2010 Riesling Brand Vieilles Vignes Vendanges Tardives

Olivier Humbrecht says that there are not good and bad vintages but just difficult and easy ones, and that the choices that matter most are those made in the vineyards. "Two thousand eleven was a very precocious year, with an early harvest, but August was cool enough to maintain decent acidity," he told me. "So those who have made wines with low acidity in 2011 either harvested too late or had high yields that diluted the grapes or viticultural practices in place that didn't allow the grapes to produce enough tartaric acidity." He believes that some estates may have produced too much to make up for the greatly reduced yields of 2010. "Unlike what most people think, low acidity levels are not really so much a consequence of the vintage's average daily temperatures, but rather a problem related to vineyard work, or the lack thereof." Production was so low in 2010 that Zind-Humbrecht made only 120,000 bottles, compared to 220,000 in 2011. Still, said Humbrecht, "two thousand ten is a great year, but very complicated, with winter frost and a mid-June flowering interrupted by very cold rainy weather, not unlike in 1990. This resulted in berries of different ripeness levels, forcing tedious and costly manual removal of unripe berries prior to pressing." Humbrecht felt that normally later-flowering sites such as the Rangen were clearly better off in 2010, as there was a dry, warm spell at the end of June.