Albert Boxler, Alsace
"If you're looking for great dry Rieslings of the world, you can't go past Domaine Albert Boxler, and there are unlikely to be better Rieslings on granite soils anywhere."
- Stephan Reinhardt, The Wine Advocate
Albert Boxler er et af stjernenavnene i Alsace. Jean Boxler er ved roret og kvaliteten har aldrig været bedre fra denne fornemme adres...
Only slightly sweet, the 2017 Pinot Gris Grand Cru Sommerberg Wiptal is flinty on the nose and very fine and elegant on the palate. Structured by fine tannins and lingering salinity, this 2017 Sommerberg W (as it is named in Europe) develops a long and intense finish. It should be a perfect match with foie gras. - Stephan Reinhardt
Bright straw-yellow with golden tinges. Delicately smoky nuances complicate orange oil, pear, and lemon verbena on the nose and in the mouth. Remarkably juicy and fresh Pinot Gris (the vines are planted at 400 meters above sea level, which helps this wine to always sport noteworthy acidity levels). Finishes long and deep, with a hint of residual sugar (in fact, this wine is more off-dry than dry). - Ian D'Agata
Luminous yellow. Lemon verbena, lemongrass, varnish and violet on the very floral, refined nose; apple and caramel pear tart emerge with aeration. Then penetrating and very pretty; tastes very much like a VT in style, but the flavors (which are similar to the aromas) run classically dry. In fact, this seemed to me as if there were some noble rot present, but Boxler told me that it’s just the way the grapes taste. Very beautiful wine that tastes long, dry and multilayered. There are different spellings of Wibtal, including Wiptal, Wipthal and Wibthal, but Boxler likes the one I report here. The Wibtal is located right next to the Eckberg at more or less the same altitude, and you can tell that these two Boxler wines, even though they are made with different grape varieties and origins (Riesling in the case of the Eckberg and Pinot Gris for the Wibtal), have the same structure and profile and underlying mineral stoniness. Very impressive Pinot Gris. - Ian D'Agata
Luminous yellow. Lemon verbena, lemongrass, varnish and violet on the very floral, refined nose; apple and caramel pear tart emerge with aeration. Then penetrating and very pretty; tastes very much like a VT in style, but the flavors (which are similar to the aromas) run classically dry. In fact, this seemed to me as if there were some noble rot present, but Boxler told me that it’s just the way the grapes taste. Very beautiful wine that tastes long, dry and multilayered. There are different spellings of Wibtal, including Wiptal, Wipthal and Wibthal, but Boxler likes the one I report here. The Wibtal is located right next to the Eckberg at more or less the same altitude, and you can tell that these two Boxler wines, even though they are made with different grape varieties and origins (Riesling in the case of the Eckberg and Pinot Gris for the Wibtal), have the same structure and profile and underlying mineral stoniness. Very impressive Pinot Gris. - Ian D'Agata
The 2015 Pinot Gris Grand Cru Sommerberg Wibtal opens with a super-ripe but fine, precise and fresh nose with a touch of noblesse and bacon due to the newer 1600-liter oak foudre where it was fermented. Rich, intense and juicy, this is a round, full-bodied, finely structured and elegant Pinot with a long and stimulatingly salty finish. Quite powerful on the mid-palate, but the finish is finessed, vital and salty, full of potential. - Stephan Reinhardt
The 2015 Pinot Gris Grand Cru Sommerberg Wibtal opens with a super-ripe but fine, precise and fresh nose with a touch of noblesse and bacon due to the newer 1600-liter oak foudre where it was fermented. Rich, intense and juicy, this is a round, full-bodied, finely structured and elegant Pinot with a long and stimulatingly salty finish. Quite powerful on the mid-palate, but the finish is finessed, vital and salty, full of potential. - Stephan Reinhardt
