Ham, Burg

Deiss 2002 Burg (Alsace) – Like drinking fruit-flavored lead. A completely limp, lifeless, neutron star of a wine, showing ponderous (and, it must be noted, not insignificantly oxidized) fruit that might, once, have lived somewhere in the strawberry realm…if strawberries were made of fissionable material. This has far more in common with the grossest offenses among New World pinot noirs than it does the sugary offenses of Alsace. So, um, congrats to Deiss? And the much-vaunted terroir-over-variety concept? Unless it’s Deiss’ argument that Burg is a shitty terroir unworthy of the respect of competent winemaking, he’s not making much of a case for it here. (9/10)

Beblen brook

Deiss 1997 Pinot Gris Beblenheim (Alsace) – For a 1997, this has a surprising amount of balancing acidity, though it’s still not enough to support the metallic pear soup weight of the wine. Still, crystalline minerality is also in play, as are mineral salts and a cured woodfruit finish, and this is not at all bad in a year from which I like very little of Deiss’ work. (1/10)

Schoenen tell

Deiss 2000 Schoenenbourg (Alsace) – Very sweet and diffuse, though there’s nice enough acidity. Long but pointless, and the finish’s duration is the chief – one might say the only – feature of this wine. (6/08)