Winemaker Notes
Produced with early harvested fruit from estate vines in the town of Saarburg, this village-level Riesling Kabinett evokes the feeling of wide open windows, through which the fresh spring air is dancing in. The textbook definition of a classic, nimble Saar Kabinett. Juicy, grape-like nose with a creaminess comparable to a white risotto. In the mouth, an explosive, cool and animating flavors of ripe gooseberries and honeydew melon, framed by the intensely integrated acidity.
Professional Ratings
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James Suckling
There’s a mouth-filling juiciness to this wine—think of the most delicate fruit salad you ever encountered—but also a very animating acidity that soaks up a lot of the natural grape sweetness, making this seem a lot drier than it really is. A very clean and crisp finish with some real finesse. Drink or hold.
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Vinous
The 2023 Riesling Saarburger Kabinett, harvested from across the Saarburger Rausch, offers an immediate scent that combines red-cheeked peach with summer blossom. The palate has vivid lightness and immense juiciness, moving like silk chiffon in a breeze, while juicy white peach sets the tone from start to finish.
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
The 2023 Saarburg Riesling Kabinett is deep and pure on the intense and finely aromatic nose. Round and lush yet fine and elegant on the palate, this is a very attractive, mouthfilling yet transparent, stimulating, saline and grippy Kabinett in a very young stage, so still with lots of baby fat. Keep for at least 5-7 years.
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Wine Enthusiast
Complex and off-dry, this wine balances vibrant acidity with a touch of flintiness. It features bright notes of white raspberry, candied lemon, and tropical guava, all leading to a long, lingering finish.
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.