Haag the limelight

Fritz Haag 2002 Brauneberger Juffer Riesling Kabinett 3 03 (Mosel-Saar-Ruwer) – As muted and diffident as my entire stock of this wine has been. Others have reported better results, so I have to feel that my batch was damaged in some fashion. Gauzy minerality, bubblegum, powdered cream, and generalized disappointment abound. (10/11)

Cliff Clavin

Ratzenberger 2009 Steeger St. Jost Riesling Kabinett Halbtrocken 12 10 (Mittelrhein) – Gentle, light, lightly-sweet, more like wine-as-water rather than wine-as-aspiration. Which is another way of saying that it disappears very quickly, and without an enormous amount of distracting thought along the way. (10/11)

Says what?

Simon 2007 Ayler Kupp Riesling Kabinett 2 08 (Mosel-Saar-Ruwer) – Really not good at all, in ways that I’m inclined to attribute to damage somewhere in its past. Or it could be… (7/11)

Simon 2007 Ayler Kupp Riesling Kabinett 2 08 (Mosel-Saar-Ruwer) – Corked. (9/11)

Haag und das

Fritz Haag 2002 Brauneberger Juffer Riesling Kabinett 3 03 (Mosel-Saar-Ruwer) – Hints of Rainier cherry and yellow plum very quickly give way to anonymous sweetness, general lightness, and a slight “push” to the structure that, ultimately, amounts to pretty much nothing. Getting cotton candy-ish in the finish, which for me is never a good sign from German riesling. Good thing I only have, oh, eight or nine more bottles… *sigh* (4/11)

Brown meat patty

Fritz Haag 2002 Brauneberger Juffer Riesling Kabinett 0 03 (Mosel-Saar-Ruwer) – Ever more cylindrical and starting to dust up, which is a quality I like to find in riesling as it ages. A little more confident than the last bottle, which suggests gradual emergence into a more interesting stage. (8/10)

Haag und Dazs

Fritz Haag 2002 Brauneberger Juffer Riesling Kabinett 3 03 (Mosel-Saar-Ruwer) – Dryish lemongrass, dry apple skin, and spritz. Sulfurous. Still too young for true enjoyment. (1/10)

Longuich lessons

Schmitt-Wagner 2001 Longuicher Maximiner Herrenberg Riesling Kabinett 15 02 (Mosel-Saar-Ruwer) – Difficult. Muted, somewhat sulfurous, and probably too young. Nonetheless, what’s perceptible is moderately enticing. A grayed-out minerality suffuses everything, but there’s a leafy, almost lemongrass-like aromatic component (albeit brief), then apple skin, and finally some walnut that’s not only aromatic, but textural as the wine drifts off into an uncertain finish. I wonder how much more time this will require, or if that number is imaginary. (1/10)

Fired Golf Channel interviewers

Kesseler 2005 Lorcher Schlossberg Riesling Kabinett 009 05 (Rheingau) – Riesling on fire, and I don’t mean that in a qualitative way; if a wine at this fairly low alcohol level can be said to have a little excess burn, this would be a top candidate. Along with the heat comes the inevitable weight, and this is far from the balance it would need to show its ripe, steel-jacketed apple and walnut character in any sort of presentable form. (10/09)

Osterizer

Selbach-Oster 2007 Zeltinger Sonnenuhr Riesling Kabinett 027 08 (Mosel-Saar-Ruwer) – From 375 ml, and a gift from a friend who thought I’d either gotten it wrong or had an off bottle in a previous note. At first, there’s an almost milky aroma and texture to the wine, as if cidered steel had been squeezed from a Teutonic cow. Then there’s warming, which brings out both intensity and a surprisingly bit of cream for such a primary wine (guess that cow hasn’t left the vineyard). There’s just a bit of plastic to the finish, and it definitely detracts, but otherwise this is powerful, intense, and balanced…albeit miles from anything that would have been thought of as a kabinett in years gone by. (7/09)

Left in the Lorch

Kesseler 2004 Lorcher Schlossberg Riesling Kabinett 009 05 (Rheingau) – Fruit salad (mostly peach and pineapple, with some crisper stuff lurking), yet not lurid, just approachable. Sweet cream, a few liquefied rocks, but definitely more about its fruit than its minerality or structure. Acidity is more apparent later on. Big. There might be (some) future here. (5/09)

