On Feb 15, 10:06?am, "DaleW" > wrote:
> Betsy was making a duck breast with orange (I thought) sauce, cabbage
> with bacon and gorgonzola, and lemon-cheese potato fans for our
> romantic Valentine's dinner for three.
> (We had a snow day, the teen was with his girlfriend and friends all
> day and decided he would stay in for dinner)
>
> I had solicited advice for the duck on previous night, my thought was
> off-dry Riesling (I usually prefer PN with duck, but the sweet sauce)-
> others countered with Gewurztraminer or Chenin Blanc. When pondering
> my cellar list I decided this was a good time to get rid of one of
> those ZH wines that I can never figure out what to serve with.
>
> I brought up the 1999 Zind-Humbrecht "Herrenweg de Turckheim"
> Gewurztraminer (Alsace). At that point I found out that Betsy was
> doing a variation, using kumquats & kumquat zest rather than orange,
> but it still used Grand Marnier and I didn't think it was a big change
> re matching.
>
> Floral nose with litchees and honey. Rather heavy/oily on the palate,
> mildly sweet. Very Humbrecht, very Gewurz. As one my expect, rather
> low-acid. Flavorwise a pretty good match to the duck's sauce, but not
> a wine I would seek out again - it could use more zip. More a question
> of "not my style" than quality, certainly a well-made wine. Still,
> nice to clear out one of my last non-dessert ZHs. B


It's a funny thng about Z-H wines. When I open a bottle to enjoy with
family dinner I always feel that it's over ripe and a bit flabby and
isn't very food friendly. When I'm at a party or a function and
someone opens a bottle, it's always a star. I think it's that honey/
lychee thing that turns me off with food but gets folks attention at a
party.