2004 Riesling Clos Windsbuhl Vendanges Tardives

Olivier Humbrecht is aware that his wines continue to be snapped up by collectors and buried in their cellars, and he is concerned that his bottles are widely viewed as wines for special occasions, as opposed to food-friendly wines that can be consumed every day. Obviously, price is an issue, but so is the extreme richness, and residual sweetness, of many of these bottlings. On the other hand, many other Alsace wines are every bit as sweet, and at least Humbrecht uses an "index of perceptible sweetness" on the front labels of his non-VT bottlings: from 1 for bone dry to 5 for very sweet. His objective is to let potential buyers know in advance what they are likely to find in the bottle. Happily, there are plenty of 1 and 2 wines in vintages 2004 and 2005. Indeed, Humbrecht believes that biodynamic farming is resulting in steadily drier wines: more energetic musts and better yeast quality are bringing more effective fermentations, albeit at the price of slightly higher alcohol levels. He's also getting fruit riper earlier, which gives him the flexibility to harvest before potentially damaging autumn rains. Humbrecht considers the 2005 vintage to be superb ("up there with 2002"), with riesling not quite as strong as pinot gris or, especially, gewurztraminer. He describes 2004 as "a big crop but with excellent ripeness and acidity, and a strong year for riesling. A lot of 2004 riesling had the bluish-purple skins that indicate the early stages of rot, but in fact there's not a lot of honeyed botrytis character. If people compare the 2004 and 2005 rieslings in ten years, they'll struggle to decide which is best."