Domaine Zind Humbrecht, Windsbuhl Gewurztraminer

The 1994 Zind-Humbrecht Gewurztraminer Goldert Vendange Tardive is drinking exquisitely well today, offering up complex aromas of bitter orange, mandarin leaf, lychee, honeycomb and rosewater. Full-bodied, satiny and suave, it's elegant and enveloping, with impeccable balance, bright acids to match its integrated sweetness, and a long, perfumed finish. Time has tamed some of this wine's genre-typical boisterousness, but it retains plenty of vitality, making this the perfect moment, to my palate, to approach it.

1994 vintage

Zind Humbrecht how I love thee. Saved a rather awful wine weekend where most bottles opened were either too young or too old yielding little satisfaction. Then came this. Very zippy and yet nice and phat in texture. Baked apples, apricot, peaches, persimmon all wrapped in an acidic base that was spot on. Great balance. Tad on the sweet side but a mighty warrior nonetheless. Reminded me of Yquem 94/95 pts.

1994 vintage

Stunning. Kumquats, cloves, cinnamon, baked apples, strawberries, honey, and sweet apricots, along with the faintest hint of hard to identify savory herbs, all followed by an incredibly long and intense aftertaste with just a wisp of smoke. Gorgeous. [Tasted over more than an hour from the Jancis Robinson glass.] Amber. (Very sweet.)

1994 vintage

Amazing wine. Had a bit of a funky note on the nose at first that dissipated over the day and on to the next. A nose of typical botrytis PG, white fruits and stone fruit. Apple, pear, white peach but with a driving caustic thing that I get from Alsace PG. 30+ years did wonders for this bottle and I wish I had more.

1994 vintage

Stunning. Apples, spices (cloves and more), apricots, almonds, flowers, and kumquats, with hints of pineapple and coconut, followed by an endless and astonishingly intense aftertaste. Reddish golden--this bottle looked and tasted "younger" than the bottle of 3/24/2024. Just extraordinary. Wow. [Tasted over two hours from the Jancis Robinson glass.]

1994 vintage

Stunning from the moment the bottle was opened. Peaches, spices, apple pie, butter. lemon juice, nutmeg, cinnamon, cloves, pineapple, hint of smoke, and tangerine peel, with an intense and endless aftertaste. This is extraordinary. This wine was a reddish amber, so, if this bottle was typical, I'd suggest opening any of these in your cellar as soon as is reasonably convenient. [Tasted over several hours from the Jancis Robinson glass.]

1994 vintage

Deep clear amber color; apricot, orange, slight honey flavor. Not a real heavyweight- just about right in my view. Definitely a wonderful drink now. Not familiar with how long such wine stays on plateau (like Sauternes) but seems wonderful now.

1994 vintage

50th Birthday Tasting (Vesterbro) : Peach and quince flavors mixed with a touch of minerals and a honey-like sweetness. It is not overly sweet and is quite lovely and refreshing. Seems to be mature but will stay at this level for quite some time. Very lovely wine!

1994 vintage

beautiful orange color, soaring nose of citrus and cream, waves of lemon, on the palate a fresh grass note to start leading quickly into beautifully ripe pineapple, pear and crabapple notes, honeyed throughout but not excessively so, fine length and just as seamless and elegantly effortless as it was in youth, with time it developed light notes of treacle and white chocolate reminiscent of Chateau d’Yquem, I was just starting in wine retail when Zind-Humbrecht really got popular in the …

1994 vintage

Golden, rich The wine looks caramel colored. The legs are medium. There is moderate sediment in the bottle. It smells like guava and melon. It tastes like honeysuckle.

1994 vintage

Q2 2019 Tasting - Alsatian White Varietals (The Apt) : Wine #13: The winner of the fondue pot. This poured darker and clearly had more age. Lots of sweet mostly in the form of a darker caramel. It's really a dessert style wine. Nice acidity that keeps it very balanced. This is one of those wines that reminds me of the child-like enjoyment of something with sugar. (11 pennies)

1994 vintage

Q2 - 2019 Tasting - Alsatian White Varieties from around the World (New York, NY) : 13/17 wines tasted double blind. I was told in advance that this was a sweeter older wine so actually tasted this last. Color is amber/caramel. Nose of toasted honey. On the palate this is very sweet and syrupy - with florals and toasted honey but for my preference just not enough acidity. One of my least favorites but very popular with the group with …

1994 vintage

Excellent juice, but the RS wasn't as high as I expected. Lots of apricot and high acidity, and some botrytis, but it lacked RS.

