Vertical Tasting of Zind-Humbrecht's Riesling Brand and Riesling Rangen If you were to ask any serious wine expert for his or her list of the top white wine estates in the world today, Alsace's Domaine Zind-Humbrecht would nearly always be among those included.&nbsp; For an estate with such a lofty reputation, Domaine 

Zind-Humbrecht is not a particularly old one, founded only in 1959 (but 

members of the Humbrecht family have been winegrowers since 1620), when 

Léonard Humbrecht married Généviève Zind.&nbsp; Leonard Humbrecht was perhaps

 the first in Alsace to greatly reduce yields, and he created wines of 

uncommon depth and precision.&nbsp; He believed that grand cru yields should 

never exceed 35 hectoliters per hectare--or less than half of what was 

common to those times.&nbsp; This philosophy is viewed as normal nowadays but

 was anything but back in the 1970s and 1980s.&nbsp; In fact, back then 

Humbrecht's entry-level wines were often more concentrated than the 

grand crus of other producers.&nbsp; Humbrecht also believed in 

buying land in the best possible sites.&nbsp; Today the domain owns roughly 

40 hectares of vines, including parcels in some of Alsace's truly 

greatest grand crus, such as Hengst (1.4 hectares), Brand (2.4 hectares)

 and Rangen (5.5 hectares).&nbsp; Zind-Humbrecht makes wines from all the 

typical Alsace varieties, from sylvaner to gewürztraminer.&nbsp; Leonard's 

son Olivier, who took over responsibility for winemaking in the late 

'80s, has brought yet another dimension to the viticulture and 

winemaking, turning resolutely towards biodynamic agriculture.&nbsp; He 

played a key role in setting up Biodyvin, an association of wine 

producers that champion biodynamic agriculture, and has an M.W. degree, a

 rarity amongst the world's winemakers. Listening to him speak about 

wine (in excellent English, should you not speak French) is an 

experience no wine lover should miss. Besides its stellar sweet 

wines, the estate's most sought after bottlings are arguably its 

rieslings made from the Brand and Rangen grand crus (the exact name of 

Zind-Humbrecht's Rangen riesling is Rangen de Thann Clos St. Urbain:&nbsp; it

 takes its name from the walled vineyard's small chapel dedicated to the

 local patron saint of vine-growers).&nbsp; Ironically, as great as the 

rieslings are from these two sites, the variety both sites are 

historically most famous for is pinot gris.&nbsp; Generally speaking, 

rieslings from the Brand (at 800 to 1,050 feet above sea level, it's a 

lower-lying, earlier-ripening site) are more exotic and rich, while 

those from the Rangen (at roughly 1,100 to 1,500 feet above sea level, 

it's the highest grand cru in all of Alsace; it's also the southernmost 

grand cru of the region) tend to be more mineral and saline.&nbsp; Olivier 

feels that the best Brand wines come from those areas that have the 

typical black and white mica soil; the black mica is degraded by 

bacteria in the soil, making minerals more available to the vines' 

roots.&nbsp; "It's the microbiological activity in the soils that makes them 

interesting," he adds. The Rangen is perhaps Alsace's most famous

 grand cru (for many experts, Alsace's single greatest vineyard of 

all).&nbsp; Its vineyards were already prized in the 12th century.&nbsp; It's 

neck-achingly steep, and terracing is a necessity.&nbsp; In fact, Rangen is 

so steep that viticulture had been abandoned there and it was Leonard 

Humbrecht who began replanting in the 1970s.&nbsp; The Rangen is a suntrap 

(much like the original Brand was too); its dark, mineral-rich, stony 

soils covered in greywacke (fine sandstone with volcanic elements), 

andesite (fine-grained volcanic rock), volcanic rocks and tufa ash 

(which captures and retains heat) are unique in Alsace.&nbsp; The soils speak

 of Rangen's volcanic origin and explain the great ripeness and power of

 wines made from grapes grown there.&nbsp; At Zind-Humbrecht, the viticulture

 is biodynamic, and the winemaking non-interventionist: wines are kept 

on their lees for 6 to 12 months or more and are generally bottled much 

later than at many other Alsace estates. The following wines were

 tasted twice: the first time in Merano, Italy, in November of 2012, in 

the presence of Olivier Humbrecht from bottles that came directly from 

the estate; and the second time in May of this year in Rome, with 

bottles from my own cellar that had been purchased by me in Alsace over 

the years. Amazingly, not a single bottle in either tasting was affected

 by cork taint or any other flaw.&nbsp; Overall, the scores are high but 

readers need to realize that these are two of the greatest dry white 

wines made anywhere in the world. <a target="_blank" href="http://vinousmedia.com/wines?sort%5Bdirection%5D=asc&amp;sort%5Bname%5D=vintage&amp;wf_dirty=false&amp;wf_export_fields=&amp;wf_export_format=&amp;wf_id=&amp;wf_match=all&amp;wf_model=Wine&amp;wf_name=&amp;wf_order=vintage&amp;wf_order_type=desc&amp;wf_page=1&amp;wf_per_page=25&amp;wf_submitted=true&amp;wf_type=WillFilter%3A%3AFilter&amp;wine_filter%5Barticle_id%5D=561">Show all the wines (sorted by vintage)</a> -Ian D'Agata

Vertical Tasting of Zind-Humbrecht's Riesling Brand and Riesling Rangen

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