WTN: Prudhon, Knebel, Produttori

I’ve been through a couple good bottles of 2009 Henri Prudhon St. Aubin Rouge Sur le Sentier du Clou. These have been my first bottles ever from Prudhon and they have been so lovely for the $35 price. A fair-enough dose of sweet juicy fruit but with elegance poise and fine structure. Am I crazy for guessing that this benefited from the ripe vintage and is not always so perfectly composed?

I’ve also been enjoying the 2012 Knebel Röttgen Kabinett, again, so well composed and balanced, sweet tangy fruit and refreshing minerality. Liked it a lot more as it warmed and the flavors emerged, but with no corresponding loss in freshness (admittedly I have not been sitting outside in boiling summer heat while drinking these, at which point the freshness may become compromised).

I also opened my first bottle of 2010 Produttori del Barbaresco Barbaresco and was wondering how approachable ‘approachable’ would be. Of course it started off tart and tannic but after several hours it turned to palate pleasure and I will drink some more soon. I’m not one of those Produttori veterans who compares the minutiae of every release, so I’ll leave that to others. But from my perspective this was very solid wine and very good value, worth my exploration.

Rahsaan, I really like the 2012 Knebel Röttgen Kabinett, too.

Rahsaan, I really like the 2012 Knebel Röttgen Kabinett, too.

Any views on its near-term trajectory? A bunch of 2012s that I had been following seemed to be shutting down and getting more austere towards the end of the summer. But someone strongly encouraged me to buy a few of these Knebel and they were indeed delicious. I'm just not sure whether they will continue to be good drinking over the next few months.

[David M. Bueker]

2010 Produttori is solid!

Rahsaan, I really like the 2012 Knebel Röttgen Kabinett, too.

Any views on its near-term trajectory? A bunch of 2012s that I had been following seemed to be shutting down and getting more austere towards the end of the summer. But someone strongly encouraged me to buy a few of these Knebel and they were indeed delicious. I'm just not sure whether they will continue to be good drinking over the next few months.

Rahsaan, I haven't had Knebel's 2012 Röttgen Kabinett for over a year now, so I don't really know how it's drinking now.

As for Produttori del Barbaresco, I visited the co-op last October and tasted with Aldo Vacca during the harvest. The local growers were delivering their Nebbiolo grapes, which were pressed outside, while we were tasting.

Knebel rings a bell here so I found these two downtown>

2010 Knebel Riesling Uhlen Auslese (Mosel, Germany)
Wine - White $54.99 (750mL)
2010 Knebel Winninger Old Vine Rottgen Riesling Spatlese (Mosel, Germany)
Wine - White $46.99 (750mL)

Just a piece of information: Produttori did not make any of their cru wines in 2010, so also the grapes from the best vineyards went into the Barbaresco. There were problems with rain in 2010, in particular around the village Barbaresco itself. The southern part, around Treiso, seems to have managed better this year.
/Anders