2014 - Saarburger Rausch Riesling Kabinett, Forstmeister Geltz Zilliken

As ripe as the Kabinett from Rausch that got bottled as a “village wine” already tastes, this site-designated bottling reflects a significant jump in Oechsle. It also demonstrates that setting additional analytical parameters for “Kabinett” in an attempt to encourage wines that “really behave like Kabinett” would end up disqualifying some real beauties. This wine’s Oechsle and residual sugar render it on paper a candidate for high-grade Spätlese, yet its sweetness is in actuality restrained and allied to delightful levity and animation. Mango and papaya dominate here, lusciously deployed on a lush, plush palate where they are allied to praline-like nutty sweetness yet threaded with bright fresh cherry and pineapple. Lovely though this bottling is, I miss the dynamic counterpoint of the corresponding village-level Saarburger Kabinett. But this might reveal its superiority with time.