2013 Domaine de la Cave de Ribeauvillé, Pinot Blanc, Collection 2013 ($15.99)
I am so delighted to have met the folks at this wonderful winery in one of Alsace’s most famous wine towns (the same town in which Trimbach dwells). The cool thing about Domaine de la Cave de Ribeauvillé is the vast holdings they manage, the ability they therefore have to make selections and turn out lovely wines in every vintage…AND their dedication to creating top Alsatian wine at very fair prices. No, you won’t find in their wines the thick concentration that you’ll find in wines from, say, Marcel Deiss, or Zind-Humbrecht…but I don’t usually want fat white wines anyway! Especially at mealtime! I want whites that racily cut through my food, whites that make dinner a festival of elegance. Two years ago, I began my import of Domaine de la Cave de Ribeauvillé with one of their greatest wines (still available): the 2010 Riesling Grand Cru Rosacker, which is grown a few feet from the vines of Alsace’s legendary Clos Ste. Hune…and sold at 1/3 the price! But we’re making things even easier for wine-lovers now. We are importing four new wines from the winery, each from a major Alsace grape variety, each at a very popular price. This week I’m highlighting the lovely Pinot Blanc, a great white wine to serve at the start of a dinner party—or throughout a family dinner! Pale in the glass, the wine strikes me as on a par with good white wines from Macon: lightly fruity-appley on the nose, with complexing hints of mineral lurking around the edges. Then it becomes a really good Macon—with great acidity, elegance and verve. I love it for oysters, charcuterie, fish in light/white sauces, even roast chicken. Alsace comes home—your home!—to roost! Make it your house white!
