Gewürztraminer Roche Calcaire 2020

A Gewürztraminer that favours spice over blossom: anise, cardamom and dried ginger lead on the nose, underpinned by orange peel, firm mango, yellow plum and ripe red apple. There's also a subtle smoky note, lemon verbena and linden blossom. Radiant golden yellow in the glass.

The grapes come from a small vineyard near the Grand Cru Goldert in Gueberschwihr, as well as from selected plots of Hengst, Goldert and Clos Windsbuhl. What they share is a limestone-based geology. The cooler soil preserves acidity and produces a restrained style: more spicy than floral, more mineral than typically varietal.

The vineyards are old, and wherever a vine dies, a new one is planted. These younger vines, under roughly 30 years old, are harvested separately and go into this wine. In 2020, noble rot was absent, the grapes were very healthy, and the must fermented quickly and fairly dry; the wine shows 13.5% ABV and an off-dry residual sweetness. Olivier Humbrecht, the first Frenchman to hold the title of Master of Wine, farms 42 hectares biodynamically, with yields of 30 to 40 hectolitres per hectare.

Elegant attack with delicate sweetness, clearly defined, without heaviness. The acidity plays off the juicy pale fruit. Decant if possible and drink from large glasses.

As an aperitif with kumquats and Gewürztraminer cream on savoury crackers, with veal sweetbreads with truffle, beans, apricots and roasted porcini, or with filo pastries of braised rabbit with pointed cabbage kimchi, honey-grapefruit vinaigrette and lemon balm.

The Humbrecht family has been growing wine since 1620; in 1996 Olivier Humbrecht converted the first five hectares to biodynamics, and since 2019 Pierre Émile Humbrecht has been working alongside him as the eleventh generation. No wine leaves the cellar before one to two years of ageing.