Winemaker Notes
The name “Badstube” likely dates back to the Middle Ages. At that time, various hot springs around Bernkastel were used as “baths” and recreational centers. The Riesling vines of the Bernkasteler Badstube are grown on old (20-40 years) and partly not-grafted rootstocks on very steep Devon slate slopes. The grapes are hand harvested and the wine aged in stainless steel.This classic Mosel Kabinett showcases red apple, white peach, flower pedals and notes of slate. It’s elegant, expressive and focused with a fruity and rich mid-palate. The long finish lingers with citrusy acidity.
Professional Ratings
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Wine Spectator
This white is juicy and shows a bit more flesh covering its spine of acidity, showcasing peach, apple and slate flavors. Harmonious, finishes with floral and citrus notes. Drink now through 2032. 200 cases made, 40 cases imported.
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James Suckling
A very expressive Kabinett with so much stone-fruit, red-apple and fresh-herb aromas, then a very elegant, rather sleek palate that’s very clean and focused with a barely off-dry and food-friendly finish. Drink now. Screw cap.
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Wine Enthusiast
Light as a feather but deeply penetrating, this high-spirited kabinett zips and zaps with delicately sweet lime, lemon and white-peach flavors. Dusted by slate and edged by smoke and salt, it's a deeply mineral, sprightly wine that finishes on piercing acidity.
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
The 2019 Bernkasteler Badstube Riesling Kabinett is very clear and aromatic on the flinty, precise yet still reductive nose that indicates a classic Mosel style. Round and lush on the palate, this is a mouth-filling, sweet and fruity Kabinett with almost 50 grams of residual sugar and stimulating mineral acidity and slatey grip. Excellent but not my taste; this is still too dominant in its sweetness. Tasted at the domain in September 2020.
Rating: 91(+)
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.