Bott’s 2005 Pinot Gris Sonnenglanz is formidably smoky in the nose and concentrated in citrus and pit fruit flavors on the palate. It seems to fit his stated ideal: a wine of unusually high, ripe acidity and low pH; restrained in sweetness and not alcoholically out of balance; pithy and obviously concentrated. Now, if it were just more fun to drink ... ! An oily texture goes hand-in-hand with faint peach kernel bitterness, and the finish here needs to unclench. Bott is convinced it has more potential than the Furstentum, but I don’t feel confident to predict. (Bott’s concentrated but rather graceless 2005 Gewurztraminer Les Elements – ostensibly his “basic” bottling – was picked ten days before the grand cru sites and still ended up well over 14% alcohol and leaving behind 50 grams of residual sugar, which has to leave one wondering whether these sites are a boon or a curse!) Young Jean-Christophe Bott is passionate about quality and unafraid to make sacrifices on its behalf. He has adopted a biodynamic regimen in the vineyards and is now holding most of his wines 6-24 months in bottle before release. Clarity and cleanliness run through all of these, and it is encouraging to taste so many Riesling that are uncompromisingly dry (although occasionally bitterness or alcohol intrude). Bott feels capable of encouraging dryness and balance in various ways in the vineyard and the cellar without ever intervening in or attempting to re-start sluggish fermentations. By no means all of the wines I tasted displayed strong personalities, but many of them gave reason to believe – as does Bott’s articulate advocacy – that this will be one of the more talked-about Alsace domains of the coming decade. Given the challenges that so many of his fellow-growers recorded with this variety in 2004, his success in bringing Gewurztraminer to subtly-ennobled ripeness in that vintage – while taking advantage of higher than usual acidities – is especially noteworthy.Importer: Eric Solomon Selections, Charlotte, NC; tel. (704) 358-1565