Caramel, brown sugar, peaches, and apricots make up the nose of the 2000 Pinot Gris Heimbourg Selection de Grains Nobles. A wide, lush, intense wine of enormous depth (9 hectoliter per hectare yields), it bastes the palate with jammy peaches, apricots, plums, and spices. This exceptionally well-balanced effort reveals a magnificently long, flavorful finish. This velvety-textured offering can be drunk over the next 30-40 years. In response to requests from consumers for more information as to the character of his non-Vendange Tardive or Selection de Grains Nobles wines. Olivier Humbrecht has devoloped an "indice" scale which appears on the label of each bottle. This indice ranks from 1 to 5 the perceptible sweetness of the wines, and Humbrecht describes it as follows: "1 is totally dry; 2 is not technically dry but the sweetness is not apparent on the palate; 3 is medium sweetness that may gradually disappear with aging; 4 is sweet wine; 5 is for high sweetness, a Vendange Tardive in richness but without botrytis." Humbrecht is to be commended for instituting this system as it will immensely aid consumers.Importer: Kermit Lynch Wine Merchant, Berkeley, CA; tel. (510) 524-1524

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