The wine is Schlumberger Gewurztraminer Cuvee Anne 1976. I bought 4
bottles at auction from the Chicago Wine Company shortly after it was
released. It has been properly stored since, the fill is high, and
there were no cork or other issues.

A little background may be useful.Cuvee Anne is seldom produced, and
in the 70s only 1971 and 1976 were made. Although 1976 was too hot and
dry in some areas, it was perfect for late harvest Gewurztraminer in
vineyards owned by Schlumberger. This Cuvee Anne is said to have the
highest must weight ever recorded in Alsace. The mustmeter was off
scale, and it had to be diluted to half strength to measure and then
multiply be two. Clive Coates was so impressed, that he rated it as 10
on a scale of 5!, and Coates is not prone to inflate ratings.

This wine should be served chilled, but not very cold; else some of
the bouquet may be hidden. The color is a brilliant gold that nearly
seems to sparkle. It is remarkably smooth, and has a velvet texture
that seems to coat the mouth as would cream or a light oil. The
bouquet is extremely complex and suggests tropical fruits such as
papayas, mangos, and also temperate fruits such as white peaches.
There also is a spice component, perhaps cinnamon. There is just the
right amount of smooth acid to balance the extreme sweetness. I could
not even guess the alcohol content, as the extreme sweetness an
intense bouquet and taste hide alcohol very well. The label does not
give alcohol content other than by "table wine". The aftertaste is
extremely long. It compares very well with a top German TBA, although
this is much like comparing apples and oranges, since the top German
TBAs often are Riesling wines and thus have a different bouquet and
taste profile.

If one can find a bottle of this that has been properly stored, it
would be well worth tasting.
Even using the pay pro version of wine-searcher, I only found one
store in the world that has 4 bottles. Of course wine-searcher does
not pick up everything, and then there are auctions. The cost at the
store is a few hundred dollars, while you can pay much, much more for
many other top wines. Even a 1 oz pour would be plenty to evaluate
this wine, so several people could share the expense. Just do not use
a large glass, unless you have a very long tongue, or you will leave
much wine in the glass as it runs down the sides very slowly because
of the high viscosity.

On Jun 6, 12:07*am, cwdjrxyz > wrote:
> The wine is Schlumberger Gewurztraminer Cuvee Anne 1976. I bought 4
> bottles at auction from the Chicago Wine Company shortly after it was
> released. It has been properly stored since, the fill is high, and
> there were no cork or other issues.
>
> A little background may be useful.Cuvee Anne is seldom produced, and
> in the 70s only 1971 and 1976 were made. Although 1976 was too hot and
> dry in some areas, it was perfect for late harvest Gewurztraminer in
> vineyards owned by Schlumberger. This Cuvee Anne is said to have the
> highest must weight *ever recorded in Alsace. The mustmeter was off
> scale, and it had to be diluted to half strength to measure and then
> multiply be two. Clive Coates was so impressed, that he rated it as 10
> on a scale of 5!, and Coates is not prone to inflate ratings.
>
> This wine should be served chilled, but not very cold; else some of
> the bouquet may be hidden. The color is a brilliant gold that nearly
> seems to sparkle. It is remarkably smooth, and has a velvet texture
> that seems to coat the mouth as would cream or a light oil. The
> bouquet is extremely complex and suggests tropical fruits such as
> papayas, mangos, and also temperate fruits such as white peaches.
> There also is a spice component, perhaps cinnamon. There is just the
> right amount of smooth acid to balance the extreme sweetness. I could
> not even guess the alcohol content, as the extreme sweetness an
> intense bouquet and taste hide alcohol very well. The label does not
> give alcohol content other than by "table wine". The aftertaste is
> extremely long. It compares very well with a top German TBA, although
> this is much like comparing apples and oranges, since the top German
> TBAs often are Riesling wines and thus have a different bouquet and
> taste profile.
>
> If one can find a bottle of this that has been properly stored, it
> would be well worth tasting.
> Even using the pay pro version of wine-searcher, I only found one
> store in the world that has 4 bottles. Of course wine-searcher does
> not pick up everything, and then there are auctions. The cost at the
> store is a few hundred dollars, while you can pay much, much more for
> many other top wines. Even a 1 oz pour would be plenty to evaluate
> this wine, so several people could share the expense. Just do not use
> a large glass, unless you have a very long tongue, or you will leave
> much wine in the glass as it runs down the sides very slowly because
> of the high viscosity.

To clarify a statement in the first post, the one store having the
wine found on Wine-Searcher Pro will sell one of their 4 bottles at US
$ 150 each. They likely still have the wine, since the last update of
their page was June 7. They are located in the US and will ship to
many places. Since I have never done business with the company, I have
absolutely no opinion about the condition of the wine and how the
company does business. If anyone can not locate the company and really
wants to buy the wine, I will post the url of their site, if you
request it on this group - all mail to my posting address is domain
mail that dumps all incoming mail which is nearly all spam. However
don't blame me if you have problems or if the wine has not been stored
properly.

On 6/8/11 5:11 AM, cwdjrxyz wrote:

> To clarify a statement in the first post, the one store having the
> wine found on Wine-Searcher Pro will sell one of their 4 bottles at US
> $ 150 each. They likely still have the wine, since the last update of
> their page was June 7. They are located in the US and will ship to
> many places. Since I have never done business with the company, I have
> absolutely no opinion about the condition of the wine and how the
> company does business. If anyone can not locate the company and really
> wants to buy the wine, I will post the url of their site, if you
> request it on this group - all mail to my posting address is domain
> mail that dumps all incoming mail which is nearly all spam. However
> don't blame me if you have problems or if the wine has not been stored
> properly.

For the record, Flickinger is a reputable outfit in Chicago (IIRC, Dale
mentioned that it is a retail arm of Winebid or something of the sort --
feel free to correct me, Dale). I know people who deal with them on a
regular basis and think quite highly of them. Curiously, despite my
proximity, I have not done business with them.

Mark Lipton

--
alt.food.wine FAQ: http://winefaq.cwdjr.net