Domaine Albert Boxler

2022 Alsace AOC Pinot Gris Réserve

The nose on the 2022 Pinot Gris Réserve from Domaine Albert Boxler is so gloriously indulgent. Orange-glazed donut meets Mexican panela and raw honey and bordelais cannelé, all wrapped around a core of super-ripe bartlett pear. The palate follows through, incredibly delicious wine here, somehow waxy, layering lemon jam and poached pear over a tangy finish of apple and citrus skins. It’s just so moreish—so hard not to chug—with a brilliant finish and terrific mid-palate weight that somehow doesn’t race to the front, cushioned by soft, lush acidity. What a winsome wine, a dangerous wine, a beautifully balanced and lush expression, long and dense and ready to drink but with terrific ageing capability too. For pairings, lean into richness and glaze: duck l’orange, cochinita pibil, or bacon-wrapped scallops.
France
White
Biodynamic Wine
Vegan

Region:  Niedermorschwihr, Alsace

Appellation:  Alsace AOC

Varietal/Blend:  Pinot Gris

ABV:  14.0%

Vineyard & Vine Age: Organic estate vineyards (certified for over twenty years). Precision-farmed entirely by hand. Vines as old as eighty years, only replanted (with selection massale) on an individual basis as needed. Boxler always harvests when the fruit reaches its own natural maturity (resisting the trend to pick earlier to guarantee fully dry ferments) and may therefore contain some degree of residual sugar in the final wine, depending on the vintage. No fertilizing, ever.

Cellar: Hand sorted fruit goes into one of three pneumatic presses for an obsessively careful pressing that can last from four to twelve hours, fractioning out various pressures to blend back in or omit from each wine according to its needs. The juice is then patiently cold-settled before being racked (gravity-fed) into old French oak foudres (never into new oak, Boxler's foudres range from five years of age to over a century old). Fermentation occurs naturally with indigenous yeasts. As a rule, the wines remain on their lees unless at some point in the span of ageing they begin to taste reductive, at which time they'll rack the wine off the lees and return it to the foudre to finish its élevage. The wine is bottled after 11 months in foudre with a small SO2 addition to ensure purity. The wines are never fined and receive a very light filtration only when necessary to guarantee quality.

(NB: The identical ageing regimen and vessel size is used for every Boxler wine to provide more objective comparisons between each vintage and terroir, vertically and horizontally. The only exception is that the Gewurztraminers, Vendanges Tardives, and SGN's age in stainless steel as opposed to oak).

CSPC:  128375

Winemakers Note:  []

What the Critics are saying:  []

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Domaine Albert Boxler
2022 Alsace AOC Pinot Gris Réserve

Region:  Niedermorschwihr, Alsace

Appellation:  Alsace AOC

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France
White
Biodynamic Wine
Vegan
The nose on the 2022 Pinot Gris Réserve from Domaine Albert Boxler is so gloriously indulgent. Orange-glazed donut meets Mexican panela and raw honey and bordelais cannelé, all wrapped around a core of super-ripe bartlett pear. The palate follows through, incredibly delicious wine here, somehow waxy, layering lemon jam and poached pear over a tangy finish of apple and citrus skins. It’s just so moreish—so hard not to chug—with a brilliant finish and terrific mid-palate weight that somehow doesn’t race to the front, cushioned by soft, lush acidity. What a winsome wine, a dangerous wine, a beautifully balanced and lush expression, long and dense and ready to drink but with terrific ageing capability too. For pairings, lean into richness and glaze: duck l’orange, cochinita pibil, or bacon-wrapped scallops.

TECHNICAL INFO

Varietal/Blend:  Pinot Gris

ABV:  14.0%

Vineyard:  Organic estate vineyards (certified for over twenty years). Precision-farmed entirely by hand. Vines as old as eighty years, only replanted (with selection massale) on an individual basis as needed. Boxler always harvests when the fruit reaches its own natural maturity (resisting the trend to pick earlier to guarantee fully dry ferments) and may therefore contain some degree of residual sugar in the final wine, depending on the vintage. No fertilizing, ever.

Cellar: Hand sorted fruit goes into one of three pneumatic presses for an obsessively careful pressing that can last from four to twelve hours, fractioning out various pressures to blend back in or omit from each wine according to its needs. The juice is then patiently cold-settled before being racked (gravity-fed) into old French oak foudres (never into new oak, Boxler's foudres range from five years of age to over a century old). Fermentation occurs naturally with indigenous yeasts. As a rule, the wines remain on their lees unless at some point in the span of ageing they begin to taste reductive, at which time they'll rack the wine off the lees and return it to the foudre to finish its élevage. The wine is bottled after 11 months in foudre with a small SO2 addition to ensure purity. The wines are never fined and receive a very light filtration only when necessary to guarantee quality.

(NB: The identical ageing regimen and vessel size is used for every Boxler wine to provide more objective comparisons between each vintage and terroir, vertically and horizontally. The only exception is that the Gewurztraminers, Vendanges Tardives, and SGN's age in stainless steel as opposed to oak).

CSPC:  128375

Winemakers Note: []

What the Critics are saying: []

Giovanni Autuori
Calgary + Alberta South

T: 403-971-1898

E: giovanni@vinoalvino.ca

Joe Gurba
Edmonton + Alberta North

T: 780-203-5284

E: joeg@vinoalvino.ca

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TECHNICAL INFO

Country:  France

Region:  Niedermorschwihr, Alsace

Appellation:  Alsace AOC

Climate: 

Altitude: 

Soils: 

Varietal/Blend:  Pinot Gris

Fermentation:  Spontaneous fermentation with native yeasts in old oak puncheons.

Ageing: 

Vineyard & Vine Age:  Bull Swamp and Manilla vineyards in Baw Baw Shire. The vines were planted in 1961 and and 1964 respectively.

ABV:  14.0%

Produced Cases:  50

CSPC:  128375

Calgary + Alberta South

Andrew Stewart

403-604-0408

andrew@vinoalvino.ca

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Edmonton + Alberta North

Joe Gurba

780-203-5284

joe@vinoalvino.ca

Saskatoon + Saskatchewan South

Kerrie Gavin

306-290-0277

kerrie@vinoalvino.ca