WTN: Riesling with dinner

It seems that riesling notes are popular right now. Here is my contribution:

Clear straw yellow. Rich nose of ripe melons and tropical fruit especially pineapple. Luscious midpalate of sweet, ripe, tropical fruit on whipped cream with balancing acidity. Long finish of lemon meringue pie mixed with key lime pie.

Food match: Great with garlic mushroom chicken in a coconut milk sauce. The tropical fruit was really enhanced by the sauce.

Good match with aged cheddar cheese that seemed to enhance the acidity of the wine.

Wine: 2005 Ockfener Bockstein riesling kabinett by Reichsgraf von Kesselstatt - mosel. My only quibble with this wine is that its sweetness seemed more like a spatlese than a kabinettt to me. I really liked this wine and it was great with food.

[David M. Bueker]

2005 Ockfener Bockstein riesling kabinett by Reichsgraf von Kesselstatt - mosel. My only quibble with this wine is that its sweetness seemed more like a spatlese than a kabinettt to me.

A common issue with modern kabinett. The problem is that they are actually spatlese (or auslese), and if they only had kabinett sweetness they may very well feel clipped and tart. Growers bottle and label the wines as kabinett because of the economic reality - kabinett is the most commercially popular level.

For the most part I recommend treating post-2002 kabinetts (with some few exceptions of course) as classical spatlese in terms of selection for food matching, aging & expectations around mouthfeel and sweetness. You will rarely go wrong.