RP 87
Even in 2003, Marc Beyer and his team rendered a collection true to their domaine’s principles of dryness, acid-retention, and mineral expression, while for the most part avoiding alcoholic overload or flat-footedness. So I wasn’t surprised that they considered 2009 child’s play by comparison and fielded an often excellent if variable collection. “It was a vintage where you really had to wait,” says Marc Beyer of 2008, “but the fruit kept its acidity; eventually the maturity came up to over 13 (% natural alcohol); and the wines achieved a perfect balance.” Certainly the best of them did, at least. With their tendency to express volatile esters; their often big-boned and angular architecture; and their unapologetic absence of residual sugar, Beyer wines may well strike many of today’s oenophiles and writers as an anachronism, whereas for others of us, they are like a part of the profoundly beautiful village landscapes of Alsace to which we repeatedly return with a sense of comforting familiarity and the knowledge that their slow evolution will be as reliable as their adherence to a traditional style. But that is not meant to suggest that surprises are precluded, and in fact in both 2009 and 2008 there are a number of Beyer wines the likes of which I have difficulty recalling from this address or any other. Leer menos