A is for Alsace
You really cannot please all the people all of the time - no sooner had I decided to remove all traces of wine (stains included) from the other blog that I started receiving plaintive pinings for the return of the booze to those pages. No, the wine has not returned, instead it has been moved here in this darkened, cooled and humidity-controlled cellar construct within cyberspace.
As always, a word about the title - I have told this story so many times I cannot remember exactly what happened (the story gets better every time I tell it). On the night before my graduation, I staggered down the road past The Pickerel where I bumped into the incoming Attorney General and he asked after the general state of my well-being with the words “Are you drunk again?” I barely made it to the end of the road whereupon I met the outgoing Attorney General who also greeted me with the question “Are you drunk again?”
At that very moment, I realised two things - first, it was probably pointless to try to qualify as a lawyer in Singapore with the reputation (which, if it had not been entirely correct at the time of asking, has managed to acquire an increasing patina of veracity with each passing year) that I had managed to acquire in the space of two minutes and seconldy, that I was destined to write something - a story, a poem, a song, a blog even with The Question (in Latin) as its title.
So here we are.
Since last weekend, the only wine (note wine as opposed to any alcoholic refreshment) I’ve had was a bottle of Domaine Materne-Haegelin Riesling Bollenberg 2002 last night. Those of you who drink with me will know I rarely drink anything white unless it has bubbles in it but those of you (the few) who drink white wine with me will also know that my preferred whites are Pouilly Fume from the Loire, Pinot Grigio from the Veneto and Gewurztraminer from the Alsace (God, I hate the oaked Chardonnays they serve in London pubs).
In a slightly bizarre coincidence, my introduction to Alsace took place on yet another unscheduled pitstop on a road trip (see my later post on Brunello di Montalcino). I was on the autobahn enroute to the Italian Dolomites with family friends on a skiing holiday when the paterfamilias suddenly asked if they had ordered some wine from the guy in Alsace earlier that autumn - on being assured that they had, he decided to take a six hour detour to pick up the wine (it was four cases of Rolly Gassmann Gewurztraminer 1988) from Pierre himself so we would have enough to drink in our rented farmhouse in Belluno. It remains my preferred accompaniment to a seared slab of foie gras on a bed of caramelised apples flamed with calvados.
After an almost criminal absence of more than twelve years, I was recently (well, quite recently - last year) reacquainted with a Rolly Gassmann Gewurztraminer (1996 this time around) at a dinner at Somerset House - served with, yes you guessed it, the foie gras (pate, oh well).
Taking the region as a whole, my impression has always been a straight comparison between the big cooperatives like Trimbach and Hugel which make the mass produced slightly cheaper stuff versus the smaller but pricier producers like Sylvie Spielman and Rolly Gassman. A notable exception is Zind-Humbrecht which seems to produce volume at high prices. Grape varietals are similar to the German rieslings, muscats and pinot gris although the Alsace equivalents tends to towards the more aromatic and less sweet if a comparison has to be made.
Anyroads, back to the Materne-Haegelin Riesling last night - on the nose, it was easy - almost a breeze of zesty citrus and light spring flowers like daffodils and chrysanthemum (I bet you’ll never find the latter description in any tasting notes - so folks, you read it here first). None of the petrol fumes as my drinking companion feared although there is a reason why most Alsatian wines are known for their aromatics.
The bottle was too warm to begin with but iced for about ten minutes, it hardened perceptibly with the mineral slightly flinty undernotes coming through the disappearing acidity. It was a little light on structure although the citrus notes held well before the air did its job and flattened it just inside an hour and a bit.
Oh and by the way, I never did get round to requalifying as a lawyer in Singapore.
As always, a word about the title - I have told this story so many times I cannot remember exactly what happened (the story gets better every time I tell it). On the night before my graduation, I staggered down the road past The Pickerel where I bumped into the incoming Attorney General and he asked after the general state of my well-being with the words “Are you drunk again?” I barely made it to the end of the road whereupon I met the outgoing Attorney General who also greeted me with the question “Are you drunk again?”
At that very moment, I realised two things - first, it was probably pointless to try to qualify as a lawyer in Singapore with the reputation (which, if it had not been entirely correct at the time of asking, has managed to acquire an increasing patina of veracity with each passing year) that I had managed to acquire in the space of two minutes and seconldy, that I was destined to write something - a story, a poem, a song, a blog even with The Question (in Latin) as its title.
So here we are.
Since last weekend, the only wine (note wine as opposed to any alcoholic refreshment) I’ve had was a bottle of Domaine Materne-Haegelin Riesling Bollenberg 2002 last night. Those of you who drink with me will know I rarely drink anything white unless it has bubbles in it but those of you (the few) who drink white wine with me will also know that my preferred whites are Pouilly Fume from the Loire, Pinot Grigio from the Veneto and Gewurztraminer from the Alsace (God, I hate the oaked Chardonnays they serve in London pubs).
In a slightly bizarre coincidence, my introduction to Alsace took place on yet another unscheduled pitstop on a road trip (see my later post on Brunello di Montalcino). I was on the autobahn enroute to the Italian Dolomites with family friends on a skiing holiday when the paterfamilias suddenly asked if they had ordered some wine from the guy in Alsace earlier that autumn - on being assured that they had, he decided to take a six hour detour to pick up the wine (it was four cases of Rolly Gassmann Gewurztraminer 1988) from Pierre himself so we would have enough to drink in our rented farmhouse in Belluno. It remains my preferred accompaniment to a seared slab of foie gras on a bed of caramelised apples flamed with calvados.
After an almost criminal absence of more than twelve years, I was recently (well, quite recently - last year) reacquainted with a Rolly Gassmann Gewurztraminer (1996 this time around) at a dinner at Somerset House - served with, yes you guessed it, the foie gras (pate, oh well).
Taking the region as a whole, my impression has always been a straight comparison between the big cooperatives like Trimbach and Hugel which make the mass produced slightly cheaper stuff versus the smaller but pricier producers like Sylvie Spielman and Rolly Gassman. A notable exception is Zind-Humbrecht which seems to produce volume at high prices. Grape varietals are similar to the German rieslings, muscats and pinot gris although the Alsace equivalents tends to towards the more aromatic and less sweet if a comparison has to be made.
Anyroads, back to the Materne-Haegelin Riesling last night - on the nose, it was easy - almost a breeze of zesty citrus and light spring flowers like daffodils and chrysanthemum (I bet you’ll never find the latter description in any tasting notes - so folks, you read it here first). None of the petrol fumes as my drinking companion feared although there is a reason why most Alsatian wines are known for their aromatics.
The bottle was too warm to begin with but iced for about ten minutes, it hardened perceptibly with the mineral slightly flinty undernotes coming through the disappearing acidity. It was a little light on structure although the citrus notes held well before the air did its job and flattened it just inside an hour and a bit.
Oh and by the way, I never did get round to requalifying as a lawyer in Singapore.
posted by porcorosso at 6:07 AM
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