When Jean Trimbach of Alsace in France first met Egon Muller of the Mosel Valley in Germany in the mid-1980s, the wine world was not the interconnected community that it is today. These two world-class riesling makers were young men in their 20s, sent to New York City by their families to live for several months and build a market for riesling wines in the United States.
Both families used Seagram Chateau & Estate Wines as their U.S. importer, so when they arrived in the city to start working the market they were thrown together for sales visits and tastings. “I never had German wine before,” Trimbach admitted, “but Chateau & Estate had all the best German wines and only one from Alsace – ours.”
The two often worked side by side, became friends and apparently enjoyed their freedom in New York because, Trimbach said cryptically, “We started doing foolish things together.”
But that’s not the story we’re telling here. Trimbach and Muller have stayed friends ever since and decided to celebrate that bond by conducting a vertical tasting of select vintages during a nine-course dinner for invited guests on Jan. 12 at the Michelin three-star Caprice restaurant in Hong Kong’s Four Seasons Hotel. We tasted through four decades of fascinating wines and enjoyed the pairings with chef Guillaume Galliot‘s intricate French-style cuisine and first-class wine service.
The four full tables of guests were treated to 19 wines over nine courses, all but two of them rieslings, ranging in age from the perfect-scoring Trimbach Riesling Alsace Cuvée Frederic Emile Selection de Grains Nobles 1989 to three 2022 Egon Muller kabinetts, the best of which was the Scharzhofberger Kabinett Alta Reben.
For anyone familiar with German and Alsace wines, the names Trimbach and Egon Muller are near legendary. Jean Trimbach’s family started their winery in 1626 and now La Maison Trimbach in Ribeauville is run by the 13th generation. Egon Muller’s family wine estate has operated along the Saar River in the Mosel region of Germany since 1797.
Great riesling from both regions is renowned for aging well, especially the sweeter, late-harvest styles. So this tasting provided some up-to-date intel about which vintages are tasting great now, and which ones have yet to peak.
Riesling, moreover, is loved for its transparency, the ability to express the character of a vineyard site and the growing conditions of a vintage. Since the Muller and Trimbach wines come from quite different terroirs, they are expected to have quite different personalities.
In general, Alsace riesling tends to be riper in flavor and rather more full-bodied, while Mosel and especially Saar Valley riesling is traditionally delicate and light-bodied. But it didn’t always work that way in this tasting.
For instance, the austere but outstanding Trimbach Riesling Alsace Close Ste. Hune 2009 in magnum was all stones, smoke and peach skins, not quite at its peak. Also from 2009, the Egon Muller Riesling Mosel Scharzhofberger Spatlese was ripe and sunny, harmonious and honeyed, beautiful to drink now or age further.
Muller brought a 2007 of the same wine, and tasted together they told a tale of two vintages. “2007 was a more challenging year than 2009,” Muller said. “It rained a lot in the early part of 2007 and we had to wait and wait for the fruit to ripen, but it did. We had to work much harder than in 2009,” which was a good warm vintage but still retained acidity, he said. The difference shows up in the 2007’s slightly lower score, more rose petal flavors and apparently lighter body.
The late-harvest sweet wines from both producers were served last, typical for such events, and brought the tasting to a crescendo. We already mentioned the Trimbach Cuvée Frederic Emile Selection de Grains Nobles 1989, which was ethereal between bites of foie gras royale with spices.
But one of the newest wines of the evening, served with a pear confection, was equally fantastic. Muller’s Riesling Mosel Scharzhofberger Trockenbeerenauslese 2018 is the result of hand-selected botrytis-shrunken berries of intense sweetness. Luscious, honeyed, tangy and vivid, this TBA provided a finale that will echo in my mind for weeks to come.
– Jim Gordon, Executive Editor
