I’ve been aching to taste this wine for about nine months now. It came on our Bangalow holiday with us but didn’t find a suitable food match or excuse. Tonight both came at once: Yon, our great friend and Annie’s godmother arrived from Sydney to stay the week with us, and we cooked up a ginger and black pepper fish stir fry that matches this wine like you would not believe. Let’s just say that few things make me as happy as an occasion like this.
This is only an entry level wine (about $60ish from memory) from my favourite Alsatian producer, Domaine Zind Humbrecht. The Herenweg de Turckheim Muscat 2000 is a dry white made from Muscat. It’s deep golden with great colour intensity and an orange hue. The nose is at once musky and floral with a distinct citrus lift. There are notes of malolactic characters (buttery). In the mouth this wine lays down the law, stating what the region has to offer: powerful dry whites with a palate notable for elegance and balance. Firm but not overstated acidity is balanced perfectly with residual sugar only evident as a contributor to its even palate weight. The wine’s entry is a genuine, natural continuation from the nose. Musk and rosewater on the mid-palate with orangeblossom and jasmine on the back palate. All this and sensational length just makes this a wine that I want to buy every bottle I can find. This fellow is 14.5% alcohol – stronger than most Shiraz, but just doesn’t come across at all hot or overpowering. This, my friends, is what wine is all about to me. Restraint, power, beauty.
All of this reminds me of Len Evan’s famous statement that every time you drink an inferior bottle of wine it is the same thing as smashing an excellent bottle of wine against a wall, to be wasted and unenjoyed by anyone.
