Trimbach Gewurztraminer Vendanges Tardives / 2018 / 375mL

Description:

The Trimbach Gewurztraminer Vendanges Tardives 2018 is a richly sweet late-harvest white from Alsace, sold here in a 375mL half bottle. Golden in the glass and unmistakably Gewurztraminer, it carries real concentration without tipping into heaviness.

Lychee, quince paste and dried apricot lead, with rose petal, ginger and a waft of orange peel behind them. Time in the glass brings out honey and a faint smokiness that keeps the perfume from becoming cloying.

The palate is unctuous and broad, sweetness carried on a firm spine of acidity that runs right through the finish. Alsace's warm, dry 2018 summer ripened Gewurztraminer generously while October's cool nights held the freshness in, and that balance shows in a wine that finishes long, spiced and clean rather than sticky.

A half bottle is the sensible format for a wine like this: enough for two or three small glasses at the end of a meal, with no half-finished bottle left in the fridge. Serve it well chilled with washed-rind or blue cheese, foie gras or terrine, tarte tatin, or a mango and ginger dessert. It also handles fragrant, mildly spiced dishes better than most.

Drinking beautifully now and good for a decade or more, though bear in mind a 375mL matures faster than the 750mL, so this one will show its honeyed, developed side sooner.