2016 Gustave Lorentz Pinot Gris Alsace

Fruit for this cuvée is grown in vineyards in Bergheim, where soils are limestone clay. The grapes were pressed, settled, and filtered prior to fermentation in stainless with a mix of ambient and cultured yeasts. It was racked twice and rested in tank for six months prior to bottling.

It’s a fat, smooth-textured wine, smiling and even tempered. The perfume is redolent of quince paste and pears and nutmeg, while a streak of wet stone and lemony lift enliven the finish. The body offers good weight; the winery suggests it could age for seven or eight years, but I wonder whether its modest acidity will allow it to play through. Still, it’s delicious now, its temperament expansive enough to stand up to a plate of rich cured meats and Alsatian cheeses, but delicate enough to play happily with nutty pilafs, chicken curry, mapo tofu.