Fritz Haag Brauneberger Juffer Riesling Kabinett 2018
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Winemaker Notes
Starting with 2018 we now use fruit exclusively from the fabled Juffer vineyard for our estate Kabinett. This represents a significant upgrade in quality at the same price. Kabinett as it should be made, in the airy, lacy, delicate style of the past, not over-ripe de-classified Spatlese. Subtle, yet intense aromas and flavors of shortbread, marzipan, peach cobbler, golden delicious apple and slate. Only 8.5% alcohol.
Tailor made for green salads, manchego cheese, Marcona almonds, smoked trout, all the elegance foods."
Professional Ratings
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James Suckling
The right edge of reductive funk here and a very fresh array of white-nectarine and lime aromas and succulent flavors. Sublime freshness and drinkability here.
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
Oliver Haag has stopped suppressing the vineyard name on the label of his Brauneberger "village" wine, so the newest release comes along as 2018 Brauneberger Juffer Riesling Kabinett. The wine has a very clear, fresh and crunchy slate bouquet but is still reductive (in a very attractive way, though) before it opens to very clear, attractive ripe stone fruit aromas intertwined with spicy slate notes. On the palate, this is a clear, lush, fresh, salty-piquant and delicately structured Riesling with gorgeous fruit and a crisp, salty/slatey finish.
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Wine Spectator
Intense and vibrant, this awakens the senses with piquant acidity that underscores the passion fruit, lime and apple flavors. Shows firm structure and fine length, but the elements need time to come together in harmony. Best from 2022 through 2034.
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A sixth-century chronicle state that the vineyards of Brauneberg were "propter vinum" (because of wine) bequeathed to Verdun, France, then an important Roman commercial center. Napoleon paid tribute to the Brauneberger wines by fixing their prices above those of all other Mosel wines. When, in 1806, the Mosel vineyard sites were divided into classes according to the quality of their wines, Brauneberg was the only name in the first rank.
Riesling possesses a remarkable ability to reflect the character of wherever it is grown while still maintaining its identity. A regal variety of incredible purity and precision, this versatile grape can be just as enjoyable dry or sweet, young or old, still or sparkling and can age longer than nearly any other white variety. Somm Secret—Given how difficult it is to discern the level of sweetness in a Riesling from the label, here are some clues to find the dry ones. First, look for the world “trocken.” (“Halbtrocken” or “feinherb” mean off-dry.) Also a higher abv usually indicates a drier Riesling.
Following the Mosel River as it slithers and weaves dramatically through the Eifel Mountains in Germany’s far west, the Mosel wine region is considered by many as the source of the world’s finest and longest-lived Rieslings.
Mosel’s unique and unsurpassed combination of geography, geology and climate all combine together to make this true. Many of the Mosel’s best vineyard sites are on the steep south or southwest facing slopes, where vines receive up to ten times more sunlight, a very desirable condition in this cold climate region. Given how many twists and turns the Mosel River makes, it is not had to find a vineyard with this exposure. In fact, the Mosel’s breathtakingly steep slopes of rocky, slate-based soils straddle the riverbanks along its entire length. These rocky slate soils, as well as the river, retain and reflect heat back to the vineyards, a phenomenon that aids in the complete ripening of its grapes.
Riesling is by far the most important and prestigious grape of the Mosel, grown on approximately 60% of the region’s vineyard land—typically on the desirable sites that provide the best combination of sunlight, soil type and altitude. The best Mosel Rieslings—dry or sweet—express marked acidity, low alcohol, great purity and intensity with aromas and flavors of wet slate, citrus and stone fruit. With age, the wine’s color will become more golden and pleasing aromas of honey, dried apricot and sometimes petrol develop.
Other varieties planted in the Mosel include Müller-Thurgau, Spätburgunder (Pinot Noir) and Weissburgunder (Pinot Blanc), all performing quite well here.