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Domaine Barmes-Buecher Gewurztraminer Rosenberg

We were in Alsace, visiting Francois and Genevieve Barmes in September 2007. It was our second France excursion of the summer. Francois, the brilliant (some say maniacal) winegrower with the tractor tan, was beaming. When we trudged up the hill from the winery, started through the Rosenberg Vineyard, plucking grapes and munching, it was pretty easy to see why the broad-shouldered Alsatian was so excited.

There were just 400 cases produced of Francois Barmes’s 2007 Gewurztraminer “Rosenberg.” Deep gold in color — but don’t be fooled, this wine will live decades — with the wildest aromas of litchi, ripe pear and mint. But it’s the fantastic flowery concentration, perfectly offset by stinging Indian Summer acids that carries the day. This is the kind of signature bottle that reminds us why we started this adventure in the first place!

The grapes were ripening so slowly that many, including Francois Barmes, feared for the harvest. Even in August, the top hillside vineyards of a region known for its hot dry summer, was frighteningly behind. But vintages are made or broken in the last weeks of the season, not the first. After just a touch of rain in September, the Rosenberg vineyard — known to be the driest in all France — saw the clouds disappear, the turquoise Alsace sky return. Nature rewarded the Riesling, the Pinot Blanc and Pinto Gris. But most of all, it was this sensational, fantastically aromatic Gewurztraminer (even while still on the vine!) that shocked the winegrowers and pundits the most.