FYI April 14, 2010 WINES OF THE TIMES A German Riesling That Embodies Spring By ERIC ASIMOV WITH so many grapes grown in so many places around the world, even experts may be forgiven for mistaking, say, a South African sauvignon blanc for a Chilean sauvignon blanc. But a good German riesling from the Mosel region is like no other riesling in the world. It is simply one of wine.s singular glories. In my ideal world, the wine in the glass I raise each year to the coming of spring is a Mosel kabinett riesling. It is a wine of gorgeous delicacy, as fragile as the petals on those first tentative blossoms yet possessing a tensile strength that comes of perfect balance. It is a captured moment, evocative more than impressive, fleeting rather than penetrating, whispered nuance, not high volume. For those like me who love kabinett rieslings, the 2008 vintage is exceptional, as the wine panel learned in a recent tasting. And yet you might find some people who ask what all the fuss is about. That.s because, for all its joys, kabinett riesling is also one of the least understood, least respected of wine designations. Why? First, let.s understand what the term means. Kabinett, sp�tlese and auslese are all designations for the ripeness of the grapes when they are harvested. Kabinett grapes are picked at an early point of ripeness, sp�tlese grapes at a later point, and auslese grapes even riper than that. The misunderstanding arises from a tendency to regard these ripeness levels in an ascending order of hierarchy, as if sp�tlese were always better than kabinett, and auslese better than both. It.s easy to see why this happens. The longer grapes are left out on the vine, the riskier the proposition. Rather than chancing bad weather . especially in the old days, when forecasting was more like guesswork . timid growers would harvest earlier, and prices would be higher for the more difficult late-harvest wines. Prices still rise in proportion to ripeness levels. This notion of a hierarchy of quality has been reinforced for years by the wine trade. Often when I.ve sought a kabinett riesling in a restaurant or shop, the sommelier or merchant would recommend a bottle because .it.s actually declassified sp�tlese,. meaning a desirable combination of sp�tlese quality and kabinett price. No! Leaving aside the issue of .declassified,. such a response indicates a complete lack of appreciation for the worthiness of kabinett and the importance of context in selecting wines. The modest sweetness, lightness and refreshment offered by a kabinett riesling deserve to be valued, not thoughtlessly denigrated. Complicating matters is that true kabinetts have been in short supply in recent years because of warmer temperatures. Increased warmth speeds the production of sugar in the grape. By the time the other elements of the grape have developed, the sugar content is already at the sp�tlese level, if not higher. .Nobody.s really making them anymore,. the importer Terry Theise told me a couple of years ago. .It.s impossible. The grapes would have to be harvested before they were physiologically ripe.. So, most kabinetts nowadays are in fact sp�tlese weight, or more. The cool 2008 vintage, however, allowed producers to come closer to classic kabinett-style wines than they have in a while, perhaps since 2001. Excited at the opportunity to try some real kabinett rieslings, the wine panel assembled a tasting of 20 bottles of 2008 kabinett from the Mosel. Florence Fabricant and I were joined by a couple of riesling lovers, Paul Grieco, an owner of Hearth and Terroir in Manhattan, and Juliette Pope, wine director at Gramercy Tavern. Let.s just say that this tasting was, as Paul put it, .smokin.!. On the whole, these were beautiful wines, with a lovely tension between sweetness and acidity that made them taste as if they were dry. What.s more, the best wines were full of the slatelike mineral aromas and flavors that are so characteristic of Mosel rieslings. .This is a vintage that can lead a sweet-wine skeptic down the path,. Juliette said. And yet, were they classic kabinett wines? This was a source of some disagreement. Paul was convinced that they were. .They were true to form, and some of the better kabinetts I.ve ever tried,. he said. But I was not certain. I loved the wines; don.t get me wrong. But judging strictly by their weight and texture, they felt a little more like sp�tlese. Not that good Mosel rieslings are ever heavy, but