Winemaker Notes
Racy and pure with intense minerality coupled with green apple and pear flavors. It has a steely finish with white stones and dry herb notes.
Professional Ratings
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James Suckling
There’s an attractive, reductive and flinty edge here that holds fresh citrus fruit in good stead. The palate has a succulent, juicy and attractively fleshy feel with a wealth of ripe peaches and nectarines. Smooth and delicious.
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Wine Enthusiast
Aromas of lemon candy and tangerine peel are accented by earth and dried, savory herbs in this bristling semisweet kabinett. It's bright and citrusy on the palate, framed by zesty lime acidity and a grip of astringency on the finish. Lovely now but it should drink well through 2030.
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Wine & Spirits
Harvested from the steep gray-slate soils of the Ockfener Bockstein, this reflects that vineyard’s sunny, protected position in the density and ripeness of its flavors. It’s overtly mineral, with notes of petrol winding through the lime-curd fruit, and a savory umami character that brings to mind parmesan-cheese rinds. At the same time, the acidity is lively, the wine feeling youthful, ready to take on a rich, cheesy mushroom risotto.
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Wine Spectator
An elegant version, with elderflower, white raspberry and candied orange notes, underscored by prominent minerality and vibrant acidity. Shows lots of energy. Very pretty now, but will be better in a few years. Best from 2021 through 2029.
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
The 2018 Bockstein Kabinett is clear and intense on the classic nose that is complex and slightly matured yet still reductive. Piquant and fresh on the palate, this is a classy and vital yet still reductive Kabinett with structure and concise acidity but also juicy fruit.
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.