Gold. A vibrant, fleshy, open scent that is a very expressive and pure example of Alsace Pinot Gris: spices and red fruit. Full bodied and spicy, dry but fleshy. Though by no means an acid-forward wine, it does have perfectly adequate grip so it isn't a structureless mass, but rather is very moreish. Long. Wonderful wine.
Domaine Loew Pinot Gris Engelberg Grand Cru 2007
Very light colour, especially for Pinot Gris: watery with a greenish tint. Tasting this side by side with the Loew Bruderbach Clos Marienberg 2006, I was surprised by how elegant and restrained this was. This was a very beautiful wine, but I needed to readjust my ideas of what Pinot Gris should be! This wasn't a fleshy, expressive wine, but rather restrained, elegant, steely and like a tightly coiled spring. It is mineral with lots of grip and wonderful acidity for the grape, medium bodied but with friendly fruit - but it is dry and powerful. The fruit did have the spicy, red tones I expect from Pinot Gris but my initial reaction was still that of a painfully young CFE but with friendlier fruit. I thought this was awesome, though young!
Seriously, Alko's labels simply must comply with EU standards and have "contains sulfites" written in Finnish and Swedish. I think Product of France is very commonly seen.