Andrew Jefford highlights the wines of Dirler-Cadé
Andrew Jefford highlights the wines of Dirler-Cadé after attending the organic wine fair, Millésime Bio in Montpelier (DECANTER June 2011).
"Two examples were the pure, refined, limpid Alsace wines of Jean Dirler at Domaine Dirler-Cadé in Alsace (UK sales: Vine Trail) and the searching, profoundly mineral wines of Jean Gardiés in Roussillon (UK sales: The Wine Society); the former is biodynamic, the latter organic. Both were inspiringly good - better than I remembered..."
He selected two of their wines as his drinking highlights of the last month:
"Kessler is an Alsace grand cru I don't yet know well: a sheltered sandy-clay slope to the south of the region where Gewurztraminer thrives. Domaine Dirler-Cadé's 2008 version of this variety in this site was a wonderful combination of purity and precision with lusciousness, freighted with orange, jasmine, gardenia and ginger. It will age well. Next to Kessler lies Saering: there's less of a slope in this vineyard, but it has stonier soils. I loved Dirler-Cadé's 2009 Muscat from this grand cru: gossamer-fresh, light, dancing and fresh, with a faint russet-apple muskiness. Two adjacent vineyards; two impeccably contrastive wines."