This bottle was given to me by YY and CL for my birthday this year. I decided to open it when we had SY, JY and the Yogababe for pizza. SY is leaving London soon, so this was sort of a farewell lunch. It turned out to be fairly popular, especially among the ladies.The reason was the sweetness - I'm more used to the dry Rieslings, so this one was something of a surprise. Since we were having pizza from Lupa, the wine, while starting off cloying, was able to compete with the strong flavours we were getting from the garlic bread, Italian sausage, pepperoni, chilli flakes etc etc. Not a bad combination, even if it was stumbled upon by chance.
Erben Kabinett 2002
White wine
Germany (Rheinhessen)
Unknown grape blend - probably a fair amount of Riesling
Nosing: Lychees, apricots, prunes, overripe grapes (no surprise!).
Mouthfeel: Lush, sugary and syrupy, like concentrated Ribena.
Tasting: Cooked apricots, pineapples, pears, hints of grapefruit and more lychees.
It's made from early harvest grapes, hence the Kabinett designation. The Spatleses, much beloved of Red Hare's mum and dad, are of the next stage in harvesting (more than 25% sugar, apparently). The stages, in order of early to late, are Kabinett, Spatlese, Auslese, Beerenauslese, Eiswein, and Trockenbeerenauslese. The last is for grapes afflicted by noble rot.
The wine is made by a largish German producer, Franz Wilhelm Langguth. They also make the (in)famous Blue Nun range. They are the product of a merger between 2 German wine firms - Sichel, from Mainz, and Langguth, from a town in Rheinland Pfalz. Besides Blue Nun (several wines here, including an eiswein) and Erben Kabinett, they also make an Erben Spatlese and and Erben Auslese.
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