Two from St. Urbans-Hof

I tried 2.5-oz. pour of two Rieslings from a wine dispenser at The Wine Merchant, Raleigh. The 2009 Riesling QbA, Mosel, tasted sweet to me and was not a must purchase at $15.99 per bottle ($2.90 for the tasting) 90 points from "Wine Spectator"

I prefered the 2009 St. Urbans-Hof Riesling Kabinett Ockfener Bockstein. ($3.25 for the tasting, $17.99 per bottle) and may ask the store to set aside two or three bottles for me to pick up in February during the Triangle Wine Experience. This had more aroma than the QbA. Both wines were quite pale in the glass. Dale Williams and others have commented on this wine. I thought it started sweet but finished on a tart lemony note which I enjoyed. WA rated 91 points and says "saline and seemingly crystalline mineral notes make for uncontrollable salivation--can age for 15 or more years--quintessential Kabinett and outstanding value"--DS (David Schildknecht?)Also says impeccably balanced although it has 50 grams of residual sugar. I would not have guessed the sugar content to be that high. I may want to include this in a future church fundraiser for those who prefer wines with a bit of sweetness.

Thanks for the notes.

Anyone had the 2009 St Urbans-Hof Ockfener Bockstein Riesling Spatlese? I just picked up a 5-pack for $14/each on close out. Only later did I notice that Schildknecht rated in 94 points!

Anyone had the 2009 St Urbans-Hof Ockfener Bockstein Riesling Spatlese? I just picked up a 5-pack for $14/each on close out.

Closeout? Seems kind of early for that? I guess the store really likes turnover. Which should be good for freshness. And certainly sounds like a great price.

[David M. Bueker]

Wow - closing out 2009s. I am amazed as well.

Haven't had the spatlese, but Nik Weis puts out very fine wines across the board. I'm sure they will be delicious. Might need a decant for sulfur though. Some of the wines carry a bit of the brimstone.

Well, "bin end" would be a better term. They had 5 left, originally priced $20, marked to $14 to clean out the bin.

Where are you geographically Patrick?

Hi JC-

Thank you for the notes on the 2009 St. Urbans-Hofs. I haven't tried any of these yet myself, but will probably buy one or two at some point, as I do like their wines.

I'm also surprised at the closeout, especially after reading today in the Mosel Fine Wines newsletter that it is unlikely that there will be many good Kabinetts from the Mosel in 2010. My local retailers still have a good number of 2008s and 2007s from the Mosel on their shelves.

I'm in northern Colorado, JC, with regular forays to wine tastings in NYC. A good place to be, Colorado, despite the bad rep of high-altitude's bad influence on how wine drinks!

Patrick: You have to bring some of those good Germans in your next NYC trip.