TN: Marcel Deiss 2011 Huebuhl

Berserkers,

It’s been ages since I’ve had a Marcel Deiss. The LCBO brought in his famous Cru field blends once many years ago at very affordable prices. Since that time, both his reputation and the price of his wines have gone up considerably but I still had a bottle of the 2011 Huebuhl waiting to be opened and I finally did and shared it with friends in my social bubble. Let’s see how it’s holding up:

MARCEL DEISS 2001 HUEBUHL

SUMMARY: A sweet and very floral Alsacian “table wine” that is actually a dessert wine with late harvest sweetness and superb texture. Chill well and serve after the meal, not with it.

A deep burnished gold in the glass. Gorgeous color. Nose is all blossomed honey. On the palate, surprisingly strong sweet flavors of orange blossom honey, honeydew melon, cardamom spice and ginger are a dead giveaway of the Pinot Gris in the base but on the finish a bright tangy acidity shows up followed by a lingering heat. It’s so sweet that literally upon first sip fellow board member Mike Grammer whom I shared this with immediately exclaimed “This isn’t a table wine, it’s a dessert wine!” And he’s absolutely right about that. This blend is known for its botrytis influence and I’ve had a previous vintage that was off-dry but still a table wine. This, however, was all the way into sweet wine territory. Superb texture that goes down smoothly like glycerin.

This is absolutely delicious but has no business parading around as a table wine. While I could see this possibly going with spicy Thai food or a rich Alsacian choucroute, I really wouldn’t recommend this in general with a meal and advise you to drink it like a late harvest wine and have it with dessert after the main course. It also really needs a good chill. We drank it a little warmer than it should be when we first opened it and that only magnified the sweetness. It was much better to me the next day thanks to getting some air and a lot more chill into it.

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A little info about this wine. Marcel Deiss is famous as the only Alsacian producer to produce blended wines in the region. A revered (some would say more like tolerated) maverick in his field, he mixed the Alsacian grapes growing in his fields by co-planting them and self-declaring them as “Premier Crus” when he became disenchanted with the Alsace Grand Cru system and its overly generous labeling. (There is no such actual thing as a Premier Cru designation in Alsace. A Dieu-Lit is probably the closest equivalent). Then he vinified and blended the grapes co-planted together in his fields and named his Premier Cru wines after those fields. All of this is technically illegal in Alsace and he’s been battling the Alsacian wine authorities ever since all the while garnering deserved acclaim for both Alsace wine in general and his wines in particular.

The Huebuhl field is grown organically and biodynamically as are all his other fields. It’s located in a small hollow slope in between his Gruenspiel and Rotenberg fields. This location actively encourages botrytis growth every year. The blend is of the three Pinot grapes – Blanc, Noir and Gris.

Hi Tran,
Great note! I visited Deiss a few times and have a stack of his wines at home. I like the concept of field blend, but pairing has always been a challenge for me. A recent failed attempt: Code38 NL on Instagram: "How not to pair... I am intellectually quite attracted by Deiss’ concept of field blends to better express terroir and had some great bottles in the past. The trick is to find the right pairing though and I messed up yesterday. I somehow thought that this Schoenenbourg was predominantly Riesling and expected something fresh with citric notes. That would have paired nicely with the hamachi with yuzu vinaigrette we got from a great @portfolio_restaurant . Turns out the expression is much warmer and darker though (field blend of all pinots + auxerrois). This would have gone nicely with a lobster in a buttery sauce or even some fried chicken. Unfortunately, it got lost amid the citric violence of the dish. As the wine is still very young and primary, I’ll hide my remaining bottles for another 10 years and hope some neurons will trigger a reminder to pair it properly. Opened with the Code38 Titanium and tried from the Sophienwald Grand Cru Bx #wine #wein #vin #wijn #winelover #instawine #winegram #somm #sommlife #code38 #sophienwald #handmade #onlythebest #marceldeiss #alsace #schoenenbourg"

Glad to read the Huebuhl worked well for you as a desert wine though!

I think there is a wider phenomen in Alsace where wines are starting to become very rich and more difficult to pair. With the exception of a few producers (Boxler, some Z-H, Ostertag), I’m really struggling with warm vintages. And I think the last “cool” one was 2013…

I too haven’t seen Deiss in ages but recently picked up his 2015 Grasberg and Gruenspiel. Looking forward to the challenge of pairing them with food!

My recollection of the 2010 Gruenspiel is that while fruity it was still dry. Well, dry by Alsace wine standards. I don’t believe the Gruenspiel field gets botrytis. The 2010 Grasberg was off-dry.

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Hi Tran,

Thank you for the excellent note and write-up. I too enjoy the Deiss wines and lament that they are not more widely available - the last several bottles I’ve opened have either come from auctions or from my out of state travels. When Becky Wasserman started bringing in Marcel Deiss, I hoped that the wines would become easier to locate, but that has yet to happen. Ironically, the last couple of bottles that I’ve purchased were Rieslings from back when Jean-Michel Deiss was still making single variety wines - WineBid had some earlier this year.

Also, I agree that many of the Deiss wines are probably better appreciated as “meditation wines” after dinner rather than paired with food.

Mathieu Deiss is apparently making some interesting field blends under the Vignobles du Reveur label; ironically, the only one of his wines that I’ve had thus far was his one single-variety wine, the Vibrations Riesling. At least the wines exist in local shops, so it’s just a matter of me buying some more bottles. Maybe I’ll open another one this summer and check in on it.

My other favorite Alsatian blend is Maurice Schoech’s Harmonie R (Ra as in Rangen), which is usually Pinot Gris/Riesling/Gewurz - again, I have not seen any recent vintages. Rosenthal has been the longtime importer, so a retailer with a lot of Rosenthal’s wines might sell this. Boxler makes an Edelzwicker, but I have not had it. Hugel’s Gentil has underwhelmed me thus far, even given its reasonable price point for Alsace.