Who are your favorite producers of Mosel Kabinett from recent vintages?

I suppose that’s not terribly surprising given other nearby sites.

Along the stretch between Bernkastel and Zeltingen, Graach is said to have the best water reserves.

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Hühnerberg and Ungsberg are top sites in the secluded Kautenbach side valley.

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The Martin Mullen Pinot from Ungsberg is incredible!

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Thanks for the tip.

Mosel Fine Wines highlighted Später-Veit’s 2022 Goldtröpfchen Kabinett Armes. This Kabinett wine comes from a parcel of old vines in the place-name In der Armes, which is only 40 or so meters to the west of Schubertslay (place-name In der Rötsch).

The prime site of Domherr, between the hamlet of Ferres and Old Piesport, is often overlooked. It’s bordered on the west by Schubertslay. The main place-name within Domherr is Im Weer. In footnote 93 of Mosel Wine, I talk a little about the best sites in Piesport.

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In the Saar region, some, but not all, of the best sites have good water supplies and good yields. These include Scharzhofberg (which I mentioned above), Bockstein, and Euchariusberg.

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This is actually very good example how best kabinetts are made as Später-Veit has also another kabinett coming from Goldtröpfchen (just Goldtröpfchen in the label) which is significally different. While regular Goldtröpfchen is also very good (and it’s only 11 €) Armes is always way more elegant & pure. Daniel Kirsten has also superb kabinett coming from a very small plot of Goldtröpfchen called “Vorm Berg” (he also has the regular Goldtröpfchen kabinett) also Hain has very good Goldtröpfchen “Alte Reben” kabinett coming from a small plot vs regular Goldtröpfchen kabinett.

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Although I’ve never had a wine by Daniel Kirsten in Piesport, Vorm Berg is a place-name in the post-1971 Piesporter Treppchen on the right bank of the Mosel. Günther Steinmetz also has a parcel in this steep, terraced vineyard, just upriver from Ohligsberg.

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My bad it’s indeed not from Goldtröpfchen but Treppchen. The part saying that it’s superb was true thought :smiley: .

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The original Piesporter Treppchen was a terraced site on the left bank of the Mosel River. In 1971, the authorities took this prestigious name and used it for the vast alluvial plain opposite the grand Piesport hillside. Vorm Berg is only a small part of today’s Treppchen that is on a slate slope.

Reichsgraf von Kesselstatt still owns some of the best sites in Piesport. The old sites included Goldtröpfchen, Treppchen, Laychen, and Falkenberg. The greatly expanded Goldtröpfchen and Falkenberg are entirely different vineyard areas.

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A couple of years ago, on a visit to Piesport, we met Julian Haart, who drove us to Ohligsberg. He explained that his parcel on the steep part of the south-facing slope was better for Auslese or GG. He prefers to harvest Kabinett from other parcels on the slope. The ungrafted, old vines for Ohligsberg Alte Reben, planted in 1925, comes from a plot at the foot of the hill and a little farther up the Rondelbach side valley.

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We’re onto another interesting tangent, but I am more interested in how some of these producers are making wines in a true Kabinett style from historically warm sites in the era of climate change. “Picking earlier” seems like it’s too simple of an explanation. Is it something about how they are handling the vines during the season that facilitates that earlier picking while having flavor development? What are they doing differently?

David Schildknecht writes about this in his article on Kabinett trocken for Trink.

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I don’t think it goes much further than soil cultivation, careful canopy management, picking early and carefully.

Sounds simple dunnit!

Reading Julian Haart’s newsletter reminded me they made a Kabinett Trocken from Ohligsberg in 2023.

:wink:

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Yes, but I quit paying for Trink when there was no way to consistently to be able to log in. I spent more time dealing with login issues than reading. Nice concept, good writing, terrible interface.

I don’t have a subscription to Trink, but I was able to read the article now.

I’ve read it before.

Edit - and more than once, as is nearly always necessary when reading David’s excellent, informative, and rather dense prose. He may be writing about Kabinett trocken, but there’s Auslese weight in the text. :wink:

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I think scores and demand also play into the equation. There was a period where bigger was always better and if you could get a Spatlese for the price of a Kabinett that was a good thing. Then producers like Falkenstein and later Ludes started getting really high scores and demand and I think other producers took note. I would also add Ulli Stein and his Kabinett Trockens. This is of course is entirely a U.S. perspective so not sure what the market interest was ex-U.S.

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I can go back much farther to some of the Theise portfolio tastings in 2005, 2006, etc. where many of us searched in vain for “smaller” wines. The demand for lighter wines was there (and some amazing liter bottlings from producers outside the Mosel met that need at least in part) even if there wasn’t a standard bearer for the category.