Domaine Mittnacht-Klack Alsace Grand Cru Riesling Rosacker, 1993

From a half bottle, this wine is clearly past its prime but still offers some glimpses of its past glory.

The color is very deep, copper colored, and the bouquet also has an oxidized note. When you get past that over-maturity, there are also deep scents and flavors of dried apricots, honey, and minerals. After a few minutes, the roses start emerging. Wow--this is Rosacker, indeed. The vineyards are just outside the walled medieval village of Riquewihr, and there are roses planted at the end of every row.

The vineyards, in fact, surround a guest house where I stayed with my family in 1994. I smelled those roses on my daily run in the early 1990s, and I smell them again. The vineyards that produced this wine are lovely, and they still leave a haunting memory in the glass.