TN: 2011 Reinhard & Beate Knebel Winninger Röttgen Riesling Kabinett

WINE TALK
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  • 2011 Reinhard & Beate Knebel Winninger Röttgen Riesling Kabinett - Germany, Mosel Saar Ruwer (5/11/2019)
    My son is getting better. He tasted it and immediately said, “this is German, right?” Very nice entry level Kabinett from some very nice people just south pof Knebel at the northern end of the Mosel. Thanks to Lyle Fass for introducing us to them and arranging for us to visit their “winery.” I put it in quotes because it was really their house, with a tasting in the dining room. we were hosted by son Matthias, who was the winemaker. They had no US importer at the time but I was subsequently able to pick up a case of this in NY. Classic German Riesling profile. Slightly floral of the nose with white fruit, tropical fruit, citrus and apricot on the palate. Screw cap and no signs of age. Fresh as the day it was born, or close enough. This is a moderate to high acid wine - what else to expect from Lyle, he asks rhetorically - but the balance is perfect. The acidity is just there, it’s not intrusive and you don’t notice it as a separate component unless you think about it or look for it.

I think I like Kabinetts the best of the Riesling Pradikat offerings and in some cases even better than trocken or GGs. Satisfies my sweet tooth just a bit and balances the acidity without being unctuous or cloying.

Matthias told us that it was one of a very limited number of Mosel wineries that Schildknecht had given his highest rating and the only one with no US distribution at the time (about 5 years ago). He showed me a list of the wines in the top category and I knew all the others well and could easily find them in the German wine section of any good retailer. This wine is still hard to find in the US. I don’t know why it has such narrow distribution. It deserves more. (92 pts.)

Posted from CellarTracker

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Love the wines and they get better and better every year. He is unfortunately on his 3 or 4th distributor hence the uneven availability of the wines.

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Who is the current importer?

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I don’t know. I got a case of this by luck. I was at the Crush annual pre-Christmas Champagne tasting and I was talking to one of the distributors who was pouring and Knebel came up and I complained that I couldn’t get it and he said something like “Oh, we just signed with them.” I made arrangements to buy a case at Crush that they brought in. But that was about 4 or 5 years ago.

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Looks like they are with Schatzi at this point.

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I tracked them down and the advised me to go to Flatiron, which carries them. I will go the next time I am in the neighborhood.