Domaine Zind-Humbrecht Clos Saint Urbain Rangen de Thann

Domaine Zind-Humbrecht Clos Saint Urbain Rangen de Thann Grand Cru Pinot Gris 2002

I bought this wine more than 10 years ago.
Back then, I didn't know anything about Alsatian wine and couldn't say that I had a high regard for them, but one day I was introduced to wines from this Domaine and I've been a big fan of Alsatian wine since then.

Domaine Zind-Humbrecht was created in 1959, but Humbrecht family has been cultivating vines in Alsace since 17th century.
Their wines are made with high standard and they've been practicing biodynamic wine making since 1997.

We had the wine with chicken

This wine had honeysuckle, stewed stone fruit, brown butter, coffee beans and walnut skin.
Complex wine. 15 years old and still some freshness.
Definitely a great wine but maybe even better if we opened a couple of years ago.

We'd been debating when would be the best time to open this, and couldn't make up our mind until now.

When Olivier Humbrecht, the owner of Domaine Zind-Humbrecht and the first Frenchman to become Master of Wine, visited San Francisco last year, JC had a chance to meet him.
JC explained our agony of not being able to decide when to open, half as a funny story and half to ask for his advice.
Mr. Humbrecht enjoyed listening to it, and as he was leaving, he gave this bottle to JC saying "Open the 2002 and keep this in you cellar instead."

What a generous gesture!
He did this because he is a kind person, of course, but I also believe that he was genuinely happy to know that we were trying really hard to drink his wine at the best condition.
This tells me how serious and sincere a winemaker he is.            

We'd been admirers of his wine, and now are admirers of Mr. Humbrecht himself, it took us another year to finally make up our minds to open the 2002.

Now we have Domaine Zind-Humbrecht Clos Saint Urbain Rangen de Thann Grand Cru Riesling 2014, gifted by Mr. Olivier Humbrecht.
I don't think I can ever open this...