1994 vintage

Excellent VT. Some bottle variation so far, depending on the bottle I would rate this anywhere from 89-94 out of the 4 tried so far, with 93 being a fair mean. Rich gold color, not too sweet, lots of lychee and nectarine on both nose and palate. Weaker bottles have a short finish, but better bottles have full finish. Popular even with those who aren't familiar with Alsatian VT wines. Drink up.

1994 vintage

Holy cow, what a wine! Spicy, fruity, sweet and mouthfilling, this hit all the buttons. Take fresh apricots and plums and sauté them in brown spices, sugar and butter to get a food version of this wine. Toss in just a bit of smoke to add complexity. I am not much for Pinot Gris, but this bottle just blew me away each and every time I took a sip. Dessert sweet but incredibly drinkable. Stunning.

1994 vintage

Rieslingfan's note sums this up. Just an awesome, awesome bottle of wine. There's an array of flavour that encompasses all sorts of ripe fruit, waxy richness, flowers, smoke, and developed savouriness, and the overall balance here is amazing. It's a big wine with lots of luscious sweetness and yet never feels slightly cloying or heavy, with a finish that lingers on for minutes. Stunning with biryani.

1994 vintage

Dinner with Salil at home. The only thing wrong with this wine was it's placement in the lineup. After 2 dry Rieslings with meats and cheeses we had this before starting to cook dinner. Originally scheduled to have with the semi-spicy Indian dinner where it probably would have shown better. Dark Amber in color as it has been almost from the start showing the heavy botrytis influence ( I believe this has the most residual sugar of the 4 '94 …

1994 vintage

A crash course in Zind Humbrecht at Jeff and Dena's (Raleigh, NC) : Astounding wine that reminds me of some of the HGS-era Catoirs in terms of its sheer complexity and the balance between sweetness and acidity. It's impossible to catalogue all the flavours here - there's all sorts of bright floral and spicy scents, bright lychee and citrus fruits, honey, rosewater, and so much else going on here. Each sip starts out with tremendous sweetness up front, but then …

1994 vintage

A crash course in Zind Humbrecht at Jeff and Dena's (Raleigh, NC) : A blockbuster of a wine that feels more like an SGN than a VT. The complexity here is staggering - it's packed with an array of tropical fruits, sweeter honeyed and apricot marmalade notes, and more savoury earthy, burnished, and smoky flavours. The depth here is remarkable, but it feels a touch heavy on the palate and while the sweetness is very well balanced and never cloying, …

1994 vintage

Lusca with Roy Hersh (Lusca, Atlanta) : A terrific balance of sweetness, fruit and acidity.

1994 vintage

Beautiful honey/amber color. Nose is very pure with some lychee, wild flowers, a hint of musk and honey. Palate is surprisingly light due to the bright acidity which also makes it not too sweet. Viscous attack, but replaced quickly by a wonderful acid-driven, stone-fruit mid-palate that transitions in to a wonderfully long, complex finish that goes on and on. Beautiful wine.

1994 vintage

Impromtu Dinner with Michael Jessen - 96 Champanges and Red Burgundy Dinner (The Grill Room at Capella Hotel Georgetown) : The overall nose expression is refreshing, mango, dry apricot, orange, orange rind, honey and sweet and spicy spices. Excellent concentration, quite dense and ripe but the bright acidity keeps the wine fresh. The finish is long and seamless. I am usually not a fan of Pinot Gris but this is a very special bottle, intense yet harmonious.

1994 vintage

Farewell to a Friend...With Some Wines He Would Have Enjoyed (A Tavola - Chicago IL) : Magnum. Fresh and dried apricot with orange zest. Sweet and unctuous but with very good balance. Long and expanding finish. Still in its adolescence, this will last for a very long time. I am a big fan of ZH 94s.

1994 vintage

Orange amber in color. As always a stunning bottle of wine that rides the line between sweetness and acidity perfectly. Apricots, mirabelles, smokiness as expected but also an unexpected note of rainier cherries. The finish lasts forever and I still have the taste sensations in my mouth 5 minutes after my last sip as I write this note. 50+14+14+10+9.5=97.5

1994 vintage

Deep yellow color with typical bouquet and flavor of the grape, mixing grapefruit and lychee nuts. Pleasantly sweet with refreshing acidity. Good balance and nuance with a lingering finish. Wonderful wine. Second bottle matched the first.

