2015 Riesling Cuvée Colette Domaine Weinbach

Un vin déjà très élégant, dans un univers floral, avec un toucher de bouche très délicat et cristallin.

The 2015 Riesling Cuvée Colette is from the bottom of the Schlossberg and is grown on a more sandy soil. The wine displays a very clear and elegant bouquet of bright and fresh fruits intertwined with discreet flinty flavors. Round, piquant and elegant on the palate, this is a full-bodied, intense, lush and well-structured Riesling; it has a fully ripe and concentrated fruit, well-dosed power and a very good tannin grip. It is still a bit reductive and tight, but indicates an excellent ageing potential. The Cuvée Colette was named Cuvée Catherine until the 2013 vintage. "It is a tribute to her, although she always refused it during her lifetime," says Catherine Faller. The wine was bottled with 13.67% alcohol and 5.95 grams of sweetness, but tastes drier than the Cuvée Theo.

Bright straw. Exotic fruit notes of pineapple and papaya on the nose, plus a higher- pitched lime element. Then sweet and dense but juicy and energetic in the mouth, offering very good cut and spicy elements. Really spreads out to coat the entire palate. Finishes long and aromatic, without the youthfully chewy impression of the Schlossberg Riesling. In fact, this is not surprising, as it's made from vines grown on the bottom of the Grand Cru, which is sandier and has a good presence of degraded granite, which tends to give wines that are rounder and more exuberant (just like Colette herself) than those picked from the Schlossberg's higher sections. These vines are 45 years old on average (not 35 as I wrote last year). Readers should note that up to and including the 2013 vintage, this wine used to be called the Riesling Cuvée Sainte Catherine (without the "Schlossberg).

Lovely, lifted lemon notes are reminiscent of the purity of citrus oil, with accents of stone and smoke too. The palate of this wine is taut and fresh with a whistle-clean, streamlined drive. it offers laser-sharp acidity clad in mellowing fruit with glints of pink grapefruit and a profound, stony core.