Famille Hugel: The 2015 Riesling Séléctions de Grains Nobles S and 2014 Riesling Grossi Laüe

BY ANNE KREBIEHL MW | JULY 24, 2023

Jean-Frédéric Hugel paid a brief visit to London to launch a brace of late-release Rieslings. One from the 2014 vintage, from their top site Grand Cru Schoenenbourg. While the 2015 has already been released, this is the first vintage in which Hugel finally uses the grand cru designation rather than their Alsatian dialect term Grossi Laüe. Hugel noted that “it is more and more this type of vintage that produces the most age-worthy wines,” referring to the cooler 2014. “We thought 2014 would be a wine that would need 10-15 years, but it is opening very nicely now.” It was aged for eight years, and half of the wine went through malolactic fermentation. It is a blend of four parcels: Stumpff, Hoppler Krumm and Schoenenbourg Derrière. Hugel reminded me that 2014 was the year when the arrival of an invasive alien insect, Drosophila suzukii, a Japanese spotted-wing fruit fly, made headlines. The insect homes in on reddish colors and is a pest not just for grapes but for fruit in general. It attacks healthy fruit by laying its eggs under the skin, destroying it in the process. “Gewurztraminer was a challenge; Pinot Noir was a disaster,” Hugel said, “while the white-skinned varieties were not affected.” He noted they benefitted from a cool, late harvest that brought “concentration from late picking with high ripeness and acid.” As vintages are often generalized, 2014 thus has a poorer reputation, but those who like cooler-vintage Rieslings will find much to appreciate here, especially the fine, bright acidity that marks these wines out of the ordinary.