March 20, 2012 Trimbach Estate wine tasting and Dinner - Chicken Salad Salad

March 20, 2012 Trimbach Estate wine tasting and Dinner - Chicken Salad Salad

We attended a very special event today; a wine tasting of the offerings of Trimbach Estate at Zinc.  Trimbach Estate is probably the most famous vineyard in Alsace, dating back to 1626.

It is now in its 13^th generation of ownership by the Trimbach family and Anne Trimbach, the oldest member of the 13^th generation, was pouring and discussing its wines.  The venue and appetizers were provided by Zinc.

Trimbach is probably among the 20 greatest wine houses in the world and surely among the top 10 in France, which is rather rarified company.  It specializes in the northern white grapes: Riesling, Pinot Blanc, Sylvaner, Pinot Gris, Muscat, and Gewürztraminer. 

It also specializes, if I may use such a word, in cultivating the noble rot on grapes and what Trimbach is quite good at matching the timing in growth of the noble rot to the peak sweetness of the grapes.  When this occurs there is a fine balance in the taste of the wine between citrus overtones from the noble rot with the wine's balance of sweetness, dryness, mineral and tannin flavors.  When all these components converge, the result is heavenly.  There were 12 or 13 different wines offered for tasting ranging through Trimbach’s entire range of wines from the lowest to the highest priced wines.  The intensity and flavor of the higher offerings of Riesling, Pinot Gris, and Gewürztraminer from Trimbach Estate’s Late Harvest (think noble rot) are truly amazing, huge intense wines with lots of flavor and a botrytis bite.  Its most famous wine, Clos St. Hune, is a beautifully balanced Riesling wine raised in a limestone soil that gives the wine a strongly mineral flavor.  Words can not describe this type of an experience.

But there is a story behind the surface story here.  One must ask oneself, “Why is the head of the 13^th generation of one of the most famous French estates pouring all of her family’s best wines in Albuquerque?”  The answer to this question reaches from the routes of the international wine trade to you.  A large part of the answer lies in economics; it is more profitable to make and sell beer and whiskey than wine.  The long time exporter of Trimbach’s wine has been Diageo.  Diageo is the largest seller of spirits in the world. Its brands include: Johnnie Walker, Crown Royal, J&B, Windsor, Buchanan's and Bushmills whiskies, Smirnoff, Ciroc and Ketel One vodkas, Baileys, Captain Morgan, Jose Cuervo, Tanqueray and Guinness.  For example, Diageo sells 11 million 9 liter cases of Guinness each year and makes more money on each sale than it does on the sale of Trimbach’s wines.  So Trimbach is the orphaned child in Diageo’s exalted pantheon of international super stars.

Recently Trimbach’s fortunes have changed.  Esprit de Vin took over U.S. distribution of Trimbach’s wine and intends to make Trimbach a star or place it in its rightful place as one of the great wine estates in the world market.  The New Mexico distributor of Trimbach is Southern/Bacchus Wines.  Southern is one of the largest distributors of wines and spirits in the U.S.  Esprit de Vin and Southern have organized tastings of Trimbach’s wines across the country to re-introduce Trimbach wines to the U.S. market.  Anne Trimbach, a woman about 30 years of age, is head of marketing for the 13^th generation of Trimbach, so she is its point person in this effort.  Southern organized the tastings in it distribution area and invited its restaurant clients to attend this special tasting in New Mexico.  Suzette has developed a special relationship with Bacchus because Jim and Kelly at Bacchus are supporting Suzette’s effort to introduce good wines into the Valencia County market at her well respected restaurant, the Greenhouse Bistro and Bakery.  That is how we were able to attend such a formidable wine tasting.  Surely, a once in a lifetime experience. 

The appetizers were up to the quality of the wine also.  Sea bass and scallop sausage slices served on beet chips, a Northern char mouse and sautéed spinach wrap was wonderful, as were others, such as a round of carrot cake garnished with a piece of poached pear, a dumpling skewered with a mussel and a piece of Serrano ham, chicken sate, pork belly on pumpernickel and Brie on bread.  

So dinner was really simple, the last of the PPI chicken salad on a bed of organic greens dressed with a lemon, tomato salad dressing mixed with the PPI green pea puree and chopped eggs, slice of sourdough bread toasted, and the last of the Garnet Sonoma Coast Chardonnay.  A wonderful day of food and wine.

Bon Appétit