Celery root, mint, rose petal, and brown spices mark the nose of the Bursin 2004 Gewurztraminer Zinnkoepfle, which saturates the palate with a creamy essence of roses, honey, herbal-floral distillates, and brown spices. Smoked meat and caramelized celery root combine with intense spice, smoke, and high-toned herbal essences for one of the more pointed, penetrating exhibitions of Gewurztraminer finishing character I witnessed in this vintage. This has an edge in refinement over the 2005 and evinces only subtle sweetness, with no bitterness, and the merest hint of heat.Agathe Bursin – whose inaugural vintage was 2000, prior to which her family sold their grapes to the local coop – is one of Alsace’s major emerging talents. Although this widely-traveled young viticultrice (her preferred title) farms fewer only ten acres and is already chronically sold out, she says she does not intend to increase production by more than another third, and then only over the long run. Bursin indicated she had more botrytis in 2005 than in 2004, even though she harvested quite late (and even though this is the opposite experience from that of Mure in neighboring Rouffach) because Westhalten’s clay-poor soils generally retain very little moisture.A Thomas Calder Selection (various importers), Paris; fax 011-33-1-46-45-15-29.