WTN: A.J. Adam Kab 2009

A.J. Adam Dhron Hofberg Riesling Kabinett 2009 - Mosel; 8% abv; 65 g/l RS; 9,8 g/l acidity
Delicious. I am afraid of these riper years, but even I have to admit that this was pretty special. Slight tropical/passionfruit aromas and Spätlese weight hint at a hot year, but otherwise it is delightfully mineral, acidic, lively, light and sweet. An antidepressant if down; will cause bouts of giddy happiness if not.

[David M. Bueker]

Spatlese weight in a kabinett is not an indicator of a hot year. It's an indicator of a producer that feels (perhaps rightly) that kabinett minimums are a bit of a joke.

Auslese weight in a kabinett is an indicator of a hot year. See 2003 and 2006 for examples.

Ok. Maybe a + after the word "Spätlese" is needed. Between the lines, I hoped it would have been understandable that it was weighty for Kab.

[David M. Bueker]

I understood what you meant, but weighty kabs are pretty much the norm these days. Vintages like 2008, where things were sort of old-school normal, are rare now.

Love this wine. Have more coming (including in magnum - that should mean lots of giddy happiness ), can't wait.

Vintages like 2008, where things were sort of old-school normal, are rare now.

Fear not, old-school kabinett is what you'll get in 2010. And I hope you like acid, because '10 is going to make `08 look almost soft. Big factors that'll change the equation will be how much botrytis the producers kept (there was potentially a lot, though not all of it was good), and whether or not they deacidified, but if it's clean, it'll be kabinett and in rare cases real Spätlese.

Cheers,
Bill

[David M. Bueker]

Interesting to have 2 high acid years out of the last 3, and 2009 was not low acid. I will say that I prefer the high acid years to vintages like 2003 and 2005.

Otto, I can but agree to your enthusiasm to this wine. As you maybe saw, I had the pleasure of tasting Adam's wines last summer (link). I see what you mean by the Spätlese-like denseness, but can't find it in any way overpowering or even too much thanks to the incredible freshness of the fruit. Also, as David already has stated, these Oechsle levels are quite the norm for the Kabinetts of the ambitious producers these days.
Cheers, Anders