The chalk and mineral-scented 1997 Tokay-Pinot Gris Bergheim is medium-bodied, tightly wound, and backward. Its concentrated core displays excellent richness as well as smoky pears, apples, and honeysuckle. This austere wine should blossom with a year or two of cellaring to reveal its full potential. Projected maturity: 2001-2006.Importer: Robert Kacher Selections, Washington, DC; tel (202) 832-9083.

Although it is from a cooler micro-climate than the 1994 Tokay-Pinot Gris Beblenheim, the 1994 Tokay-Pinot Gris Bergheim exhibits plenty of intense, cherry-like, honeyed fruit, medium to full body, and average acidity. For a Deiss wine, it is atypically fat, with plenty of glycerin in the long, heady finish. One of the more forward and flattering wines in the Deiss portfolio, it should be drunk over the next 7-8 years. Readers should realize that the 1994s are exceptionally young, relatively unevolved wines that are just beginning to hint at their potential.Robert Kacher: 2015 Vine Street NE, Washington, DC 20018; tel. (202) 832-9083, fax (202) 529-2579

Just about any French vineyard owner will talk terroir given the opportunity, but no one argues the case for terroir more passionately than Marcel Deiss. Should any readers be traveling to Alsace, Deiss is definitely a man worth visiting. All of his wines exhibit distinctive personalities. Deiss produced two outstanding examples of Tokay-Pinot Gris in 1992. Both the 1992 Tokay-Pinot Gris Bergheim (from limestone soils) and the 1992 Tokay-Pinot Gris Altenberg are concentrated, powerful wines with 13%-14% alcohol. Both are dry, but by Deiss's standards, fatter than he would prefer. These are large-scaled, well-endowed, rich, young wines made from yields of less than two tons per acre. The Altenberg reveals more botrytis in the nose, but both wines possess plenty of honey, and gobs of flavor and power. Drinkable now, they promise to evolve for a decade. Importer: Robert Kacher Selections, Washington, DC; tel. (202) 832-9083