2016 - Piesporter Goldtropfchen Riesling Kabinett, Julian Haart

Picked at 82 Oechsle (precisely midway between the must weights registered for the 2014 and 2015) this delicate Kabinett successfully balances 59 grams of residual sugar against a highly efficacious (and, for this vintage, unusually high) nine grams of acidity. Some post-fermentative “Mosel stink” in one of the two bottles I sampled did not completely clear – at least, not in the couple of hours I had available to follow it – but the other was immediately expressive of site-typical lemon, grapefruit and cassis, alluringly wreathed in honeysuckle. The polished, buoyant palate introduces stimulating nips of cress and a mouthwatering lick of salt, both of which continue on a refreshingly sustained, brightly animating and infectiously juicy finish. By now there isn’t any question: Julian Haart is a master of Kabinett.

The 2016 Piesporter Goldtröpfchen Riesling Kabinett offers a discreet and flinty, still reductive bouquet with a hint of caramel. The palate is light yet intensely fruity, piquant and racy, with a creamy/caramelly touch and persistent grip and minerality in the finish. This is surely a long-distance runner but has just started closing down. Tasted April 2018.

A touch of fumy/herbal wild-ferment aroma. Almost rubbery at the moment but it is not negative at this young, oxygen-light stage. It enhances the intense minerality. Then on the palate, there is barely a hint of that character as the pure, refined, apricot-citrus fruit dominates. Tastes pretty dry on the finish but all in harmony. VGV (JH)