- We've Found Another Top Tier Producer
- Steinmetz Has Several Underpriced, High Scoring Wines in His Cellar
- Like Muellen, When We First Discovered Him
- We Are Now Behind Stefan and He Is Getting Mad Scores
- Demand Will Increase and These Gems Will Be Bought Just Like What Happened with Muellen
- So Raid Stefan's Cellar While the Getting Is Good!
Kabinett
- You Are Paying $12-$20 for Cocktails Made from Potatoes
- This Is the Best Cocktail on Earth for $5
- And It's Only 8% Alcohol
- And Made from Some of the Best Grapes on Earth
- This Is Why Kabinett Is the Hottest Category in Germany
- (Yes, You Can Drink It With Asian Food If You Insists As Well)
"2020 ...is a great and maybe almost unique vintage if, like us, you crave for elegance and finesse."- Mosel Fine Wines
2020 Günther Steinmetz Wehlener Sonnenuhr Kabinett
- 95 Points, Mosel Fine Wine
- Compare Willi Schaefer 91 Points
- Yes - Stefan Is Beating the Big Boys at Their Game
- The Most Feather-like, Elegant and Pretty Kabinett I've Tasted in Years
- $22.99 a Bottle Case Pricing (This Will Age for Decades)
- 2020 Is a Great Vintage for Kabinett
- Nose: Expressive with Yellow Fruits and Stone Fruits
- Mirabelle and Apricots
- Insane Minerality
- Palate: Plums, Apricot, Yellow Fruits and Stone Fruits
- Spectacular Ripeness Balanced By Gorgeous Acidity
- So Fresh
- The Most Insane Energy Ever
- Will Age for Decades... Decades
2018 Günther Steinmetz Neumagener Rosengärtchen Riesling von den Terrassen
- The 2019 Got 100 Points from Pigott
- This Got 93+ from Stingy Stephan Reinhardt (Wine Advocate)
- Neumagener Rosengärtchen Was an Elite Vineyard in the 1700s
- Incredibly Steep
- Nose: Very Citrusy with Huge Lemon Accents
- Honey Melon
- Flint and Hard Blue Slate
- Massive Floral Perfume
- A Very Serious Wine
- Intriguing Nuttiness: Hazelnuts and Possibly Macadamias
- Palate: Intense Minerality
- Huge Ripeness
- Finish is Insane and Super Long
- Again - Decades of Ageing Potential
Kabinett, La Dolce Vita German Style
Do you know why the Italians often have a drink before dinner?
Because the drinks are delicious.
And life is short.
And the stern Germans have been catching on. But the drink that they are drinking before dinner is not a hard liquor-based cocktail. It's Kabinett. Why? Well, as stated above, it's low in alcohol, simply delicious and the acidity brightens up the palate.
The wine that got me into German wine was the 1993 JJ Prum Wehlener Sonnenuhr Kabinett. It was so light and ethereal and didn't taste like alcohol which was my big thing when I got into wine. I hated and still hate booze and was fascinated by the idea that an alcoholic beverage didn't taste like alcohol. So I always will have a soft spot in my heart for Wehlener Sonnenuhr Kabinett.
The Wines
When I found out Stefan Steinmetz was making a Wehlener Sonnenuhr Kabinett my eyes lit up. My German brother from another mother was making a version of the wine that got me into German wine. And it is incredible. The esteemed Mosel Fine Wines gave it 95 points. And those dudes are as stingy as they come. Maybe the most stingy of the major German wine critics. A 95 from them is like a 98-99 from anyone else. And what a wine this is.
The 2020 Günther Steinmetz Wehlener Sonnenuhr Kabinett can be had for $24.99 a bottle on a 4-pack and $22.99 a bottle on a 12 bottle case. This wine is the most feather like, elegant and pretty Kabinett I've tasted in years. It is so great. 2020 is a Kabinett vintage at Steinmetz and he made 7 of them. 5 sweet and 2 dry. That's insane.
What a nose. So, so expressive with yellow fruits and stone fruits. Mirabelle and apricots as well. Insane minerality and green herbs as well on the nose. This screams ethereal all day on this unreal nose. The WS Kabinett was harvested last but still is the lightest and most ethereal of the 7 Kabinetts that he made.
This has huge and I mean huge acidity. The highest of all 7 Kabinetts. Man that acid. Also plums, apricot, yellow fruits and stone fruits on the palate echo what is on the nose and that acidity penetrates. It's high acidity but it's also spectacularly ripe. It's strong on the tongue. This is a throwback Kabinett in my opinion. Almost pre climate change. It's only got 8 grams of acid but blind one would think it has 10 grams of acid. Super vibrant wine with just the most insane energy ever. Stays forever on one's palate. You cannot get it out of your mouth. Like a Wehlener Sonnenuhr sour patch kid. Too easy to drink.
