Critic ratings
vinous
2016
Rating:
95
–95
Deep golden yellow; this has a beautiful golden color associated most often with dessert wines. Perfumed aromas of ripe peach and tropical fruit, honey and sweet spices are complicated by noteworthy marmelady botrytis. Then rich, dense and luscious, showing a mouth-coating presence to ripe mango, grapefruit, papaya and peach flavors complicated by vanilla and other sweet spices. Finishes long and penetrating, with an ultra-suave and fleshy mouthfeel and noteworthy residual sugar but more than enough acidity to keep this opulent, luscious wine light and lively. This cannot be mistaken in any way for a classically dry white wine, as it is noticeably sweet, but it’s so rich and luscious that it can easily pair with roast chicken, mushroom and cream dishes, though I think it will probably prove most enjoyable with desserts, aged and blue cheeses and on its own. Knockout wine of monumental concentration and impeccable balance, if in a very sweet style. The noble rot really kicks up the complexity more than just a notch. This is the best Grasberg that I remember in years. Well done.
robert_parker
2015
Rating:
94
–94
The citrus-colored 2015 Grasberg is beautifully pure, chalky/flinty, fresh and spicy on the nose, with deep terroir flavors along with perfectly ripe fruit aromas. Full-bodied, rich and round, with a generous sweetness, but also mineral grip and tension, this is a great, very complex and endlessly salty Grasberg that is mainly based on Riesling and Gewurztraminer. What great tension and purity here combined with perfectly ripe and lush fruit!
robert_parker
2007
Rating:
94
–94
From inter alia Riesling, Pinot Gris, Gewurztraminer and Savagnin Rose in a high-altitude, austerely chalky, north-facing site, the Deiss 2007 Grasberg displays hauntingly floral aromas suggestive of rose, gentian, linden, and rowan, along with brown spices that migrate to a palate juicy with fresh apricot and yellow plum, and suffused with marine, sweet-savory, scallop-like mineral richness. Persistently wafting florals follow on a finish that offers a remarkable colloquy with mineral and pit fruit essences. I’m reminded a bit here of a really exotic vintage of Chablis Preuses (like 2006). This, I predict, is going to have exceptional, perhaps 20 year aging potential. I had chance to taste the late-harvested 2008 Grasberg must just as it was beginning to ferment, and the level of complexity and recognizable site character was uncanny.
Jean-Michel Deiss has been officially tasked with assisting his fellow Alsace growers in the drafting of new regional regulations and labeling conventions, in keeping with both France’s proposed move to a higher-order French appellation “d’Origine Protegee” and with the potential regional autonomy provided for (if inchoately) by recent EU legislation. As readers can imagine, Deiss’s vision involves a drastically diminished scope and roll for varietal bottling, analogous to his conception of Alsace crus as being best expressed by a blending of multiple cepages. (For more on the evolution of Deiss’s approach, consult my report in issue 175). Two things are indubitable: Alsace could use fresh approaches to labeling and marketing; and any Deiss proposal will have been thought-through all the way down to its historical and metaphysical levels. Deiss’s own line and labeling have been further simplified: beginning with 2006 his lower tier of wines is being bottled without village designations, leaving him more flexibility in blending. Although Deiss did not bottle a full compliment of his crus from the rot-challenged 2006 vintage, he said he was loath to pull back by settling his musts more aggressively of bottling earlier, “because the lees are the megaphone for the terroir.” Fair enough in principle, but the results were to say the least decidedly mixed, whereas Deiss’s 2007s represent a resounding success. (Deiss did not show me his lower-tier 2006s and I did not have chance to ferret any of them out from the marketplace.)
Importer: Vintus, Pleasantville, NY; tel. (914) 769-3000
robert_parker
2005
Rating:
92
–92
The 2005 Grasberg leads with smoky, spicy, Gewurztraminer-typical aromatic notes. Peachy and rich on the palate, with candied lemon, chalk, spices, and honey, this displays admirable polish and formidable length. With more obvious sweetness than the 2004, this lacks the same uncanny lift and ravishing elegance. Just give it time, insists Deiss. Certainly there is terrific complexity here already, abundant reserves of fat, and the promise of long-keeping.
Jean-Michel Deiss has been growing some of the finest wines in Alsace for more than a quarter century and with them – as well as with his passionately articulate discourse – capturing the imagination and affection of wine enthusiasts world-wide. But the bearded sage of Bergheim is never satisfied, and beginning in the late eighties, he began to completely re-think his wines and means of truly embracing his terroirs. The result was new acquisitions and plantings to achieve (beginning a decade ago) single-vineyard, field-blend bottling the likes of which had scarcely been seen in Alsace for the better part of a century, and to certain of which the governing authorities have recently been persuaded (perhaps as much by Deiss’ metaphysics of terroir as by the profundity of his vinous results) to grant the status “Grand Cru.” Deiss’ special “vins de terroir” are released only after he judges them to have had sufficient time in bottle to being to show their personalities (with the 2005s only appearing in 2007). Two thousand five, incidentally, was one of the smallest harvests in this estate’s history, and fraught with difficulty, Deiss reports. Even with “varietally-“ labeled wines, Deiss can display unorthodoxy. Time only permitted me a too-brief taste of three from among Deiss’s recent nobly sweet releases, none of which one should even think about drinking for years. A 2004 Gewurztraminer V.T. from the Altenberg and Burg displayed pungent aromatics, great sweetness, and a tactile phenolic presence. I found the new wood on a 2005 Pinot Gris S.G.N. rather intrusive. And while there was no questioning the sheer concentration, viscosity, and sweetness of Deiss’ 2005 Gewurztraminer “Quintessence” – a wine selected berry-by-shriveled berry from the Altenberg and vinified in a tiny tank – it is never easy to judge such elixirs as wine even under the best of conditions. All things considered, I have elected to defer my responsibility for assessing the nobly sweet wines at this address for a later occasion.
Importer: Vintus, Pleasantville, NY; tel. (914) 769-3000
robert_parker
2000
Rating:
94
–94
The 2000 Grasberg reveals onion peel and earthy aromas. Broad and expansive, it is a mouth-coating wine of massive amplitude and superb grip. Oily-textured and medium-bodied, its pure, delineated fruit offers white fruit, spice and mineral flavors. This dense, concentrated behemoth will require some patience before it blossoms fully. Projected maturity: 2006-2016.
According to Deiss, "2000 was a vintage of great weather, yet one that carries with it problems of balance, like all great vintages. Some will consider these wines as too rich and having too much alcohol or residual sugar." He added that "2001 presented us with climatic chaos but the end result is as great as 2000." Deiss, a bio-dynamic farmer, stressed that he never chaptalizes his wines, including the reds.
Importer: New Castle Imports, Inc., Myrtle Beach, SC; tel. (843) 448-9463
