An elegant white, sleek and light-bodied, with delicate flavors of Asian pear, apple blossom, stone and preserved lemon. Drink now. 30 cases imported.??–AN??Region: France / Alsace Select to Add

A lively Sylvaner, with candied lemon peel and baked apricot flavors layered with smoke and creamed almond notes. Mouthwatering finish. Drink now through 2017. 30 cases imported.??–AN??Region: France / Alsace Select to Add

The Boxler 2009 Sylvaner offers an unusually effusive fruitiness for this variety, with luscious pear and kiwi informing a seamless, polished palate, and cooling mint and coriander adding allure to a clear, generously juicy finish. Jean Boxler thinks this will gain complexity and slim over the next several years; certainly it will prove delicious for at least half a dozen. Jean Boxler relates that in 2009 he picked some parcels of young wines early due to stress, then sold off the juice; and any under 15 years’ age he didn’t even bother to pick. Eventually, when he harvested his older vines and best sites, the sugar levels were the same – but not the flavors. He deftly charted a course with most of the resulting wines between alcohol and residual sugar, but to the extent it was unavoidable, sinned on the side of sweetness. From 2008, almost predictably given the track record at this address, Boxler rendered sharply focused, minerally complex, yet seductively fruit-filled wines that should prove excellent both as keepers and as partners with cuisine. Boxler compares these wines with his 2002s and finds then “definitely more interesting than the 2001s.” While most of the 2008s finished fermenting already by Christmas – which is par for the course chez Boxler – he points out that several of the extraordinary wines from the Brand lingered into spring. (For some detail on among other things Boxler’s different Riesling parcels, see my report in issue 188.)Importer: Robert Chadderdon Selections, New York, NY; tel. (212) 757-8185

Pungent green herbs and raw hazelnut scent the Boxler 2008 Sylvaner and inform a juicy mouthful benefitting from the Riesling-like acidity that normally low-acid varieties can possess in this vintage. Riesling-like too is a sense of somehow crystalline mineral character shimmering in the refreshing if arguably slightly austere finish. This should remain deliciously versatile for at least a half dozen years. Jean Boxler relates that in 2009 he picked some parcels of young wines early due to stress, then sold off the juice; and any under 15 years’ age he didn’t even bother to pick. Eventually, when he harvested his older vines and best sites, the sugar levels were the same – but not the flavors. He deftly charted a course with most of the resulting wines between alcohol and residual sugar, but to the extent it was unavoidable, sinned on the side of sweetness. From 2008, almost predictably given the track record at this address, Boxler rendered sharply focused, minerally complex, yet seductively fruit-filled wines that should prove excellent both as keepers and as partners with cuisine. Boxler compares these wines with his 2002s and finds then “definitely more interesting than the 2001s.” While most of the 2008s finished fermenting already by Christmas – which is par for the course chez Boxler – he points out that several of the extraordinary wines from the Brand lingered into spring. (For some detail on among other things Boxler’s different Riesling parcels, see my report in issue 188.)Importer: Robert Chadderdon Selections, New York, NY; tel. (212) 757-8185