Domaine Dirler-Cade Sylvaner Cuvee Vieilles Vignes, Alsace, France

凱德酒莊特釀老藤西萬尼干白葡萄酒

點(diǎn)擊次數(shù)：2540

Juicy, bitter-edged suggestions of honeydew melon and its rind mark a Dirler-Cade 2008 Sylvaner Vieilles Vignes that offers refreshment one cannot by any means take for granted with this grape. Notes of marjoram, mint, and mineral salts lend a cooling and saliva-inducing cast to a long, refined finish. This model of understatement and of the elegance that its under-appreciated cepage can muster should prove highly versatile over the coming decade, and quite possibly beyond. As usual chez Dirler, I was forced during my most recent visit to take a slightly abbreviated tour of the two most recent collections on account of this family’s sheer multitude of bottlings, but it is clear from their 2008s that this remains one of the most frequently exciting – and generally consistent – sources of wine in Alsace, making it unfortunate that one doesn’t see Dirler-Cade wines more often in the U.S. Moreover, this is an estate that’s rendering highly distinctive; often deliciously unorthodox; but never fashion-pandering innovations while retaining a clear and constant vision of how the classic cepages of Alsace should perform in sites that can boast some of the longest – not to mention most-deserved – reputations of any in their region. All this having been noted, 2009 was a challenge even here: sometimes well-met, but seldom entirely surmounted. Rieslings were being harvested as early as mid-September, and Jean Dirler observes that had he cut back the crop on his Pinot Gris and Gewurztraminer rather than allowing bunches to remain abundant, he would really have had a problem with sky-high potential alcohol. (For more on the Dirlers’ sites and methods, consult my reports on earlier vintages.)Importer: Robert Chadderdon Selections, New York, NY; tel. (212) 757-8185

Dirler-Cade's 2007 Sylvaner Vieilles Vignes - coming 90% from vines in the Saering and Kessler grand crus - smells alluringly of fresh pear and a carpet of flowers and herbs; offers a satisfying balance of stuffing (at a higher-than-perceived 13.7% alcohol) and refreshment; and finishes with a positively shimmering sense of interplay among fruit, flowers, herbs, lemon zest, and chalky, crystalline mineral notes. Dirler says the Kesseler brings the fruit and perfume and the Saering the Riesling-like acidity and mineral character to this serendipitous blend sure to please for at least another 3-5 years. I-ve occasionally forgotten the odd bottle of Dirler Sylvaner in my cellar and been rewarded years later. Jean-Pierre Dirler was another of those growers to express delight at the 2007 vintage with its wide window of harvest opportunities, but to have sold off or declassified much of his family's production in 2006. It bears repeating that this estate's international profile is not nearly as high as is the quality of wine that have issued from it routinely since at least the mid-1980s, when I first visited here. I did not, unfortunately, have chance to taste quite the entire 2007 Dirler-Cade collection, and canvassed only a small selection of their in any event diminished number of 2006s.Importer: Robert Chadderdon Selections, New York, NY; tel. (212) 757-8185