- 2020 Loersch Trittenheimer Apotheke Riesling Kabinett - Germany, Mosel Saar Ruwer (5/10/2025)
Opened to go with some mildly spicy Thai takeout, this stood up well to all the dishes, as long as one avoided the bizarrely hot peanut sauce for the satays, which dominated anything it touched.
The bottle gave a loud “pop” when I opened the screw cap, and a cloud of reductive aromas poured out of the bottle. That should have been my key to decant, but since I had to go pick up the takeout I just left the open bottle in the fridge. Thirty minutes later, when I finally poured a taste the reduction was still evident, so I poured a bunch into a big, clean glass, and then back into the bottle. That mostly did the trick, and within another 30 minutes the reductive notes were totally gone.
Drinking Kabinett through the late 1990s and through the first two decades of this century has warped my expectations, and I was therefore quite surprised at the delicacy this wine showed. Not too sweet at all, and with a relatively light palate weight, it felt like a ripe, but real Kabinett. Not the brightest bulb in the set, it still showed more than sufficient acidity to carry its moderate sweetness. Green aromas and flavors (lime, green apple, a hint of spearmint) dominated, making this feel rather Saar-like. Wanting to finish off the last glass of a different wine I never did have this without the food, so still more to come when I have another glass tonight. Overall a pleasing Kabinett rather than some sort of showpiece. Very fine.
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I’ve found that slightly green aspect you note in some of the other Loersch Apotheke wines - I had the '21 Kabinett recently, and was really blown away by the Felsterrasen feinherb. Really like that character, and the Loersch wines generally.
It’s a vineyard that I do not know well, so not clear to me if this is a site feature, a parcel feature, or a vineyard management/picking/winemaking feature.
Loersch are certainly in the green fruited Kab style. I like the wines a lot (we sell the auction versions).
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What is fairly remarkable to me is that the Apotheke is a full sun kind of a site, with long sunlight hours. The wines show that in their fruit intensity/fullness, but then there is the surprising lightness/brightness, nothing heavy heavy. Beautiful balance.
Try one of his regular Auslesen, as good of an example of the “drinking auslese” category often referred to. So drinkable that Alex jokes calling them “sauflesen” (sauf means to drink/chug in German)…
Joyful, uncommonly fine, and unpretentious wines.
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Last 1/3 of the bottle tonight.
Much cleaner as all the reductive notes are gone. It’s definitely a green fruit wine and a fresh, delightful drink.
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