August 1, 2015 | News | Wines of the Month

von Kesselstatt Scharzhofberger Riesling Kabinett Feinherb 2014 Label

2014er von Kesselstatt Scharzhofberger Riesling Kabinett (Feinherb)

2014 yielded some stunning Kabinett wines, including this little beauty by the von Kesselstatt Estate. Read about this wine and the Estate's success in 2014.

Mosel Vintage 2014 | Highly contrasted with some true gems

The Mosel Vintage 2014 proved a remarkably contrasted vintage with true strokes of genius right next to the ordinary (to remain polite). Never have we experienced such a huge diversity in quality and style as in 2014.

But the vintage had one major strength, at least for the successful ones: It produced some stunning Kabinett wines, which are among the finest since the 1990s. This includes a stunning Scharzhofberger Riesling Kabinett by Weingut von Kesselstatt.

von Kesselstatt | A stunning success in 2014

Annegret Reh-Gartner, the owner of Weingut von Kesselstatt, is often her strongest critic. Yet, this year, she said outright: “I think we made some huge progress in 2014, our wines are getting better and better”. Well, after tasting her wines, we can only agree as we were overall hugely impressed by the quality of the wines at the Estate in 2014.

Wolfgang Mertes, the Estate’s manager since 10 years now, put the success down to much more care in the selections, being able to double the harvest team at short notice. In addition, he opted for an early start of the harvest and fermentation was done almost completely with ambient yeasts.

The result is a set of airy wines which are light, playful and yet packed with flavors in the glorious style of the 1990s!

Scharzhofberger Vineyard in the Saar

von Kesselstatt | Scharzhofberger Riesling Kabinett (Feinherb) 2014

One wine caught our attention more than any other, the Scharzhofberger Riesling Kabinett (Feinherb). This wine is commercialized as “Kabinett Feinherb” in continental European and simply as "Kabinett" overseas and in the UK, but it is always the same wine. This Scharzhofberger Kabinett is still quite backward at this stage. But it shows the telltale hallmark of great Scharzhofberger wines: Minerals, white flowers, delicacy ... and backwardness.

This is a superb wine which will require some patience (or opening well – ideally days – in advance) but will then turn into a great ambassador of Scharzhofberger greatness.

A review of the 2014 von Kesselstatt wines can be found in Part I of the 2014 Vintage Report published in Issue No 28 (June 2015). This Issue is available to subscribers on simple request. Not yet a subscriber? You can become one, free of charge, by simply registering yourself here below.

Tasting Note from Mosel Fine Wines Issue No 28 (Jun 2015)

2014er

von Kesselstatt

Scharzhofberger Riesling Kabinett (Feinherb)

07 15

92+

This impressive off-dry wine (made with moderate 25 g/l of residual sugar) is not the most expressive of wines at this stage but it hits all the right boxes. Hugely backward, as Scharzhofberger often are, it only hints at seemingly non-saying reductive notes of slate and earth at this stage. These only very gradually give way to subtle and most elegant scents of white flowers, white peach and grapefruit after extensive airing (think days here). This all culminates in a delicately fleeting scent of fresh yet tart pineapple in the tart finish. This superbly airy and weightless effort only needs time to develop, gain in weight and possibly exceed our high expectations. It is that impressive! 2022-2034+

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