The 2005 Schoffweg positively erupts from the glass with vanilla, licorice, heliotrope, and candied lime peel. Remarkably concentrated with its honeyed, vanilla cream-drenched and chalk-dusted palate, it finishes with reverberating intensity of sweet floral perfume and a torrential rust of creamy, chalk-infused fruit. The hint of wood serves to frame the generosity of ripe fruit without intruding on the finish. I suspect this will be capable of a decade’s worth of fascinating evolution, but it is already nearly irresistible. As proof of the unique proclivities of this site, Deiss produces a photograph as evidence that here – contrary to all “normal” expectations – Riesling and Pinot Gris ripen at the same relatively early point. In the high, austerely chalky, north-facing Grassberg, Deiss planted a rainbow of vines, but principally Gewurztraminer and the Jura-native Savagnin Rose (known elsewhere in Alsace as “Klevener” – with two “e”s – and even given its own sub-appellation in the town of Heiligenstein). Jean-Michel Deiss has been growing some of the finest wines in Alsace for more than a quarter century and with them – as well as with his passionately articulate discourse – capturing the imagination and affection of wine enthusiasts world-wide. But the bearded sage of Bergheim is never satisfied, and beginning in the late eighties, he began to completely re-think his wines and means of truly embracing his terroirs. The result was new acquisitions and plantings to achieve (beginning a decade ago) single-vineyard, field-blend bottling the likes of which had scarcely been seen in Alsace for the better part of a century, and to certain of which the governing authorities have recently been persuaded (perhaps as much by Deiss’ metaphysics of terroir as by the profundity of his vinous results) to grant the status “Grand Cru.” Deiss’ special “vins de terroir” are released only after he judges them to have had sufficient time in bottle to being to show their personalities (with the 2005s only appearing in 2007). Two thousand five, incidentally, was one of the smallest harvests in this estate’s history, and fraught with difficulty, Deiss reports. Even with “varietally-“ labeled wines, Deiss can display unorthodoxy. Time only permitted me a too-brief taste of three from among Deiss’s recent nobly sweet releases, none of which one should even think about drinking for years. A 2004 Gewurztraminer V.T. from the Altenberg and Burg displayed pungent aromatics, great sweetness, and a tactile phenolic presence. I found the new wood on a 2005 Pinot Gris S.G.N. rather intrusive. And while there was no questioning the sheer concentration, viscosity, and sweetness of Deiss’ 2005 Gewurztraminer “Quintessence” – a wine selected berry-by-shriveled berry from the Altenberg and vinified in a tiny tank – it is never easy to judge such elixirs as wine even under the best of conditions. All things considered, I have elected to defer my responsibility for assessing the nobly sweet wines at this address for a later occasion.Importer: Vintus, Pleasantville, NY; tel. (914) 769-3000
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