Muller-Catoir Riesling Kabinett Trocken, Pfalz, Germany

卡托爾雷司令干型小房酒

點擊次數(shù)：2243

Beginning with the estate’s basic 2004 Riesling Kabinett trocken – assembled from younger vines in various parcels and bottled in part in liters – one recognizes the exceptional care taken and the resulting quality. Bright lemon oil, toasted almond, peach kernel, tangerine rind, grapefruit and herb aromas lead to a palate that beautifully exhibits the synergies of frisky citricity and incipient textural silkiness and creaminess as well as that of bitter, herbal and yet ripe fruit elements that typify 2004 at its best. A long, satisfyingly juicy, lip-smackingly savory and salty finish, loaded with diverse citrus, herb, nuts, and orchard fruit elements completes the picture. I mentioned to Franzen that I drank my last bottle of the 1984 liter Riesling – purchased on my second visit to this estate – at nearly 20 years’ bottle age, and my pleasure was not at all perverse. I thought, but did not mention, an old adage of Schwarz: “You can measure the quality of an estate by its liter bottling.” Since the arrival of young Mosel-born Martin Franzen at this great estate so long associated with the wisdom and artistry of Hans-Gunter Schwarz’s 36-year tenure as cellar master, I have been struck by a degree of qualitative continuity and stylistic affinity with the ancient regime that other commentators seem not to have noticed. In a very real sense, the legacy of Schwarz – “activism in the vines, minimalism in the cellar” – has seeped indelibly into the fabric of nearly every top winery in the Pfalz. How then could it be otherwise precisely at Mandelring #25? And although Franzen and a largely new team were forced, to a considerable extent, to rediscover the keys to these vines and sites, they are the same vines and sites so carefully tended, trained and conscientiously replanted over the past decades by the then team of Catoir and Schwarz. In 2004, Franzen has unlocked from them astonishingly numerous and improbably fine vinous treasures such as one has come to associate with the name “Muller-Catoir” in the nearly four decades since a very young Heinrich Catoir inherited this estate and decided to make a statement.Importer: Terry Theise Estate Selections, imported by Michael Skurnik Wines, Inc., Syosset, NY; tel. (516) 677-9300