Marcobrunn polo

Schloss Schönborn 2005 Erbacher Marcobrunn Riesling Kabinett 019 06 (Rheingau) – Extremely sweet, with wet acidity; this could be an auslese by its character, though it wouldn’t be a very good one, because it lacks much aside from the basic fact of its structure and a swoosh of tropicality. The problem is that it’s not a very good kabinett either; even by modern standards, it’s hellishly large. Only by ignoring classifications can the wine’s actual appeal be assessed…and there, it’s tasty enough. Maybe age will help, but I suspect not all that much of it. (4/09)

Wolfer Blitz

Vollenweider 2001 Wolfer Goldgrube Riesling Kabinett 01 02 (Mosel-Saar-Ruwer) – Pineapple and clean steel. Good. That’s about it. (4/09)

Graben a handful

St. Urbans-Hof 1990 Wiltinger Schlangengraben Riesling Kabinett 19 91 (Mosel-Saar-Ruwer) – Dusty, as if tasted in an old, wind-blown tunnel. Biting green apple. This is good, and I enjoy it (there isn’t a lot of 19-year-old kabinett in my drinking queue), but I’m not sure I wouldn’t have liked it more a few years ago, because the bones are definitely showing. (4/09)

Left in the Lorch

Kesseler 2004 Lorcher Schlossberg Riesling Kabinett 009 05 (Rheingau) – Open and taking huge, lung-filling breaths of reflective, almost transparent minerality. It’s not a big wine, though it’s insistent, with various apples cut by nut skins and then, later, softened by a certain roundness to the acidity. Interesting. (4/09)

Treppchen-dation

JJ Christoffel 2001 Erdener Treppchen Riesling Kabinett 004 02 (Mosel-Saar-Ruwer) – Apple, peach, and zing, though some cream is already in development. Achieving a certain coherency, which makes it quite appealing at the moment. (3/09)

The Würz of times

JJ Christoffel Erben 2001 Ürziger Würzgarten Riesling Kabinett 005 02 (Mosel-Saar-Ruwer) – Sharp, gravelly, with a soda-water finish. A little disjointed. OK, a lot disjointed. But there’s spice, and…oh, hell, I don’t know what to make of this wine. It doesn’t seem to want to help, either. (3/09)

Kruger National Park

Kruger-Rumpf 2004 Scheurebe Kabinett 24 05 (Nahe) – Green grapes and some perfumed tropicality, with just enough acidity to keep it from being syrup, and a few vague gestures in the direction of rocky minerality. Drinkable, for sure, but just as surely forgettable. (12/08)

Bury your head

Spreitzer 2007 Oestricher Lenchen Riesling Kabinett 028 08 (Rheingau) – Tropical (guava, mango) and floral, counterpointed by a slightly sour yogurt aroma. Fair acidity. This wine makes a big, attention-getting announcement of its presence, but doesn’t really follow through on the trumpeting. It’s good, though, and the finish lingers for a little while. (12/08)

Sonnenuhr & daughter

Selbach-Oster 2007 Zeltinger Sonnenuhr Riesling Kabinett 027 08 (Mosel-Saar-Ruwer) – Severely sweet to the point of imbalance, with only decent acidity vs. what it needs, and a thick, soupy pear finish. I am quite aware that my impression of this wine is unusual (and frankly it’s the first Selbach-Oster I’ve disliked in a very, very long time), but unfortunately there’s no replacement bottle available. I’m burdening this note with such a lengthy caveat because I’m strongly suspicious that this particular bottle is not representative of the wine. (12/08)

Haardt & soul

Müller-Catoir 2007 Haardt Muskateller Kabinett Trocken 09 08 (Pfalz) – Perfumed, of course…mostly orange blossom…with huge acidity and a lovely slosh of iron flakes. Rather huge for a muscat that’s not fortified or otherwise enhanced, and absolutely stuffed with muscatty goodness. The finish is lengthy, which (again) isn’t what one usually expects from the grape. I’ve had a few muscats that were better than this, but only a few. (12/08)