Topic: TN: The key to life (Alsace, pt. 7, long, img)
Author: Thor Iverson
Date: 20040923034525

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Paris

The cheese that keeps on giving The lapin not-so-agile

Alsace

Monsieur is a great connoisseur The Beyer necessities Boxler rebellion An unfamiliar malady Pierre, poisson & penguin lust Brothel cuisine

One among four

“If the vine is in the right place, it should be able to grow itself. Without help.” So pronounces Mark Kreydenweiss, standing tall over our little group as we taste through his remarkable and evocative collection of wines. On the corner of the table is a box of rocks and slabs of hardened subsoil, each labeled by type and vineyard source. One of our party picks through them, her inner geologist coming to the fore, while Kreydenweiss explains the deep connection between each vineyard’s makeup and the resultant wines.

A small winery by the standards of Alsace’s exporting estates, producing a relatively small total of 60,000 bottles per year, Kreydenweiss is probably the least known of the region’s “big four” biodynamic producers (the other three are Ostertag, Barmès-Buecher, and Zind-Humbrecht…though there are other, smaller wineries who also follow the practice). Like the others, he is a passionate defender of terroir über alles, but he also possesses a personal reserve that shows very clearly through his wines, and that ultimately allows him to compose one of the better cases for transparency of site being enhanced by the rituals of biodynamism. Not to be found here are the flamboyancies of the ultra-ripe Zind-Humbrecht style, so often contorting and obliterating the underlying terroirs that could, if allowed to express themselves more naturally, lead to wines much more interesting and drinkable than they are. Nor are the iconoclastic diversions of André Ostertag on parade, masking both terroir and varietal character with a lack of precision and focus…and, in occasional fits of delusion, barrique…in a way that distracts from the very real potential of his grape sources.

No, Kreydenweiss is an avowed non-interventionist, to the extent that the term has any meaning in this world of constant interventions, and while he is more than willing to pursue the sur-maturité that is the fetish of the modern oenophile, his cooler northern sites – mostly situated around and above the cozy village of Andlau – allow this without the excesses that can turn more southerly vineyards into syrup production factories. In other words, Kreydenweiss’ wines tend towards dryness as a simple function of location, but he is not at all religious in its pursuit, and will take what the vintage and the vineyard give him. Yet it’s important to note that, in the context of the Bas-Rhin, Kreydenweiss’ vineyards are not all that cool, and this both protects him from certain vagaries of vintage and helps increase the natural intensity of both varietal and site characteristics in his wines.

Biodynamic for fifteen years, Kreydenweiss tries to maintain a 32-inch setback from his neighbors’ non-biodynamic vineyards, to insulate his grapes from damaging runoff. His average yields are low, but not ridiculously so; 40 hl/ha, compared to the (highly depressing) overall Alsatian average of 87 hl/ha…though much of this overproduction comes from the fertile Rhine plain, not the better vineyards that blanket the Vosges foothills. His goals: “finesse, subtlety, length, minerality…and ‘deliciousness.’” Worthy pursuits, all.

Marc his words

Kritt-ical mass

We’re already well into our tasting by the time Kreydenweiss appears tableside with his carton of stones; before his arrival, his wife Emmanuelle takes care of us amidst wrestling with her own procession of winery paperwork. He’s tall, sun-baked, and imposing, but patient and expressive with his answers to our questions. That said, there aren’t many to ask. The wines speak most eloquently for themselves.

Kreydenweiss 2000 Pinot Blanc Kritt “Les Charmes” (Alsace) – The usual 50% pinot blanc, 50% auxerrois blend, from the iron-heavy Kritt vineyard. Big, spiced leaves and stone fruit around a very strongly chalky core, this wine is utterly without antecedents among high-quality pinot blanc from Alsace, yet utterly compelling in its individuality. Objectively, it’s not as “good” as the best bottlings of, say, Boxler, but it has its own special and worthy story to tell.

Kreydenweiss 2000 Riesling Andlau (Alsace) – From granitic bedrock around the village itself. Intense mixed nuts and zingy acidity in a long but fruit-free package, and showing a worrisome oxidative note. Has this just been open too long? Judgment reserved.

