Taste
It has a beautiful yellow color with golden highlights.
It is fragrant in the mouth with notes of ripe yellow fruit, especially apricot, and a very characteristic smoky side.
Velvety and well-structured on the palate, this pinot gris is vinified dry. Its ageing in oak barrels gives it subtle buttered and vanilla notes and a nice length in the mouth.
Aged for 2 years in Burgundy barrels.
Keeping time: 15 years
Tasting temperature: 10 - 12°C
75 cl
Gastronomy
This wine will go well with Comté cheese, creamy white meats, fish in sauce. Ideal as an accompaniment to a dinner aperitif.
History
To explain the continuity of Pinot Gris cultivation in the Alsatian vineyards since the 16th century, legend has it that the plants were brought back from the city of Tokay (Hungary) by Baron Lazare de Schwendi around 1565. The baron, who at the time was serving the House of Austria in its fight against the Turks, was a great owner of vineyards in Alsace and Baden. He owned land in Kientzheim (where his castle, owned by the Confrérie Saint Etienne, still stands) and is said to have ordered the propagation of Tokaj plants there. But it is likely that Pinot Gris, renowned for its qualities and its ability to produce highly concentrated wines, has replaced the original grape variety brought back from Hungary. In fact, Pinot Gris is originally from Burgundy, where it is known as "beurot".
The name Tokay Pinot Gris was authorised by an EEC Regulation of 10 August 1984 to designate the Pinot Gris grape variety instead of the old and traditional name Tokay d'Alsace.
The particularity of this Pinot Gris is that it is vinified like a Burgundy, i.e. dry with a frank acidity. The vanilla and woody side gives a racy and typical character.
On 23 November 1993, an agreement concluded between the European Union and the Republic of Hungary (EEC Council Decision of 23 November 1993 published in the OJ EEC of 31 December 1993) specifies that all geographical designations used on wines are subject to mutual protection between the two signatory parties from 1 January 1994. Consequently, the expression "Tokay Pinot Gris" may no longer be used to designate AOC Alsace wines made from the Pinot Gris grape variety, only the term "Pinot Gris" being authorised from 1 April 2007.
