Citrus, spice, minerals, and an electric finish with length. Dry tasting. My style of Kabinett, maybe lacking a little complexity at this stage, but fun to drink.
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Surprisingly this is our first bottle of Kilburg. Despite seeing it on the shelves at my favorite wine shop in Bernkastel and being recommended it I passed up on both the Riesling and the Spatburgunder. What a poor decision on my part after having this bottle. The nose still had a healthy amount of sulfur in the form of smoke even after being decanted for a few hours but later opened itself up to reveal semi ripe peach with a hint of a freshly opened package of tropical fruits. It had an ever so nice amount of acid, slight minerality and a very distinct galaxy peach note on the finish. This wine in my eyes has an excellent aging potential, I’ll have to pick some more up and see if I’m right on that though.
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Max is an absolute rock star. He trained and still talks regularly with Julian Haart. His 2021 Pinot finished 2nd in the Spätburgunderstudy I participated in late December.
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Opened a Carl Loewen Herrenberg Kabinett 2021 over the weekend.
It’s got the line of 2021 acidity, and drinking very well. Almost a spatlese weight and texture, but not at all cloying. Honeyed, with a hint of mint and lime. No doubt I’m drinking it too young, but it’s got a zest and energy that makes it very drinkable now.
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Blind tasting. Wanted to compare these two similarly-priced trockens. Despite 3 sessions of blind tasting over 4 days, there was no big takeaway here, other than it might just not matter much which one of these two I buy; probably it just makes sense to buy whichever one is cheaper. I have two more bottles of each, so maybe differences and a personal preference will become more pronounced over time. We shall see. 
2021 Dönnhoff Kreuznacher Kahlenberg Riesling Erste Lage - Germany, Nahe (12/17/2024)
– popped and poured –
– tasted blind over 4 hrs on Day 1; revisited for a couple hrs. on Day 2, and then finished on Day 4 –
– this was labelled #5 in the blind tasting, and was tasted alongside a bottle of 2021 Donnhoff – Roxheimer Hollenpfad Riesling Trocken, which was labelled as #8 –
NOSE: DAY 1: light/tight; “fresh”; leaning white fruited; about 1 hr. in, a little sweet note of Nerds hard candy; did open a bit with air, but remained more tight/reserved than #8 throughout Day 1. DAY 2: still more reserved than #8. DAY 4: still good; no signs of degradation.
BODY: light green-brassy color; no spritz; light to medium-light bodied. (everything here the same as # 8)
TASTE: DAY 1: medium to medium+ acidity; “fresh” and “cool”; dry; more mineral than fruit; seems less packed than #8: #5, here, has medium to medium+ concentration; did unfurl with air a bit; Ash prefers this to #8, but likes them both. DAY 2: still excellent; very faint and pleasant background note of strawberry Runts candy (harkening back to yesterday’s Nerds candy on the Nose, perhaps); slight smoky mineral note comes through on the finish. More focused than #8, here on Day 2. DAY 4: 12.5% alc. is hidden. Final verdict, after splitting split hair ends: slight preference for this over #8, but would be happy to have either. Drink or Hold but best to Hold.
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2021 Dönnhoff Roxheimer Höllenpfad Riesling trocken - Germany, Nahe (12/17/2024)
– popped and poured –
– tasted blind over 4 hrs on Day 1; revisited for a couple hrs on Day 2, and then finished on Day 4 –
– this was labelled #8 in the blind tasting, and was tasted alongside a bottle of 2021 Donnhoff – Kreuznacher Kahlenberg Riesling Trocken, which was labelled as #5 –
NOSE: DAY 1: medium expressiveness (much more expressive than #5, at least initially) lots of mineral; honeydew melon; leaning in the direction of yellow fruits, as opposed to the even lighter-fruited #5; faint jalapeno note. DAY 2: still more expressive than #5. DAY 4: light fennel bulb note today.
BODY: light green-brassy color; no spritz; light to medium-light bodied. (everything here the same as # 5)
TASTE: DAY 1: medium+ to high acidity; very dry; zippy; slight jalapeno note on the finish; at least initially and throughout all of Day 1, I prefer this to #5; light peach, with loads of mineral. DAY 2: still excellent; a bit salty, and still with the “warmer”/yellow fruits today; it is an extremely close call as to which wine’s flavor I prefer today – #5 or #8 – despite them being noticeably different, it’s a tough call. DAY 4: still good; ultimately, I have an extremely slight preference for #5 over this one. Drink or Hold but best to Hold.
2 Likes
I am a big fan of the Hollenpfad. I just wish it was easier to get my hands on it.
Got mine from Lopa, but it was thoroughly an old-school Lopa experience (I say “old school” as he’s been getting a lot better at preventing situations like the one I’m about to detail):
Placed my order on 9/26/22
Paid on 02/13/23
Received wine on 11/02/24.
To be fair, I believe this was part of a group of wines that may have been available to deliver to me a few months earlier than November '24 — it took a few scheduling attempts to find a mutually-convenient date, and I wasn’t in any kind of rush to get these, so it’s not fair to lay all tail-end delays at the feet of Lopa. Lopa has been much better over the last year about getting invoices out in a timely fashion, and I have reason to believe wines are going to be arriving closer to invoicing dates moving forward than they have been in the past.
I’ve got a couple bottles each of the’21 Felsenberg GG and the '21 Roxheimer Höllenpfad im Mühlenberg GG, but I’m not sure I presently want to sacrifice a bottle of each, or either, in the name of curiosity.
2012 EVA FRICKE SCHLOSSBERG (had over the weekend)
Not a great start, felt a bit tired, bruised fruits and felt sweet-ish the first night (PnP).
2/3 left for the following day, didn’t know what to expect. Freshened up on day two, a lot!
Quince, ginger, lemon. Salinity, minerality. A long complex finish, textural wight. No clue what happened to the sweetness feel. Signing.
2 Likes
We took a break from (mostly) Dry February to host @Robert_Dentice and his extraordinary wife prior to the Spatburgunder Study on Sunday. A few bottles, including some fantastic Riesling, were consumed with enthusiasm.
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What’s the vintage on the Weltner?
2015
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What a beautiful mosaic
The two Abtsbergs are 2004 and 2010. The 2010 was a little advanced, but the 2004 was glorious.
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Thanks! It goes along the whole wall. The artist did a great job.
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Thanks for that info. I have a 2004 in the cellar…somewhere!
That kitchen is amazeballs and speaks volumes. Nicely done 
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Thank you. We had to build the whole house to get the kitchen and the cellar we wanted, and it took a good 10 years off our lives. But it’s (most of the time) worth it.
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A dream kitchen
Very impressive - I’d have to learn a few new tricks to make the most of a kitchen like that!
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Yyyyyeah … major kitchen envy going on over here! I know it’s far from being the highlight of the space, but I really dig the splatter guard around the wok.
What’s the organically-shaped tan thing in the middle of the stainless steel (?) portion at the end of the island/penninsula?
1 Like