2007 Oberemmeler Hutte Kabinett

Von Kunow makes only a perfunctory amount of dry wine - this year, the heading above 2007 Obermmeler Hutte Riesling Kabinett trocken on his price list reads simply -Our Dry Wine,- singular! - but this doesn't mean that what few trocken bottlings he renders are uninteresting, far from it. The solitary 2007 in question is distinctively delicious. A gorgeous nose of rowan, cherry blossom, and fresh pear and lime nose leads to a delicate but well-concentrated citrus and pit fruit palate and a refreshing finish with distinctly saline and wet stone notes. I would not plan to hold this particularly user-friendly Riesling trocken for more than a few years, but it will prove food friendly as well as fun on its own. Ebernard von Kunow himself, along with many journalists, was harder his 2006 collection than was I. Still, the 2007s are more consistent; will certainly be longer-lived; and at the top end represent some of his most exhilarating and riveting wines ever. They were also picked within a relative narrow range of must weights (even allowing for considerable botrytis). -It was really just a matter of taste,- says von Kunow, -deciding what would become Kabinett, what Spatlese, and what Auslese. I did lengthy sorting in an attempt to bottle Beerenauslese, but in the end I concluded -it just isn't there.-- Importer: Rudi Wiest, Cellars International, Carlsbad, CA 800 596 9463.