true kabinetts, I felt, should offer a little more fragility. I did find some wines that fit my definition, none more so, perhaps, than our No. 2 bottle, the Brauneberger Juffer-Sonnenuhr from Fritz Haag, one of my favorite Mosel producers, which showed gorgeous precision and balance, and our No. 3 bottle, the Eitelsbacher Karth�userhofberg from Karth�userhof, which likewise was precise and focused. I would also mention the Kanzemer Altenberg from Von Othegraven, which showed an almost textbook delicacy. So, why was our No. 1 wine the Dhron Hofberg from A. J. Adam? Look, when a wine is this beautiful, with complexity, wonderful minerality and lingering flavors, so completely evocative of the Mosel, we couldn.t resist it, even though it seemed to me more like sp�tlese than kabinett. But, hey, I didn.t come to the tasting with laboratory tools, so I decided not to get hung up on a possible technicality. I haven.t even mentioned the great value of these wines. Thirteen of the 20 bottles were $25 or less, and none cost more than $34. When you factor in the difficulty of farming these vineyards, on precipitous hillsides rising from the Mosel River, or its tributaries, the Saar and the Ruwer, they are not expensive at all. Our best value was the �rziger W�rzgarten from M�nchhof, which showed great balance between fruit, minerality and acidity. Strangely enough, we rejected two kabinetts from my favorite Mosel producer of all, Joh. Jos. Pr�m. Honestly, though, I was not surprised. In almost every blind tasting we.ve done, the young Pr�m wines are rejected because of their aroma of just-struck matches. Does this come from an overuse of sulfur dioxide, as some suggest, or because of the peculiar chemistry of the ambient Pr�m yeasts, cool fermentation temperatures and other cellar practices, as the Pr�ms themselves have maintained? I don.t know, other than to say that whatever the reason, this aromatic characteristic has always interfered with the wine panel.s evaluation of the Pr�m wines. I make this point only because no kabinett rieslings have given me more pleasure over the years than Joh. Jos. Pr�m.s. But they generally need aging first. At five years or so of age, the unwanted aromas disappear, and these wines then offer a sublime experience for many years more. Until then, these other wonderful wines will do fine. Tasting Report: Mosel Kabinett Rieslings That Speak in a Delicate Whisper A. J. Adam Riesling Kabinett $26 ... � Dhron Hofberg 2008 Gorgeous balance of delicacy and intensity with complex, lingering fruit and mineral flavors. (Terry Theise Estate Selections/Michael Skurnik Wines, Syosset, N.Y.) Fritz Haag Riesling Kabinett $28 ... Brauneberger Juffer-Sonnenuhr 2008 Tense, fragile, teetering on a lovely edge of mineral and fruit flavors. (Rudi Wiest Selections/Cellars International, San Marcos, Calif.) Karth�userhof Riesling Kabinett $31 ... Eitelsbacher Karth�userhofberg 2008 Focused and precise with lively floral and mineral aromas and flavors. (Rudi Wiest Selections/Cellars International) BEST VALUE M�nchhof Riesling Kabinett $19 ... �rziger W�rzgarten 2008 Intense flavors of apricot and slate, beautifully balanced. (Rudi Wiest Selections/Cellars International) Kerpen Riesling Kabinett $18 .. � Wehlener Sonnenuhr 2008 Light and delicate with pleasant floral, mineral and fruit aromas and flavors. (Terry Theise Estate Selections/Michael Skurnik Wines) Willi Schaefer Riesling Kabinett $20 .. � Graacher Domprobst 2008 Racy and tense with classic Mosel slate aromas and flavors. (Terry Theise Estate Selections/Michael Skurnik Wines) Von Othegraven Riesling $24 .. � Kabinett Kanzemer Altenberg 2008 Light, fragile, delicate and delicious. (Terry Theise Estate Selections/Michael Skurnik Wines) Philipps-Eckstein Riesling Kabinett $20 .. � Graacher Himmelreich 2008 Delicate texture with flavors of citrus, dried apricots and minerals. (Sch�fer-Reichart Selections, Concord, Calif.) Selbach-Oster Riesling Kabinett $22 .. � Zeltinger Sonnenuhr 2008 Fragile, dancing flavors of fruit and minerals. (Terry Theise Estate Selections/Michael Skurnik Wines) Zilliken Riesling Kabinett $23 .. Saarburger Rausch 2008 Well balanced with gentle fruit and mineral flavors. (Rudi Wiest Selections/Cellars International) -- ------------------------------ * Dr. James Ellingson, jellings(a)me.umn.edu * * University of Minnesota, mobile : 651/645-0753 * * Great Lakes Brewing News, 1569 Laurel Ave., St. Paul, MN 55104 *