Albert Boxler, Riesling, Grand Cru Sommerberg, Alsace, 2017

The granite-soiled Sommerberg is one of the steepest of all Alsace grand cru vineyards, and Jean Boxler is its quietly spoken magus. This magnificent example is still in its infancy, so dense and tight-sinewed is it – best on day two after opening, or cellar for a few years. The aromas are very pure and refined at first, and the palate sculpted, crisp and stony. It will drink up the air, though, and after a while you realise there is ghostly honey and will-o-the-wisp ginger haunting the cool apple fruits and almost seaweed-like sappiness. The acidity is gothic and vertical – but, since this is Alsace, it’s never merely that; the drama of the wine’s inner architecture and crushed-stone substrate gives it length and resonance.