WTN: Acid imbalance in an Alsatian grand cru.

Wiebelsberg Riesling AOC Alsace Grand Cru 1996 from Marc Kreydenweiss, Andlau.

1996 was a famously acidic albeit generally fine year in North Western Europe, so I have held off opening these bottles and those from neighbouring Kastelberg until now. I have quite an acid “tooth” so I was expecting to enjoy this bottle a lot with sole, spinach, French beans and tortellini.

C: Pale to medium yellow.
N: Quite developed showing round white fruit with attractive mineral complexity with the usual petrol notes quite in the background.
P: It was all there; fragrant aromas, appealing acidity, some “gras” (literally = “fat”), complex minerals and good length. The problem for me was that the acidity is quite dominant and the palate therefore seems a bit out of balance. With the sole and spinach, the wine went fine but, as soon as I took some French beans and pasta, the acidity hurt. This wine therefore calls for very careful pairing with quite simple seafood dishes without rich sauce or even slightly sweet accompaniment. Still, with the right food, 16/20.

I also have some 1997s which are likely to suffer from the reverse problem and to be even more difficult to pair.

Interesting question? Will further ageing tame the acidity or, on the contrary, reduce the “gras” and emphasise the imbalance?

Acid hangs on much longer than fruit. Those legendary vintages where you get both fruit and acid are rare (1990 Burgundy or 2001 in Germany). I've had wines though that gave the finger to all logic. 1977 Gruener Veltliners (a poor vintage in Austria) that were showing much more fruit and texture than they should, while the 'better vintage' showed nothing. I've asked vintners in Burgundy about the 2003's (wines from a vintage that to my mind would go down as one of the most spoofilated and un-ageworthy of the young century) and most of them believed them to be 20 year wines. I worry more about laying down dry german riesling than I do about slightly sweeter stuff too. Wines with higher acidity need less sulfur as well. Sugar and sulfur are the two greatest preservatives in wine.