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Alsace Pinot Gris Rosenberg Domaine Barmès-Buecher 2022 DE
Tasting Notes: The wine comes from a 30 year-old parcel of Pinot Gris located on the lower slope of the Rosenberg, where the deep clay limestone soil encourages the development of exotic, almost... tropical fruit aromatics. In the glass, the wine has a beautiful, limpid yellow gold color. Dried pineapple, Asian pears, lemongrass, and honeysuckle, along with fresh cream, ginger, and macadamias alternate with rose petals, crystallized honey, and grated coconut, all moving in and out of the background as the nose evolves in the glass. On the palate, the wine has a sensuous, creamy texture, with rich, layered flavors that echo the nose, adding wild mint, sweet herbs, clementines, and briny gravelly grapefruit zest, all buttressed by the sensational crisp acidity characteristic of Maxime’s wines. Read More
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In 1985 Geneviève (Buecher) and François Barmès formed their domaine from the combined land of their families, who had owned vines in the Alsatian town of Wettolsheim since the 17th century. François Barmès wholeheartedly embraced the Austrian philosopher Rudolph Steiner’s belief in the interdependence of the forces of life, earth, and the cosmos. So in 1995, in order to undo the damage caused by decades of chemically dependent viticulture, he began the transformation of his vineyards to biodynamics. Today his son Maxime carries on with the same commitment to grow the most exciting, terroir-expressive wines in Alsace, taking the discipline of biodynamics a step further: now, whenever possible, he uses a horse in the vineyards instead of a tractor.
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With the crumbling of the Roman Empire near the end of 5th Century AD, the defeated Germanic Tribes began returning to Gaul via trade routes through Alsace. They settled the military camps built by the Romans to protect a vital economic resource: wine. Thus began a mixing of Gallic, Celtic and Germanic cultures that now characterizes the people (and the wines) of this region. Alsace has changed nationality many times during the last 1600 hundred years: the Franks, Charlemagne, the Holy Roman Empire, the Habsburgs, and modern Germany. Such has been the fate of this "Land of Unshed Tears." Throughout all of these upheavals, agriculture and wine were important vehicles for trade and sustenance. The wine-growing areas extend in a narrow strip along the slopes of the Vosges, near the cities of Colmar and Wettolsheim. Wine has been an important economic resource since Charlemagne, but the appellation contrôlée for Alsace was established only as recently as 1962.
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Another member of the "Pinot" family thought to be a genetic mutation of Pinot Noir. The two are so similar that only visible difference is in the color of the skins; Pinot Gris skins are pink, rather than the deep blue-black of Pinot Noir. One of the most important grapes of Alsace, where the wines tend towards richness which comes from the cool dry autumns that allow the grapes to remain on the vine for an extended period. In much of Italy, where the grape is known as Pinot Grigio, the wines are generally crisper and leaner, In Germany it is known as Grauer Burgunder, and depending on where it's grown, can be richer or crisper. It is occasionally produced as a rich, sweet wine in late harvest versions.
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Hams, turkey, and Asian preparations of chicken, pork or seafood all work wonderfully with this very versatile wine.
