Schoffit Pinot Gris SGN Rangen Larmes de Lave / 2001 / 375mL

Description:

The Schoffit Pinot Gris SGN Rangen "Larmes de Lave" 2001 is a deeply concentrated dessert wine from the volcanic Rangen Grand Cru in Alsace, made entirely from botrytis-affected berries picked one by one. Two decades on, the colour has gone to amber and the wine drinks like an essence rather than a sweet white.

The nose is layered and slow to unfold: dried apricot, quince paste, candied citrus peel and honey, with smoky cold tea and a saline, mineral edge that keeps things from turning simply sugary. In the mouth it is thick and syrupy, with mango, marmalade and toffee running deep, and a persistent flinty note beneath the fruit.

For all its sweetness, the Larmes de Lave holds a bright line of acidity that carries the weight and stops the palate from cloying. The texture is unctuous, almost viscous, and the finish is very long and remarkably clean, leaving dried fruit and a faint smokiness behind.

Serve well chilled in small pours alongside blue cheese, foie gras, or tarte Tatin and apricot-based desserts. It is also complete enough to drink on its own after a meal, in place of dessert altogether.

This 375mL format is the sensible way to approach a wine of this intensity, as a half bottle for two to four people at the end of an evening with nothing left over. Half bottles mature faster than 750mL, so the 2001 is fully resolved and drinking beautifully now, with the acidity to hold through the next five to eight years in good cellar conditions.