Kreydenweiss 1999 Riesling Clos Rebberg “Aux Vignes” (Alsace) – A schist vineyard that’s easily attacked by botrytis (necessitating great care at harvest), and named after the mountain against which the vineyard rests. Interestingly, Kreydenweiss professes no trouble at all with the 1999 vintage, so variable in the better-known Haut-Rhin wines, instead reserving his concerns regarding inconsistency for the 2000 vintage. Mesoclimates will out. As for the wine: light petrol and soft iron notes spruce up a long, high-acid apricot breeze. A good quality riesling, with medium-term aging potential, but not yet showing much in the way of complexity.

Kreydenweiss 1999 Riesling Wiebelsberg “La Dame” (Alsace) – The grand cru Wiebelsberg isn’t up there with famous terroirs like Brand or Rangen, nor are its producers – except Kreydenweiss and, possibly, Gresser – of surpassing fame themselves. Thus, the inherent quality of the vineyard remains a fairly hidden secret to all but serious devotees of Alsatian wine. As it is, I don’t believe it to be in the top rank of grand crus, but here Kreydenweiss shows what it’s capable of in the right hands. The wine, subtitled “the lady” after the name of the vineyard’s mountain – though the “lady” in this case was apparently a witch – shows silky minerality and building complexity through a long and very dry finish. Note the absence of fruit descriptors; this wine is all about texture and minerals, and these are qualities that will only increase with time.

Kreydenweiss 2000 Riesling Clos Rebberg “Aux Vignes” (Alsace) – Picked in mid-November, and while still extremely dry, showing the faintest hints of sur-maturité along with what appears to be an aromatic note of botrytis, there is otherwise a full-bodied yet sugar-free intensity and concentration that lingers, desiccating the palate long after the wine has left the mouth. Fascinating, and far too young to really judge, but I’d guess this will eventually be better than the 1999.

Kreydenweiss 2000 Riesling Kastelberg “Le Château” (Alsace) – In contrast to Wiebelsberg, there’s no doubt of the historic quality of this grand cru vineyard, planted and singled-out since Roman times. And here, from this spectacular terroir, is a wine that some misguided writers not only claim doesn’t exist anymore, but shouldn’t exist anymore: a quality wine that requires, demands, begs for age. Tight now, it shows a closely-knit yet rounded package of rich nutmeg, clove, and a touch of soda-like sweetness that expands and broadens on the finish. So much so that one wonders if the finish will ever actually finish. A monumental wine-in-waiting.

Kreydenweiss ROCKS!

Kreydenweiss 1999 Clos du Val d’Eléon “l’Âme de la Terre” (Alsace) – A fairly new vineyard for Kreydenweiss, its schist planted to an unusual mélange of riesling and pinot gris. The result? Spiced pear and ripe, sweet apple with minerality drying out the finish. Long and fascinating, but I wish I’d tasted it blind, as the struggle to get my head around the individual contributions to the cépage interferes with my appreciation for its unmistakable quality. Definitely a wine to age.

Kreydenweiss 2000 Pinot Gris Clos Rebberg “Aux Vignes” (Alsace) – Picked from mid- to late November, showing strikingly ripe pear and petrol drying softly to a lingering, crisp finish. Bracing and elegant at the same time, this is an ageable wine just a slight step below the quality of the pinot gris to follow, yet with as much or more aging potential.

Kreydenweiss 2001 Pinot Gris Lerchenberg “Les Alouettes” (Alsace) – A clay vineyard tucked next to Andlau’s Moenchberg, and yielding a much softer expression of pinot gris than the Clos Rebberg. Extremely floral to the point of being perfumed (blind, I might guess a blend that included muscat), and finishing like an elegant basket of flowers freshly-picked from an array of fruit trees. Lovely in its exceedingly feminine fashion, and carrying 1% residual sugar.

