2020 Kanzemer Altenberg Kabinett

The auctioned 2020 Riesling Kanzemer Altenberg Kabinett A.P. #5 is usually distinguished from its “regular” counterpart by having been raised in cask. But this year, both remained in stainless steel. Both were picked around the same time (in the third week of September), this one from vines planted in the 1950s. The nose is free of the lightly stinky fermentative residues that in several other Von Othegraven 2020 Kabinetts will need to dissipate for full appreciation. Lime and apple dominate on the nose and ultra-delicate palate, with billowing bittersweet floral accents of iris and gentian as well as a shimmering sense of stony impingement lending intrigue and allure. The finish is bell-clear, rapier in its penetration, and leaves one’s tongue tingling and salivary glands palpitating. As with all of the vineyard-designated Von Othegraven Kabinetts of this vintage, there is only 7.5% alcohol present here, yet sweetness (from 58 grams of residual sugar) is very far from overbearing, a tribute not just to efficacious acidity (10.5 grams!) but more so to the approach favored by this estate of harvesting for Kabinett grapes with must weights only in the upper 70s or low 80s Oechsle. And in the case of 2020, even this auction Kabinett was harvested at under 80.