, very intense yet most of all deep, rich and precise on the terroir-driven nose. Based on very, very old vines, this is a full-bodied, rich and densely textured, quite powerful and tightly structured Riesling with lots of salts and the depth and power of Trimbach’s east/southeast-facing 1.67-hectare plot within the Grand Cru Rosacker. The finish is very intense and shows even marzipan aromas as well as great vitality and mineral freshness. This is a truly great and firmly structured Clos Ste Hune that is based on a yield of 40 to 45 hectoliters per hectare, "like every year," as Jean Trimbach says. "The marly limestone terroir allows higher yields compared to granite, which allows at max 35 hectoliters per hectare." The 2019 was bottled with 14.3% stated alcohol and 2.94 grams per liter of residual sugar. The total acidity of 8.32 grams per liter is also remarkable, though.
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Vinous
The 2019 Riesling Clos Sainte Hune will be released later this year. That pure, tell-tale chamomile tincture lift is incisive, transporting crushed tansy. The acidity strikes first: linear, clear-cut, pristine, sharp as a Japanese blade, uncompromising and taut, followed not by fruit but by herbal savor and limestone coolness. Imagine stones saturated with fresh, cool tisane of chamomile and yarrow, laced with saltiness, edged with a touch of pepper, intense and concentrated. The finish is like a cooling, intense, ethereal balm. (Bone-Dry)
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Wine Spectator
Amazingly youthful for a 6-year-old wine. Flinty, this is sleek, densely packed and bristling with power. Its harmonious mix of green apple, lemon peel, chamomile, warm hay and dried herbs is invigorated by a lime-edged beam of acidity for a bracing, electric feel on the finish. Chalky, flinty mineral details dust the finish, which is long and pristine
Since 1626, the Trimbach family has been promoting the history, exceptional terroirs and fine wines of Alsace. Maison Trimbach is located in Ribeauvillé, where today three generations work closely together.
Day-to-day operations are handled personally by brothers Pierre and Jean Trimbach, representing the 12th generation. Bernard and Hubert Trimbach, the 11th generation (father and uncle, respectively, to Pierre and Jean) remain integrally involved. Anne, the eldest of the 13th generation, has just joined the family business. The Trimbachs have a purist vision. Across 12 generations, the family has always produced wines that are structured, long-lived, fruity, elegant and balanced: the celebrated Trimbach style. Bottles remain in the cellar for several years before reaching the marketplace, ensuring the wines are both ready to drink upon release but also hold great aging potential.
Pierre Trimbach (winemaker since 1979) was named one of the world’s Top Ten White Winemaker by Decanter Magazine in 2006. He was also named “Wine Personality of 2016” by Betthane & Desseauve Magazine and they score Cuvée Frederic Emile 2008 a rare 20/20.
Riesling possesses a remarkable ability to reflect the character of wherever it is grown while still maintaining its identity. A regal variety of incredible purity and precision, this versatile grape can be just as enjoyable dry or sweet, young or old, still or sparkling and can age longer than nearly any other white variety. Somm Secret—Given how difficult it is to discern the level of sweetness in a Riesling from the label, here are some clues to find the dry ones. First, look for the world “trocken.” (“Halbtrocken” or “feinherb” mean off-dry.) Also a higher abv usually indicates a drier Riesling.
Small but mighty, this picturesque region in northeastern France is renowned for its white wines produced by passionate families whose winemaking roots span generations and even centuries. Nestled between the Vosges Mountains and the Rhine River, Alsace benefits from a sunny, dry climate and a long growing season. It is one of the most geologically diverse regions in the world — one of the many reasons why Alsace rocks!
Alsace wines include dry, mineral-driven Riesling, earthy Pinot Gris, refreshing Pinot Blanc, exuberant Gewurztraminer, elegant Pinot Noir, and more. From traditional-method sparkling wines to easy-drinking AOC Alsace, to complex Grand Cru bottlings from 51 distinct sites, and rich, late harvest wines, Alsace produces a wine for every occasion. Most Alsace wines are single-varietal bottlings and are labeled with the grape name. The region is also one of the greenest wine-producing areas in France, with 36% of its vineyard area certified organic.
Riesling, the region’s calling card, is dry, fresh and floral in its youth, developing complex mineral and flint character with age. Gewurztraminer is known for its signature spice and lychee aromatics. Pinot Gris is prized for its combination of crisp acidity and savory spice as well as ripe stone fruit flavors. Pinot Blanc is an affable food partner or porch sipper. Pinot Noir, the only red grape in AOC Alsace, is now authorized in three Grand Cru areas and is also used for Crémant d’Alsace sparkling rosé. Any bottle you choose will offer deliciousness, pleasure and value that is unprecedented in other wine regions.