1994 vintage

This note is almost two weeks old, but my memory is perfectly clear on the wine, a near perfect rendition of late harvest Pinot Gris. I was surprised how youthful this tasted for 18 years in the book, rich apricots slathered in golden, botrytis wrapped honey. Very sweet yes, but a smoky trail of peat (very Rangen like) and of course the much needed acidity to provide freshness and lift. Finish goes into the next day. At peak and should …

1994 vintage

Magnum Madness 2011! (Marshall's place) : What a stunner this was. I was initially told this was NOT the Vendange Tardive, as someone handed me a glass so I didn't see the bottle. However, I immediately detected some botrytis scents on the nose and going back to the bottle for seconds confirmed this was in fact the Vendange Tardive. This was showing other typical aromas I get with botrytis affected fruit: Nice house paint, pineapple, and rubber. The palate is …

1994 vintage

Nose: delicious and deep nose of honeycomb, lanolin tones, white fruits and a good dose of pears. Very deep and rich nose that shows off a lot of class at the same time taste: full bodied with medium acidity along with deep and balanced tones of honeycomb, citrus tones, blood oranges, white fruits and lots of pears. There was a real good polish as well on the palate overall: This bottle was getting better with air, but it didn't last …

1994 vintage

Tasting Group Dinner - Miscellaneous (La Belle Vie Lounge, Minneapolis) : Deep, mature gold color. Spicy, oily peaches, apricots, flowers, and diesel that build to a long, complex finish. Deftly balanced sweetness and acidity. Sleek and racy in personality. Delicious.

1994 vintage

Assorted Wines at Le Belle Vie (Minneapolis) : Nose: Spicy with floral and peach aromas. Palate: Spice and acid attack on the front end. Unreal viscosity, so rich and thick yet buttressed by the acid this wine is still very lively at 15 years of age. Flavors of sweet peach and some apricot. This wine was amazing and my overall WOTN. Thanks Dave!

1994 vintage

Golden yellow in color. Wonderful nose of lychee, orange, spice, slate and smoke. Very fine on the palate with more of the same. Not overly sweet. Beautiful balance of acid, flavors, sweetness and softness. Outstanding wine that went perfectly with course of foie gras over mango with a subtle vanilla sauce. Loved by 7 other experienced imbibers at the table.

1994 vintage

Picked up off the shelf at a local retailer. This bottle had a deep copper color and was highly advanced. There were some interesting flavors, but this was unfortunately a funky, off bottle.

1994 vintage

Alsace Tasting at the Chris L Condo Skypad : Nose: Candied apple and pear with roasted nut. Palate: Candied pear with spice and flowers. Very nice.

1994 vintage

golden color. Rich, spicy, ginger, touch botrytis/gewurz bitter. Rich mouthfilling flavors. Touch anise. Great.

1994 vintage

Dinner with Jeff and Dena Morris at The Wild Ginger. Initially a bit disjointed and displaying a bit of heat, probably due to being slightly over chilled from the ice bucket. No worries though, once the wine warmed slightly, it’s true colors unfolded. Classic Gewurz nose of wilted roses, and lychee with a light to medium copper color. A much drier and feminine style of VT (especially for a 94 ZH), offering a strong taste profile of fresh-spooned honey and …

1994 vintage

Dinner with Dale & Alisha at Wild Ginger. Medium gold in color, this medium bodied wine started the evening a little more reserved than normal but opened up nicely to reveal roses, honey, the Goldert-typical florality and the beginnings of the aged Gewurz roughness/grittiness. The acidity made it clear this was a '94 with many more years of good drinking ahead of it. Long finish to close things out. 50+12+13+8+8 = 91

1994 vintage

lychee and grapefruit on the nose. wonderful body. slightly sweet, but as one drinker said "this is the kind of sweet wine I like to drink". Went with french toast and other sweet brunch items. Held up beautifully. Long finish and lovely to sip by itself

1994 vintage

Very intense sweet nose of honeysuckle and roses. On the palate rose water, peaches, lychee nut and melon. Brisk acidity and very long finish. Good balance of sweet and acid. A remarkable wine.

1994 vintage

NYC Group does Pinots (NYC) : Big, spicy pineapple scented node. Floral and spicy as well. Very ripe and sweet, but bracing acidity keeps the sugar level in check. Another great white wine from Zind-Humbrecht.

1994 vintage

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Domaine Zind Humbrecht, Windsbuhl Gewurztraminer

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