2012 Peter Lauer Ayler Kupp Riesling Spätlese Fass 7
first time I've seen this bottling. Slight sponti, mineral nose. Tastes lightly sweet; round, very slaty, a bit saline, with lime, peach, tropical, blackberry, and floral notes. Great acidity/cut here. Excellent.
2012 Weiser-Künstler Enkircher Steffensberg Riesling Spätlese Trocken
Slaty/smoky/yellow fruit nose. Sharp, focused, delicate, somewhere between and icicle and a feather; pure, slate-driven, salty, with red berry, citrus, and ginger notes. Great balance here; feels effortless. Excellent - arguably the best that I've had from Weiser-Künstler, and I have yet to be disappointed by anything from them.
2012 Max Ferd. Richter Mülheimer Sonnenlay Riesling Kabinett Feinherb
Lightly sweet – moreso than anticipated for the Feinherb category; round, with apple and pear flavors; crisper and more mineral on the back end. A better wine than my note makes it sound, although I’m still questioning the need for the Feinherb designation. Good/very good.
2012 St. Urbans-Hof Ockfener Bockstein Riesling Kabinett
Smoky/mineral/apple nose. Crisp, round, lightly sweet, with good acidity; lightly floral, with pear, ginger ale, blackcurrant, and citrus zest flavors. Very good+. A bargain for $10.
2012 Forstmeister Geltz-Zilliken Saarburger Rausch Riesling Kabinett
Effusively mineral nose. Lightly to moderately sweet, fleshy, almost perfectly balancing fresh, ripe fruit with a sharp mineral core. Tastes of golden peaches, red fruits, limeade, and citrus zest. This may be a Spätlese in disguise, but I could care less about the pradikat when the wine is this good, and it's as good a young Kabinett as I've had from Zilliken. Excellent+.
I know these have a long way to go - just so hard to keep the corks on the bottles when the wines are so enjoyable now.