Kreydenweiss 1999 Klevner Kritt “La Quintessence du Pinot” (Alsace) – Klevner is an archaic name for “pinot,” that peculiar Alsatian designation that means “this might include pinot blanc, pinot gris, pinot noir, the misnamed ‘pinot’ auxerrois, and the even more misnamed ‘pinot’ chardonnay,” and that has usually given way to the more modern construction “pinot d’Alsace.” In reality, these tend to be pinot blanc/auxerrois blends that lean heavily on the auxerrois. Chez Kreydenweiss, the name klevner is instead used to identify a vendange tardive pinot blanc, a designation not legally allowed to appear on Alsatian wine labels due to pinot blanc’s official status as a “non-noble” grape. As with Boxler and their arcane system of label codes, this is the sort of “secret handshake” wine that, whatever its quality, falls victim to the often ridiculous, hair-shirt rigidity of the INAO’s efforts to classify the best wines and vines of Alsace. So, all that said, how does the wine measure up? Well, it’s intense and clearly botrytized, showing peach, pear, and soft banana aromas. What differentiates it from the last half-dozen (plus) wines, however, is a finish of only medium length. In another context, it would be perfectly sufficient, but in the context of the brilliant-finishing Kreydenweiss lineup, it definitely stands out, and not necessarily for the better. This is a really, really succulent wine right now, and there’s no reason to suspect it won’t age fairly well (the aging potential of pinot blanc being, in the main, greatly underestimated), but it does not reach the top rank that one might hope it should.

Kreydenweiss 1999 Pinot Gris Moenchberg “Le Moine” “Vendange Tardive” (Alsace) – Another grand cru vineyard planted since Roman times, “the monk” takes its name from the Benedictines who owned the site at the turn of the last millennium. Ripe Asian pear, banana skin, and grapefruit spice up a moderately sweet (6% residual sugar), balanced, long, and beautiful VT of great distinction. The finish has an unusual, cloth-like texture – drying influences from skins, from botrytis, from acidity – that only adds to this wine’s simultaneously friendly and exotic undertones.

Kreydenweiss 2000 Pinot Gris Clos Rebberg “Aux Vignes” “Sélection de Grains Nobles” (Alsace) – A soft attack predestines the wine to come: honeyed and spice-dusted pear with a delicate, latticework sweetness that lingers and charms. An almost touchingly fragile SGN in comparison to so many other mold-infused and sugar-infested blockbusters, it’s impossible to not be bewitched by this seductress.

In the cellar stands a boxer…

The crux of things

We presume we’re done, having tasted an SGN, but Kreydenweiss pulls a strangely non-flûted bottle from the shelf and pours a few splashes into newly-replaced glasses. He stands over us with a slightly inscrutable smirk. Why, it’s…it’s…

…it’s red.

A deep, dark, chewy red. This can’t possibly be a Kreydenweiss stab at the notoriously cranky pinot noir, can it?

Kreydenweiss 2001 “Ansata” Vin de Pays des Côteaux Flaviens “Lot 1” (Rhône) – OK, a riesling/pinot gris blend is unusual. A late-harvest pinot blanc is more unusual still. But the last thing anyone could possibly expect to taste at a winery in Alsace is this, a blend of 50% syrah, 25% cinsault, 20% grenache, and 5% mourvèdre from an area on the border of the Rhône Valley and the Languedoc. Yet it’s just one among many southerly experiments into which Kreydenweiss is dipping his artist’s brush. Here, we have mixed cherries, plum, and smoked herbs with a moderate level of ripe-but-rustic tannin and great acidity. The wine, from 12 hectares started in 1989, fully co-fermented and with a scant 5% of the total production subjected to maturation in oak, is a fascinating look into the mind of an Alsatian winemaker interpreting the grapes of the south. And, I might add, a delicious one, with the potential to age.

So…Kreydenweiss. Here is a domaine that does everything right, from vineyard to cellar. That it does not have a higher worldwide profile is undoubtedly a matter of priorities, for the focus remains clearly and obviously on the wine, rather than on aggressive marketing. And in the bipolar world of Alsatian wine, where there is constant strife between the sweet and the dry, between the terroirist and the oenologist, between the artisanal and the industrial, here is a domaine that forges boldly forward in pursuit of its own vision, eschewing cloudy rhetoric for the doctrine of the natural wine. A doctrine that begins and ends with the gentle whisper of the vineyard, and one that is in all too great a danger of being lost amongst the clamorous din of the modern craft of winemaking.

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