The 2007 Wehlener Sonnenuhr Riesling Kabinett is predictably softer and creamier than the other Kabinetts in the Schaefers’ 2007 collection, with lightly baked apple, lily, musk melon, vanilla cream, and subtle brown spices saturating your senses, informing a long, soothing finish, and lulling you into repose rather than invigorating. The buoyancy and delicacy as well as refreshment of the vintage and of Kabinett in general are thus expressed here in their own distinctly delicious ways. I fancy this being best drunk over the next 12-15 years.
Willi Schaefer and Christoph harvested until mid-November. “There wasn’t any botrytis until the end of October,” relates Schaefer senior, “and what little botrytis there was, was clean.” Some of the excitement here, though, comes at the light end of the Oechsle scale. This year’s Schaefer Kabinetts represent outstanding values. But more than that, they display by turns delicacy and density, jewel-like intricacy and simplicity, elective affinity for our appetites and mystery, such as only a great work of nature confers. And if you prefer that they taste less sweet, just don’t start drinking them before they reach age ten!
Importer: Terry Theise Estate Selections, imported by Michael Skurnik Wines, Inc., Syosset, NY; tel (516) 677-9300
