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)

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)

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)

The perfect club

Kesseler 2005 White 001 06 (Rheingau) – 70% sylvaner, 30% riesling. Less (appealingly) vegetal than many examples of the grape, with a little bit of a sharp edge that may be from the riesling, but retaining the clingier texture of the majority partner. There’s a bit of welcome rockiness, as well. A good value, though I think similarly-priced pure rieslings are a little more defined. (4/09)

Maxed out

Kesseler 2002 Spätburgunder “Cuvée Max” (Rheingau) – Dill and wood, beet and cherry. Simple and too intense; it’s striking, but that’s all. Disappointing. (2/08)