Wine Reviews

A rare and very fine Pinot Gris, with peach, lemon curd and creamed honey seamlessly interwoven with stony, chalky mineral and smoke elements. Pierced by a streak of mouthwatering acidity, this shows elegance, complexity and length.

The golden color of the 2021 Pinot Gris Rangen de Thann Clos Saint Urbain Grand Cru signals richness. However, the wine is subtle on the nose and still clouded by promising reduction. The palate presents juicy pear, lemon-edged, with a lovely licorice bitterness. The acidity is smooth and balanced, but licorice keeps flashing up darkly, broodingly, speaking of the dark volcanic stone. The finish is very long and intriguing because this is such a taut, almost austere Pinot Gris, compelling and dramatic. Wait for this.

The 2020 Pinot Gris Rangen de Thann Clos Saint Urbain offers a clear and pure, smoky or flinty bouquet with dominant ripe seed-fruit aromas. Full-bodied, lush and piquant on the palate, this is a rich, luscious, round but persistently salty, enormously powerful Rangen with some burnt milk flavors on the finish. It’s impressive but not not that fascinating or more stimulating than the Riesling.

So spicy and smoky with a hint of mushroom, this is an enormously deep and concentrated dry pinot gris that’s just beginning to open up. With some aeration, ripe melon character is added to the expansive picture. Tons of spice at the imposing, dry finish and just a hint of raisin. From biodynamically grown grapes.

Sleek acidity frames this dense, finely knit white, which opens slowly on the palate, revealing detailed notes of nectarine and star fruit, apple blossom and ground ginger, blanched almond and honeycomb. There’s power here, in a sculpted, compact form, and the minerally underpinning, loaded with smoke and saline, echoes on the lasting finish.