May 2, 2015 | News | Wines of the Month | Mature Riesling

2005er Trimbach Riesling Clos Sainte Hune

We feature one of the icons of Riesling, which did superbly well in our 2005 retrospective tasting despite 2005 being a less than ideal vintage for dry wines. Jean Trimbach explains why.

The Clos Sainte Hune is one of the icons - if not the icon - of Riesling. This Clos (a Clos is a vineyard enclosed by walls) is situated in the Grand Cru Rosacker on a soil of limestone and marl. At the hands of the Maison Trimbach, it has yielded some of the most riveting Riesling the planet earth has ever seen.

This was no different in the 2005 vintage. In our extensive retrospective of the 2005 vintage just published in Issue No 27, we reviewed many of the iconic Riesling bottlings from Germany, France and Austria from that vintage. The Clos Sainte Hune came on top, despite 2005 not being an easy vintage for dry Riesling.

Jean Trimbach sees the success in the terroir and in the fermentation: “2005 was a quite contrasted vintage, with a dry, even very dry, spring and summer and some Riesling suffered from the heat and hydric stress. However, vineyards on marly limestone and argillaceous limestone resisted better. The result was not too high sugar levels (12.5-12.8° potential alcohol was the highest achieved at their Estate). What helped was that the wine did only finish its fermentation late, in February 2006, which is very rare. This, I feel, gave it the something extra.”

The wine is fuller than in other vintages but keeps the incredible complexity and packed lightness that made the success of this mythical bottling over the years.

2005er

Trimbach

Riesling Clos Sainte Hune

94

A superbly complex yet still reserved nose of roasted pineapple, mint, smoke, verbena, lemon grass, mirabelle and apple gives way to a rich and generous wine on the palate. The structure is fleshy, dense and generous with good freshness and fruit in the very long finish. There is a feeling of tannin structure highlighted by some grapefruit and salivating tartness. This is a superb dry Riesling! Now-2025

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