Von Hovel Kanzemer Horecker Riesling Beerenauslese

點擊次數(shù)：1398

By time von Kunow got around to picking his small, elite Einzellage within the Kanzemer Berg, a 2010 Kanzemer Hohecker Riesling Beerenauslese represented the entire crop! What’s more, calling this “B.A.” when it reached 190 Oechsle is almost misleading! Musk, smoky black tea, radish, honeysuckle, and high-toned distilled pit fruits in the nose not only point to botrytis, but also anticipate the wine’s 18 grams of acidity in their strong suggestions of Eiswein. Marzipan, pistachio extract, pear nectar, quince jelly, and honey flood the palate, where the electric sense of acidity is remarkably positively integrated and a sense of near-weightlessness defies the wine’s creamy texture and sheer viscosity. The confectionary aura and high residual sugar here almost needless to say do not result in an overly sweet impression, but the acids power a stunningly vibrant if practically jarring finish. This is extreme stuff, to be sure, but exciting. I suspect it will be worth following for the better part of four decades, but I could imagine one in a quandary twenty years from now if it were to show itself as edgy, even ornery: would one merely interpret that as a phase?! While Eberhard von Kunow is thankfully recovering from the harrowing, life-threatening health crisis that befell him in late 2009, his son Max was called back (from wine work in Luxemburg) to the family estate to officially take charge beginning with the 2010 vintage and has, to say the least, made an auspicious debut. “I’ve tried,” says the younger von Kunow, “to continue the classic von Hovel style while at the same time trying to learn how to let the sites speak more of their individuality.” Von Kunow claims to have de-acidified only his (exemplary) dry Kabinett and not touched the other musts or wines, though he emphasizes that this was only possible with very late harvest: “We didn’t begin picking until October 27 – by which time nearly everyone else in the neighborhood was finished. We had relatively little botrytis,” he further insists, “in part on account of my having done no fertilizing.” All of the wines fermented entirely spontaneously, which von Kunow believes – along with judicious application of skin contact – paid benefits not only in complexity but in buffering the effect of high acids. He cites as possibly indicating how the 2010s might develop a now-delicious 1986 Spatlese of freakishly high (vintage-atypical 12 grams) acidity that was deemed to have become unapproachable within a couple of years of bottling and only with the new century redeemed its promise. (That’s a scary prospect!) Inexplicably, von Kunow did not show me his sweeter Hutte Kabinett and Hutte and Scharzhofberger Spatlesen, whose existence I suppose I ought to have suspected but learned of too late to taste for this report. With apologies to readers, I shall taste them for next year’s.Importer: Rudi Wiest, Cellars International, Carlsbad, CA 800 596 9463