Trimbach, 'Clos Sainte Hune' Riesling, Alsace, France, 2019

Overview of the Wine
The Trimbach’s have a purist vision. For three centuries and across 13 generations, the family has produced wines that are structured, longlived, fruity, elegant and balanced: the celebrated Trimbach style. The family personally looks after each operation, from planting to harvests and from vinification to bottling. The viticultural origin of the Trimbach family dates back to 1626, when Jean Trimbach, was recognized as a citizen of Riquewihr. From then on, the Trimbach’s were renowned for their wine-growing. Maison Trimbach’s vineyards are all situated around Ribeauville (Ribeauville, Hunawihr, Bergheim, Rorschwihr, Riquewihr and Mittlewihr). They benefit from the unique Alsatian microclimate, thanks to the Vosges Mountains protection, which preserves the plain from the rain. The vineyards were planted on the Ribeauville’s fault line that fractured 50 million years ago between the Vosges Mountain range and the Black Forest offering a mosaic of terroirs including the complex calcareous limestone and bio-degraded seashell fossils called “Muschelkalk”. Trimbach Réserves are the result of a rigorous selection from mostly old vineyards in Ribeauvillé and the surrounding villages, producing more complex wines with longer ageing potential.

In the 1960’s, the Trimbach family decided that it was time for a second great dry Riesling, thus Cuvée Frédéric Émile, the signature wine of the Trimbach family was created. 

The plot of the Frédéric Émile straddles the Grands Crus Osterberg and Geisberg in Ribeauvillé, overlooking the winery. The plot has marl-calcaro-sandstone soils, south-southeast exposure, steep slope, and old vines 55+ years old.

Winemaker
Pierre Trimbach

Grape / Blend
Riesling

Origin
Alsace, France

Winemaker's Tasting Notes
If there is one Riesling in the world that every wine lover dreams of tasting and savoring, it is Clos Sainte Hune.

High class dry wine, racy, refined, elegant, with very ripe fruit and a very pronounced minerality give it its unique character. It has a signature of its own that is transcendent in great vintages. It is a wine that inspires dreams with its harmony and its exceptional capacity for aging.

100 Points - 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.

98 Points - 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. 

98 Points - Vinous
The 2019 Riesling Clos Saint 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)(AK)

Product size: 750ml