Vines are 30-40 years old. Stefan made 7 Kabinett in 2020 because he opened in 2019 a wine his father made, the 1975 Kestener Herrenberg Kabinett and it showed like it was 5 years old and Günther Steinmetz yet again inspired his son. Below is the 95 point Mosel Fine Wine review.
"The 2020er Wehlener Sonnenuhr Riesling Kabinett was made from fruit picked at 79° Oechsle and was fermented down to fruity-styled levels of residual sugar (49 g/l). it offers a still rather reduced nose made of smoke, wet stone, subtle aniseed herbs, a hint of pear, passion fruit, and grapefruit puree. The wine develops the subtle creaminess of a light Spätlese on the palate but retains a great sense of fruitiness packed into whipped cream in the long and mouthwatering finish. This wine is cut along the lines of a great Auslese from the 1990s and is a true winner! 2030-2050" - 95 Points, Mosel Fine Wine
Stefan acquired this from an estate that goes back to the 1700s. The guy proposed to him that he needed a
vineyard in Neumagen, which is farther away from Brauneberg, where Stefan resides but also very close to Dhron where Stefan has many holdings. The site is very steep and has an old cave in the middle of it which was a slate mine. The vines are 50 years old and the main reason Stefan bought this vineyard is because of the slate mine. The vineyard yields super, super mineral wines because of all the slate dust that has blown all over the vineyard for centuries. Stefan had a feeling it would be a top vineyard and in former times it was super famous. Not as famous as Juffer but right below.
vineyard in Neumagen, which is farther away from Brauneberg, where Stefan resides but also very close to Dhron where Stefan has many holdings. The site is very steep and has an old cave in the middle of it which was a slate mine. The vines are 50 years old and the main reason Stefan bought this vineyard is because of the slate mine. The vineyard yields super, super mineral wines because of all the slate dust that has blown all over the vineyard for centuries. Stefan had a feeling it would be a top vineyard and in former times it was super famous. Not as famous as Juffer but right below.
The wine is a revelation.
The nose is very citrusy with huge lemon accents. It's very ripe out of the gates with honey melon, flint and the hard blue slate that forms this vineyard really echoes on the nose. Also some yellow grapefruit and so much, overwhelming and intense minerality. There is a massive floral perfume that develops after 15-20 minutes and this lets you know we are in for a very serious wine. There's lime, Granny Smith apple, lots of wet slate and and stone and an intriguing nuttiness. Hazelnuts and possibly macadamia nuts. The nose hits in your nostrils and gives off inner nostril aromas like nothing else. The aromas are just insane.
The palate's impression is that of intense minerality. I mean there is almost no fruit here and that's a very very good thing! Acidity is very very high. The highest always of all the GG's Stefan makes. The palate has such a strong and mineral feeling but is backed up by huge ripeness and that acid just echoes and wakes one up. This is the leanest and most precise of all of Stefan's 2018 GGs. There is real power here and extreme minerality from all the dust and small stones that the slate mine deposits. As the minerality on the palate develops the mineral on the nose develops in concurrence. It almost irritates the inner nostril as it is a tactile sensation. The minerality reminds me of the minerality from the 18/19 Pettenthal GG from Kuhling-Gillot.
The finish is insane and super long. Always with the Rosengartchen you have this just incredible length which along with the minerality is the trademark of this vineyard. It also has the widest spectrum of flavors of any of Stefan's GG's. It's powerful but not fat. Lean and chiseled. Like Xena: Warrior Princess. Super pure and fresh with a finish that is so salty and saline it enters a level of profundity reserved for few Rieslings.
Stephan Reinhardt gave it a 93+ when he tasted it but now it's gotta be a 95+. And only going higher. It's so piquant and beautiful. As it opens with air it gets more and more precise. Primary fruit is in the background with forceful, graceful minerality in the foreground. It gets rounder with the mouthfeel as well. You can keep a bottle in the fridge half full and it will last a week! Below is the 93+ score from Stephan Reinhardt.
"The 2018 Neumagener Rosengärtchen Riesling von den Terrassen is lovely pure and fresh on the truly flinty, stone fruit bouquet. Sourced entirely from blue slate soils, this is a juicy, round and charming Riesling in the medium dry or rather sweet style. The finish is salty, piquant and grippy and very promising, with some yeasty notes. Tasted at the domain in September 2020." - 93+, Stephan Reinhardt, Wine Advocate
2020 Günther Steinmetz Wehlener Sonnenuhr Kabinett - $26.99
($99.96 4-Pack, $275.88 12 bottle Case {$22.99!})
2018 Günther Steinmetz Neumagener Rosengärtchen Riesling von den Terrassen - $37.99 ($143.96 4-Pack)
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