Zind Humbrecht Riesling Rangen de Thann Clos St Urbain GC 2016 (750ML)

99 JS / 97 WE / 95+ VM / 95 WA

#30 James Suckling's Top 100 Wines of 2018

Super smoky with enormous depth, but also incredibly precise and pristine with a salt, savory and mineral finish that doesn't want to stop. In spite of that unique personality and that there is a couple of decades of aging potential, it's so easy to enjoy right now. Made from biodynamically grown grapes. James Suckling

An intriguing nose combines smoke, flint, crushed citrus leaves and aromatic bergamot zest. The palate picks up some of those same ethereal citrus notes and underlines them with ripe Amalfi lemon freshness and more juicy ripe citrus like mandarin and aromatic tangerine. This is concentrated, alive, and electric with all manner of citrus and a vivid force of life. What a joy to drink now— hard to resist in fact—but this being dry Riesling we know that this has even more pleasure in store. Drink now–2035. – Anne Krebiehl MW, Wine Enthusiast

Luminous golden-tinged straw-yellow. Complex aromas of lemon curd, apricot, white pepper, lemongrass and crystallized ginger, complicated by Rangen-typical flintiness. Laser-like freshness lifts and extends the very pure fresh pomaceous and citrus fruit flavors on the long, penetrating, smoky-saline finish. As is almost always the case, this wine was made with grapes from plots situated both up high and down low on the Rangen hill (what changes each vintage is the percentage of grapes used from each section of the slope); in 2015, Olivier included 40% fewer grapes from the Rangen’s younger vines because he believed, not surprisingly, that they had not adapted as well to the year’s hot, droughty conditions. Ian d'Agata - Vinous Media

The 2016 Alsace Grand Cru Rangen de Thann Riesling Clos Saint Urbain displays a luminous yellow color and a fascinating bouquet of perfectly ripe Riesling fruit intertwined with very particular smoky/flinty and spicy notes that add fascinating complexity, finesse and elegance. On the palate, this is a lush, powerful but also refined, finessed and silky-textured Riesling with stunning purity, mouth-watering salinity and great intensity of fruit and mineral expression. It is less powerful than in other years but very elegant and still powerful enough, so very well-dosed and absolutely stimulating already today. – Stephan Reinhardt, Wine Advocate