Domaine Robert Klingenfus 2005 Riesling Clos des Chartreux

Jun 29th, 2008 by admin

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If you are visiting us for the first time, Welcome! The Wine Spies feature one exceptional wine each day – and we only bring you wines that we ourselves seek out and love. Always, the wines are great. Sometimes even better than that, as is the case with today’s wine from Domaine Robert Klingenfus.

EXCLUSIVE WINE ALERT:

As part of our inaugural launch of International Wine Sundays, The Wine Spies have secured a very special wine. We are the only retailer in the United States with an allocation of this rare, organic and boutique Alsace Riesling. Be sure to pick up a few bottles, one for your next summer get-together and a couple for your cellar and collection. But stock up now, our allocation is extremely limited.

SAVINGS ALERT:

Use the promotion code FRENCHSPY for free ground shipping on orders of six or more bottles. Be sure to sign up for our Daily Dispatch for more valuable promotions for additional savings.

Mission Codename: A.O.C. Alsace… Organic… Chartreux!

Operative: Agent White & Agent Terroir

Objective: Seek out a boutique organic Riesling from France’s famous Alsace region.

Mission Status: Accomplished!

Current Winery: Domaine Robert Klingenfus

Wine Subject: 2005 Riesling Clos des Chartreux

Winemaker: Robert Klingenfus

Backgrounder:

The Alsace AOC (also Vin d’Alsace AOC) covers the entire Alsace region in east-central France bordering Germany from north of Strasburg to Switzerland’s Basel with the Rhine river as a natural border.

The region is known primarily for Riesling, Gewurztraminer, Pinot Gris, Pinot Blanc, Pinot Noir, Muscat and Sylvaner along with several lesser varietals. The wines of the Alsace provide a great balance between the classic French styles with German influence (don’t tell the French that though).

The region is also rich in history which is why you get the mixture in various winemaking influences with the border being disputed from 1648’s Thirty Years War all the way through World War II.

Wine Spies Tasting Profile:

Look – Clear golden with tints of pale green with thick slow legs that that creep down the side of the glass. This wine is thick and viscous when swirled.

Smell – Clean and bright with flavors of tart tropical fruits and layers of spice and a distinct Alsace mineral component.

Feel – Smooth, medium dry (very slight sweetness) with a creamy mouth-feel that balances the a nice minerality.

Taste – Tart flavors of tropical fruit, a bold grapefruit component, with hints of spice, floral blossoms, flinty minerality and a very subtle nutty flavor.

Finish – Long and crisp with tart fruits, especially the bright grapefruit, and lingering with its other flavor components.

Conclusion – The 2005 Clos des Chartreux is a beautiful wine with well balanced and integrated flavors that will please even the most discerning Alsace experts. For those that deny that Terroir has an impact on wine flavors, this wine proves them wrong.

Being medium-dry with balanced acidity and a lighter alcohol content, this wine will pair perfectly with all your summer creations. We enjoyed this wine with a salad with fresh figs, Roquefort cheese and candied walnuts with a balsamic reduction dressing.

Mission Report:

The plan was to arrive in France with a few day’s to spare before the start of the 2008 Tour de France. Flying into Paris and then jumping a train to Brest. Upon arriving in Paris, Agent Terroir was their at Charles de Gaulle airport. Terroir was supposed to have arranged our transportation, lodging and even setting up our bikes so we could ride a few of the stages before the official race.

Like all good plans, once put into operation, they go right out the window. Terroir said Brest was off the itinerary, we had no bikes and hopefully, we’ll have time to hit some of the later mountain stages, but we would most likely miss the first few stages.

Instead, we jumped a connecting flight to Strasbourg on the French/German border. Normally, I don’t mind connecting flights, but when they are in small airplanes, I prefer to be at the controls. Terroir noticed my agitation and tried to calm me with stories of exquisite wines, and small wineries that focus on organic and biodynamic production…

At Strasbourg, things went from bad to worse, Terroir had hired the ugliest lime and chartreuse green two-tone Citroën 2CV (yeah – the ones that look like refrigerators); and it barely ran. Agent Terroir is way to into this ’green’ thing.

Domaine Robert Klingenfus 2005 Riesling Clos des Chartreux

Our ’green wheels’ for this mission.

Thankfully after some coaxing, it started and we headed north along the Rhine to Molsheim. Along the way, Terroir was regaling me with stories of the latest small producer he had found. How perfect their wine was. How he loved the commitment to biodynamic, sustainable farming and organic production. And how the Wine Spies would be the only folks in the U.S. to get this wine.

The most interesting part of the story, was that the wine we were going to taste was made from a Premier Cru vineyard and in the style that dates back almost 500 years. Originally, the Clos des Chartreux, named from Charters who lived in the region was made by Carthusian Monks in 1520.

The long ride gave me a chance to calm down a little, but it was only once we arrived at Domaine Robert Klingenfus and I tasted the wine that I really relaxed. The wine was delicious, classic Alsace in style, medium dry with tropical fruit, tart grapefruit and a unique mineral component that is 100% Alsace in nature.

I immediately reported into the Operations Center that we had acquired a target wine and that I would be unavailable for the rest of the week. _Now, I only hope our P.O.S. Citroën 2CV can get me all the way across France to I can catch stage one next weekend!

Agent Red’s Mission Postscript:

For those fans of the Tour de France, you can catch coverage of this amazing bicycle race (along with all the scandals) on Versus Channel (check your local cable listings; formerly Outdoor Life Network – OLN); and no, the guy that dresses up like the Devil with a pitchfork and chases the riders up the mountain stages is not Agent Terroir in disguise (although it may be Agent White’s alter-ego Dr. Decimal!)