Sitting down to write about two of my absolute favorite wineries is hardly work. But think about this- less than two miles separate these two wineries and also the superlative vineyards that these two wines come from. In both cases the wines reflect a typical Mosel style, which Johannes Selbach explains like this- “Great Mosel Kabinett should be like drinking cool spring water; thirst quenching and delicious. I personally prefer a firm texture that I would describe as ‘crunch’; like when you bite into a ripe fruit with firm skin and flesh.” With 2015 we get a couple of strapping versions of Mosel wine, still bright with acidity, but as Selbach importer Terry Theise puts it, “this vintage has a lot in common with 1990, it just bench presses 75 pounds more.”
Selbach-Oster Zeltinger Sonnenuhr Riesling Kabinett 2015- $24.99 The Selbach-Oster Zeltinger Sonnenuhr Kabinett has been a touchstone wine for me, I have bought it for the store and for home many times, this is a wine that I love to drink in Spring, coming out of the winter and all of the heaviness, this is a reset button for my wine palate but also for life, we can linger a bit now, enjoy the sunshine. This 2015 is a bruiser, with hi-tone apple and mineral flavors peaking in and out of a riper overall texture. Crisp fresh and fun, this is wine is begging for Thai food!
“Ripe apple laced with lime and garlanded with heliotrope and lily make for a delectably site-typical nose and a subtly creamy yet generously juicy midpalate. This finishes with surprisingly prominent sweetness for a Selbach Kabinett, though that serves to reinforce a seductive and hauntingly persistent sense of liquid perfume. 90 points.” David Schildknecht, Vinous, 6/2017
“The 2015 Zeltinger Sonnenuhr Riesling Kabinett is super clear and smoky on the nose, with ripe white peach flavors intermixed with flinty notes. The wine is clear, piquant and elegant on the palate, round and very lush, and finishes with a nice grip and lingering salinity. 91+ points.” Wine Advocate, 4/2017
Joh. Jos. Prum Wehlener Sonnenuhr Riesling Kabinett 2015- $29.99 There is probably no better known and respected estate in the Mosel than JJ Prum. The wines represent the top of the heap in this region. From the famous Wehlener Sonnenuhr with its blue slate soil, this wine has the typical hints of petrol and gorgeous white flowers of Prum Kabinett. Mouth-watering, Macintosh apple and the slightly spritzy texture these crisp wines give you. Delicious!
“Apple and quince are coolingly laced with mint and wintergreen (decidedly reminiscent of the corresponding Bernkasteler) but also, quite unexpectedly, joined by banana, mango and muskmelon for an unusually exotic expression of Wehlener Sonnenuhr Kabinett that is as luscious in the mouth as it is heady on the nose. Lily and heliotrope contribute to the wine’s head-turning aromatic intensity and their inner-mouth perfume to the allure of a subtly creamy palate. For all of its unusually advanced sense of ripeness for a Kabinett, this projects remarkable delicacy and a focused sense of stone, fruit and floral interface in its lingering finish. 93 points.” David Schildknecht, Vinous, 6/2017
“…clear, intense and smoky on the nose, with ripe white and yellow-fleshed stone fruit and floral aromas. Intense and well structured, with a lovely mineral grip and lingering piquancy, this is a medium-bodied, mouth-filling and lush Riesling. It has a long and salty, perfectly structured finish. This is a classic from JJ Prüm that is both light and complex at the same time. 92 points.” Wine Advocate, 4/2017
