Winemaker Notes
The Bernkasteler Badstube vineyard borders those of the Graacher Himmelreich on the latter's southern edge. The slopes are on a marginally shallower gradient, with deeper soils than the Graacher and Wehlener, while the western orientation allows the vines longer exposure to the afternoon sun. The Badstube typically produces a wonderfully floral, delicate and mineral wine. Overall, the wines are usually slightly more delicate in structure and weight when compared with the wines of Graacher or Wehlener, but they are wonderfully racy and fine examples of the middle Mosel.
Professional Ratings
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James Suckling
Super cool and bright with a wide spectrum of delicate garden herb and white tree fruit aromas. Sleek, light-bodied and pristine, with a wonderful balance of restrained juiciness and stony freshness in the long
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Vinous
The 2023 Riesling Bernkasteler Badstube Kabinett opens with a touch of mossy, lemony brightness that is vividly creamy. The palate is immediately fresh, superbly open and very friendly with some baby fat, channeling lemon and Reine Claude plum. It has a flowing, green-tinged aspect, almost like candied angelica, with a bright, fresh lemony finish.
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
The 2023 Bernkasteler Badstube Kabinett shows ripe and lush but delicate fruit with finely weathered slate aromas. This weightless Riesling is light, filigreed and very delicate on the palate, and fruit and acidity are in perfect balance. This is not a super substantial Badstube but a very delicate palate dancer. 9% stated alcohol. Natural cork.
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Wine Spectator
A dry-leaning style, with persimmon, lime zest and heather flecked with celery seed and white tea. A steely mineral edge drives the energy, while finely beaded acidity brings litheness despite the sweetness and power. Shows length, complexity and poise. Drink now through 2030. 80 cases imported.
Riesling possesses a remarkable ability to reflect the character of wherever it is grown while still maintaining its identity. A regal variety of incredible purity and precision, this versatile grape can be just as enjoyable dry or sweet, young or old, still or sparkling and can age longer than nearly any other white variety. Somm Secret—Given how difficult it is to discern the level of sweetness in a Riesling from the label, here are some clues to find the dry ones. First, look for the world “trocken.” (“Halbtrocken” or “feinherb” mean off-dry.) Also a higher abv usually indicates a drier Riesling.
Following the Mosel River as it slithers and weaves dramatically through the Eifel Mountains in Germany’s far west, the Mosel wine region is considered by many as the source of the world’s finest and longest-lived Rieslings.
Mosel’s unique and unsurpassed combination of geography, geology and climate all combine together to make this true. Many of the Mosel’s best vineyard sites are on the steep south or southwest facing slopes, where vines receive up to ten times more sunlight, a very desirable condition in this cold climate region. Given how many twists and turns the Mosel River makes, it is not had to find a vineyard with this exposure. In fact, the Mosel’s breathtakingly steep slopes of rocky, slate-based soils straddle the riverbanks along its entire length. These rocky slate soils, as well as the river, retain and reflect heat back to the vineyards, a phenomenon that aids in the complete ripening of its grapes.
Riesling is by far the most important and prestigious grape of the Mosel, grown on approximately 60% of the region’s vineyard land—typically on the desirable sites that provide the best combination of sunlight, soil type and altitude. The best Mosel Rieslings—dry or sweet—express marked acidity, low alcohol, great purity and intensity with aromas and flavors of wet slate, citrus and stone fruit. With age, the wine’s color will become more golden and pleasing aromas of honey, dried apricot and sometimes petrol develop.
Other varieties planted in the Mosel include Müller-Thurgau, Spätburgunder (Pinot Noir) and Weissburgunder (Pinot Blanc), all performing quite well here.