Albert Boxler - Riesling Sommerberg 2014 (750ml)

Ultra-classic Alsace Riesling, with a steely, focused palate and a whiff of kerosene. The power and concentration points straight towards a Grand Cru origin. (Drink between 2022-2032)

Pale green-tinged yellow. Aromas of peach, orange, apple and botanical herbs are complicated by balsamic hints. Fresh and juicy, offering flavors of green apple and honey that linger nicely on the tactile finish. This is much larger and riper than the Riesling Réserve, but offers greater refinement. It is also very open and almost shockingly forward for a Boxler Riesling, but fairly typical of granite soils such as those of the Sommerberg that tend to give immediately open, showy wines. For those worried about sweetness levels in Alsace white wines, be warned that this is tastes off-dry rather than classically dry: Boxler doesn’t believe in lab analysis all that much and so didn’t have the numbers when I asked, but guesses this has between 3 and 7 g/L residual sugar (I’d say closer to seven than to three). Made from two parcels that grow in a trough on the grand cru’s slope, where the cooler microclimate allows for a very different Riesling than Boxler’s Réserve and one that can resist water stress better. (Drink between 2019-2026)