2008 Hugel & Fils Jubilee Riesling, Alsace

Strongly fusil and smoky notes in the nose of Hugel’s 2008 Riesling Jubilee as well as citrus rind pungency; radish-like bite; and pit fruit piquancy and chalky finishing character all point toward the Schoenenbourg vineyard in which this fruit is grown. Zesty, bright, and vibratory in length if somewhat austere in flavors, this should be fascinating to follow over at least 12-15 years, though consumers won’t get a chance to begin doing this before next year, as the Hugels are never in any hurry to release their top Riesling cuvee, and particularly not in a vintage this conducive to tight concentration and unabashed acids. (The alcohol, incidentally, is not even as high as in the corresponding “Tradition” bottling.)

Average must weights in 2009 were the highest in Hugel’s history, but as in so many instances, the vintage disappoints a bit in the bottle, although there are several rare, memorable, and for 2009 unusual nobly sweet wines in the collection. Marc Hugel put most of his 2008s through malo-lactic fermentation to take the edge off of their high acidity, and the results are seldom in any way inharmonious or diminished in refreshment and vivacity. He dealt with similarly high acidity, notes Hugel, in 1992. But that was on account of high yields rather than aberrantly cool weather, and the way in which those wines underwent malo was radically different. “In 2007 and now 2008,” Hugel explains, “we have gotten malo-lactic fermentation to take place in the midst of alcoholic fermentation. In all the oenological textbooks of the last 50 years, it’s written that if this happens you’ll get volatile acidity. But in fact, there is a way to avoid this, although you have to be extremely watchful and extremely precise about when you inoculate with malo-lactic bacteria, which we do around one-third of the way through the alcoholic fermentation. And if you have malo-lactic going on during the primary fermentation, then the diacetyl is metabolized along with the malic acid” guaranteeing that there will be no awkwardly buttery characteristic of the sort otherwise often associated with this transformation. Hugel went so far as to call the effect of this approach “revolutionary.” Certainly the wines, taken as a group, are impressive; though the nobly sweet among them won’t show their true meddle for many years. (Lest there be any doubt, the V.T. and S.G.N. bottlings of 2008 did not undergo malo.)

91 points David Schildknecht robertparker.com