WTN: Kabinett that could be Spatlese

Weingut Eduard Hauth-Kerpen Wehlener Sonnenuhr Riesling Kabinett 2005 - Mosel-Saar-Ruwer, Germany
Pale gold in colour, this sweetish wine smells chalky and flinty with lime and a touch of match stick. A stunning example of sweetness / acid balance, it's more like a Spatlese than a Kabinett, but the vintage was very ripe. There's baked apple, lime, toffee, concentrated melon jam and dry earthy phenolics but the overall lusciousness coats the mouth and leaves a feeling of yum. Long, piercing, focused and fantastic cellaring potential, I would imagine.
AP: 2 576 466-1-06
7.5% alc. NZ$25.99. Cork closure. Tasted by Sue Courtney on 20th Mar 2008.

[David M. Bueker]

Hauth-Kerpen is a producer that is just now experiencing the quality revolution that hit Germany 10-15 years or so ago. The wines are much improved over the last 4 or 5 vintages.

As for the kabinett that could be spätlese, there was not much produced in 2005 that wasn't at least spätlese, if not auslese in its must weight. In both 2005 and 2006 there's no true kabinett to be found.

[James Roscoe]

Hauth-Kerpen is a producer that is just now experiencing the quality revolution that hit Germany 10-15 years or so ago. The wines are much improved over the last 4 or 5 vintages.

As for the kabinett that could be spätlese, there was not much produced in 2005 that wasn't at least spätlese, if not auslese in its must weight. In both 2005 and 2006 there's no true kabinett to be found.

David, would you advise buying some of the higher quality producer's kabinetts from 2005 and treating them like Spatlese? Does this mean aging them for five years? If that is your advice, which producer's kabinet's from '05 or '06 would you advise aging?

[David M. Bueker]

James,

Most of the '05s are gone now, but if you can fine some Selbach-Oster Bernkasteler Badstube Kabinett I would buy it and put it away for another 5-7 years.

I bought very little 2006 kabinett, and really would advise against it, especially considering that 2007 is looking to be a fine kabinett vintage.

[James Roscoe]

As always, thank you David.

As for the kabinett that could be spätlese, there was not much produced in 2005 that wasn't at least spätlese, if not auslese in its must weight. In both 2005 and 2006 there's no true kabinett to be found.

Funny you should say that. The wine was tasted blind and the question was asked whether it was a Kabinett, Spatlese or Auslese. I was mulling between Spatlese and Auslese and in the end put my hand up for Auslese, as there was a hint of botrytis, or something in there and I thought it there was an inkling it could be Auslese, so took the punt.
I've very little experience with 2005's, so was utterly dumbfounded to find it was a Kabinett.

[David M. Bueker]

Not that long ago I was given a bottle of a spatlese to taste blind. I nailed producer, vintage & vineyard, but said it was auslese. My ever so friendly host gave me the "WRONG" because I had identified what it really was, rather than what was on the label.

Sue,

As David points out, it is getting very difficult to know what prädikat you are tasting when doing so blind. Monday I tasted two 2006 kabinett wines from the Bernkasteler Doctor--one was 8.5% abv and one was 11.5% abv; both had plenty of residual sugar. Despite being from the same family's original holdings, they were nothing like each other and likely both were picked at auslese must weight.

One can only hope that when someone is setting these blind challenges they try to find wines that are truly representative of their prädikat--otherwise, it's not terribly fair to the participants.

[David M. Bueker]

The whole pradikat scheme of German wine has been skewed to uselessness by 2003, 2005 and 2006. I opened a lovely 2001 auslese for some friends a few months ago & one of them asked me which kabinett it was.

I used to think 2001 was a ripe vintage. Oof.