`06 Donnhoff Oberhauser Leisterberg Riesling Kabinett.

Cellared 3 yrs I think, purchased downtown Edmonton, $40 Cdn. I would like to buy more Donnhoff but prices are wild here in AB!

Noticeably more golden than I expected. The nose is very expressive with white stonefruits, hint of gasolein, "some honeysuckle too" from across the table. Thought the citrus tones did not overwhelm this nicely aged riesling from the Nahe. Quite advanced nose for sure.
Initial entry thought good now, would not want to hold on for much longer. The acidity and fruit balance is good. I served quite chilled, did not want a cloying aspect but I need not have worried as the wine aired.
More honeyed tones mid-palate, apricot and marmalade . Mineral tones creep in on day 2 and overall wine held up well overnight. Some might think past its peak but I enjoyed it with some nice pork dumplings and caper spinach sauce.

2006 is a very ripe vintage. This sounds like possibly botrytis. I like the OL Kab, but skipped the '06s.

[David M. Bueker]

The 2006 Leistenberg Kabinett is a botrytis auslese. There was zero real kabinett in 2006. Heck, there was zero real Spåtlese in 2006.

The 2006 Leistenberg Kabinett is a botrytis auslese. There was zero real kabinett in 2006. Heck, there was zero real Spåtlese in 2006.

This makes me want to rant . Not because the wine is not excellent in itself but because its designation as Kabinett is highly misleading when it comes to pairings. In this case I don't think I would have been fooled because I am wary of 2006.

Anyway the important thing for you, Bob, is that it worked well with your pork dumplings.

This makes me want to rant . ...its designation as Kabinett is highly misleading when it comes to pairings. In this case I don't think I would have been fooled because I am wary of 2006.

I guess I see what you are saying from a commercial standpoint, and I know this ground has been tread many times over.

But in defense of the winemakers, is it really realistic to expect 'kabinett' to taste the same and have the same profile every year, regardless of vintage characteristics. These are vintage-based wines afterall! So it should be natural that the absolute positioning of the kabinett-spatlese-auslese scale changes from year to year (hence the legal minimums but not maximums), even if that ordering remains the same.

[David M. Bueker]

I understand Tim's concerns, and Rahsaan, your explanation makes complete sense. That being said, releasing any kabinett in 2006 made zero sense.

Donnhoff was nowhere close to the worst offender. There were multiple producers that released declassified beerenauslese with a kabinett label. They were very free with the information regarding what was in the bottle (and one of them put the requisite *** on the label), but yowza those were not kabinetts!

It is probably the case that Dönnhoff customers were used to buying a 7€ OL Kabinett and they needed to fill that price point knowing that they wouldn't have as many takers on a higher priced spätlese. If they charged 7€ for the Spätlese in 2006 the same customers would complain that the 2007 kabinett costs the same as the spätlese from last year. Easier just to label it kabinett, let people know its a botrytis bomb year and avoid the headache.

Cheers,
Bill

Always good to see you here Bill!

It is probably the case that Dönnhoff customers were used to buying a 7€ OL Kabinett
Cheers,
Bill

Where can one find OL Kabinett for €7? The cheapest I can find in Germany is c.€13 including tax for 2013, much more my sort of vintage than 2006.

[David M. Bueker]

Leistenberg Kabinett has been $20+ since 2002.

Tim,

You should be able to find current vintages in DE for ~ 10€. I imagine that 10 years ago it was more like 7 or 8 ex-cellar. I just threw that number out there. The number is arbitrary to the logic.

Thanks Bob! I can't believe it's been 10 years since that 2006 vintage. Seems like yesterday.

Cheers,
Bill

[David M. Bueker]

Certainly much cheaper ex cellar.