Leon Beyer Comtes d'Eguisheim Gewurztraminer 2011 (750ml) *
Product price
$99.99
Description
Gewurztraminer usually arrives with a lush, perfumed sweetness, so a bottling made bone dry is worth pausing over. This is the Comtes d'Eguisheim cuvée from Leon Beyer in Alsace, drawn from a parcel in the Eichberg cru, a site long associated with the variety, and finished with less than five grams of residual sugar. The 2011 vintage now has real age on it, which suits a wine built for the long haul rather than early gratification.
Expect a pale straw color and a bouquet that reads more mineral and spiced than overtly floral, with lime skin, grapefruit, citrus peel, and a faint smoky note. The palate is medium bodied and layered, dense and juicy yet distinctly crunchy, carrying tropical fruit, mint, and white pepper across a bright saline core. Acidity keeps everything taut and focused, and the finish trails long and pure with lemon zest and a green, herbal lift. Intense without being heavy, and drinking beautifully now.
Expert Reviews
So much fun to drink this older gewurz with lime skin, spice and mineral aromas and flavors throughout. Medium body. Compact palate that is layered and crunchy. Drink now. (James Suckling, July 2019)
Pale straw yellow color. Complex, subtly cool aromas of grapefruit, mirabelle, citrus peel, white flowers, and minerals. Then dense, juicy and fresh, with a spherical texture and complex flavors of tropical fruits, mint and white pepper, along with a bright mineral overlay. Boasts wonderfully harmonious acidity, with a strong lemon zest and chlorophyll nuance echoing long on the minerally, very pure finish. Only 4 g/l residual sugar for this classically dry wine, and 5.6 g/l total acidity. Another great Comtes d'Eguisheim gewurz, made from grapes grown in the Eichberg cru, one of the greatest of all for this variety in Alsace. (Vinous, November 2012)
Bottled with less than 5 grams of residual sugar, the 2011 Gewurztraminer Cuvée des Comtes d’Eguisheim shows a very clear and spicy bouquet with fumé aromas. Rich and concentrated with a lovely piquant minerality, this is a very well-balanced and focused Gewurz sourced from a parcel in the Grand Cru Eichberg. A great and intense but by no means big or bold wine that will be available in 2018 at the earliest. Strongly recommended. (Wine Advocate, October 2015)