Bott-Geyl Riesling Schlossberg, Alsace Grand Cru, France

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Thyme, iris, and apple blossom scent the Bott-Geyl 2011 Riesling Schlossberg along with intimations of the grapefruit, lime, passion fruit and fresh apple that go on to inform a buoyant palate far juicier and clearer than that of the non-cru Rieslings in the present collection. Here as there, one finds a significant amount of finishing bitterness, but in the present case that is largely overridden by sheer juicy persistence, and there is also the sort of crystalline mineral impingement one associates with the best Riesling from this site. I would plan on following this through at least 2020. Jean-Christophe Bott harvested most of the way through October of 2010, not picking Schoenenbourg and Mandelberg Rieslings until near the end of that month, and with excellent results. Quite a bit of grand cru Pinot Gris and Gewurztraminer (including all of his Furstentum) was declassified into generics. By contrast, Bott’s Rieslings were picked by the first days of October in 2011. Interestingly, with two exceptions, they finished dry-tasting (and the non-crus analytically dry) without Bott having had to encourage their spontaneous fermentation through warming or yeasting. Incidentally, the Bott-Geyl acreage and portfolio will be expanding with fruit from very old vines in Sporen as well as an additional parcel in Furstentum, due to come on line from vintages 2012 and 2013 respectively. Various importers, including Beaune Imports, Berkeley, CA; tel. (510) 559-1040 and Winebow, Montvale, NJ; tel. (201) 445-0620

Fresh lime and apricot with strong contributions of rind and pit dominate the nose and expansive palate of Bott’s 2010 Riesling Schlossberg. Hints of marjoram, thyme, and fresh ginger add interest en route to a dry, piquantly sustained, clear and eminently refreshing finish. A somehow shimmering sense of mineral-fruit interchange contributes allure to this almost austere Riesling, one that I suspect will merit following through at least 2022. Jean-Christophe Bott harvested most of the way through October of 2010, not picking Schoenenbourg and Mandelberg Rieslings until near the end of that month, and with excellent results. Quite a bit of grand cru Pinot Gris and Gewurztraminer (including all of his Furstentum) was declassified into generics. By contrast, Bott’s Rieslings were picked by the first days of October in 2011. Interestingly, with two exceptions, they finished dry-tasting (and the non-crus analytically dry) without Bott having had to encourage their spontaneous fermentation through warming or yeasting. Incidentally, the Bott-Geyl acreage and portfolio will be expanding with fruit from very old vines in Sporen as well as an additional parcel in Furstentum, due to come on line from vintages 2012 and 2013 respectively. Various importers, including Beaune Imports, Berkeley, CA; tel. (510) 559-1040 and Winebow, Montvale, NJ; tel. (201) 445-0620

Bott’s 2009 Riesling Schlossberg features a play of piquant lime peel and huckleberry against a bright, subtly tart amalgam of white peach and crab apple. A nearly sizzling sense of tactile, crystalline, peppery mineral impingement lends invigoration to a firm, bright expression of its site such as I would not have anticipated from this vintage. Bott explains that his parcel – for more about which see my review of his inaugural, 2008 bottling – ripens early, but retains moisture, whereas vines in some portions of the Schlossberg suffered late-summer 2009 stress. As tight as this is, I suspect it will benefit from several years of bottle age and should hold up well for at least a decade. “For me it was not a classic year for V.T. or S.G.N.,” says Jean-Christophe Bott of 2009. “There was very little botrytis, and when we started picking it was with the aim to make the best possible normal range. I found most of the Gewurztraminer very aromatic and fruity, but soft and lacking the depth of their sites; too much on the varietal side, so I preferred to mostly declassify, and also because in 2008 we had a great vintage whose wines really taste of their sites.” My judgment on 2008 is qualified. Detached tartness and decidedly fungal overtones suggest that in some instances fruit had to be harvested lest it succumb to botrytis. A measure of that fungal advance is that the nobly sweet wines in the present collection are enormously high in sugar and quite strongly marked by botrytis, yet represent the product of picking entire blocks rather than bunch-selection.Various importers, including Beaune Imports, Berkeley, CA; tel. (510) 559 1040 and Winebow, Montvale, NJ; tel. (201) 445-0620

From largely mature, terraced vines along a heat-trapping but well-watered mini-valley near the center of the cru, and adjoining Domaine Albert Mann’s holdings, the inaugural Bott-Geyl 2008 Riesling Schlossberg is prominently and saliva-inducingly salty. Add to this saline savor bright, colorful juiciness of lemon, grapefruit, and tangerine and you have a recipe for something invigorating and refreshing. Aromas of heliotrope and rowan contribute a sense of allure not just in the nose but in billowing inner-mouth profusion. High-toned aromatic and juicy palate evocations of white peach manage to avoid the borderline excessive volatile esters found a few other Bott-Geyl 2008s. In sum, one could scarcely have asked for a better performance from vines that were not under Bott’s direction until this year; and one could also scarcely have asked for a better example of what most experienced observers would call an archetypal granitic Riesling, favoring flowers and the saline side of minerality. “For me it was not a classic year for V.T. or S.G.N.,” says Jean-Christophe Bott of 2009. “There was very little botrytis, and when we started picking it was with the aim to make the best possible normal range. I found most of the Gewurztraminer very aromatic and fruity, but soft and lacking the depth of their sites; too much on the varietal side, so I preferred to mostly declassify, and also because in 2008 we had a great vintage whose wines really taste of their sites.” My judgment on 2008 is qualified. Detached tartness and decidedly fungal overtones suggest that in some instances fruit had to be harvested lest it succumb to botrytis. A measure of that fungal advance is that the nobly sweet wines in the present collection are enormously high in sugar and quite strongly marked by botrytis, yet represent the product of picking entire blocks rather than bunch-selection. Various importers, including Beaune Imports, Berkeley, CA; tel. (510) 559 1040 and Winebow, Montvale, NJ; tel. (201) 445-0620