Weingut Ratzenberger Bacharacher Riesling Kabinett Trocken, Mittelrhein, Germany

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Brightly, tartly appley and lemony, the Ratzenberger 2010 Bacharacher Riesling Kabinett trocken exhibits a welcome sense of buffering stuffing (at 11.5% alcohol) and impressive sheer persistence. But it’s pretty austere stuff ( certainly not up to the standards usually set by this cuvee) and I would tentatively plan to serve it over the next couple of years. That said I’ve tasted more than one impressive 15- to 20-year-old dry Ratzenberger Kabinett from a lean vintage, and perhaps I’ve forgotten what such a thing tastes like in its raw youth. (A feinherb generic Kabinett was marginally less well-knit or ripe.) I tasted from 2010 the smallest Ratzenberger line-up I could recall, due to the facts that fewer wines were bottled; the Norwegians had purchased a Wolfshohle Auslese without remainder; and the vintage’s two Grosse Gewachse were still fermenting at the time of my September visit. (I did taste the cloudy, leesy, still-embryonic St. Jost and found it formidably dense, pithy, and citric.) “We hadn’t de-acidified in more than twenty years,” claims the younger Jochen Ratzenberger, “but anybody who says they didn’t this year is lying.” He calls it “a hard autumn” with picking and pressing so onerous and time-consuming that “we were in the cellar until two and three every morning and in the end there was little to show for it. I don’t want to go through anything like it again soon.” The total volume was but half of a normal crop, with quantities at the Q.b.A. and Kabinett levels confined to what was felt to be the commercially requisite minimum. Fermentations were sluggish - sometimes kicking into malo -and for that reason even the lighter wines weren’t bottled until July. “You couldn’t do anything by rote, but had to keep tasting every lot as it evolved and each was different from the next,” adds Ratzenberger, who reports that in the best instances malic and tartaric acid levels were about equal by the time of picking.Imported by Sussex Wine Merchants, Moorestown, NJ; tel. (856) 608-9644

Strongly redolent of fresh pumpkin accompanied by lemon and under-ripe apricot, the Ratzenberger 2009 Bacharacher Riesling Kabinett trocken offers a subtly-tart, waxy, palpably extract-rich palate, exhibiting characteristically invigorating and mouthwatering salinity. There is a delightful sense of levity here (at 12% alcohol) as well as an uncanny sense of textural allure allied to bright refreshment. As has so often been the case, this distinctively delicious bottling offers exceptional value and versatility that will be maintained over at least the next 6-8 years. The two Jochen Ratzenbergers began picking early in October and were done by the end of that month, with – to the extent that I could assess them – consistently fine results. The collection included only a single botrytis wine, a Wolfshohle Auslese that had received some special press recognition in Germany very early, on account of which the father-son team claimed not to have even a single bottle to show me. What was to have been this year’s Bacharacher Posten Spatlese halbtrocken resolutely stopped fermenting with 30 grams of residual sugar; and I can’t offer a note on the results, because some Swiss merchant had bought every last bottle from Ratzenbergers. The 180 liters of Ratzenberger 2009 Kloster Furstental Eiswein had not nearly finished fermenting when I tasted it, but even in its leesy, cloudy, and still-active state it was clear that this would become an impressively concentrated libation. (It started life at 210 Oechsle and at the steady fermentative tempo which it had exhibited through September, was expected to officially become wine by last Christmas – though when it would be deemed “finished” was anybody’s guess.) Speaking of which, Ratzenbergers have just taken over some additional acreage in the Kloster Furstental, which in future might result in other single-vineyard bottlings from that site. “We couldn’t take all of the acreage that was offered,” relates the younger Jochen Ratzenberger, “but we took what we could handle. We want to do our part to see that this amazing steep site remains planted.” The absence of suggested retail pricing for many Ratzenberger wines I review could, I decided, use some explanation. By arrangement with their importers – as a survey of the U.S. marketplace confirms – only their lightest-weight wines are released by the Ratzenbergers in the year following their bottling (and even then, not their sweeter Kabinett from the St. Jost). But as wines with bottle age are released, Spatlesen have tended lately to sell in the $30 retail range; Auslesen and Grosse Gewachse in the $45-50 retail range, confirming Ratzenberger Rieslings as superb values.Imported by Sussex Wine Merchants, Moorestown, NJ; tel. (856) 608 9644

The latest edition of one of Germany’s most consistently fine dry wine values, Ratzenbergers’ 2008 Bacharacher Riesling Kabinett trocken is infectiously juicy and bright, dominated by salted fresh lime, with suggestions of toasted pumpkin seed in its finish. As usual, it strikes an ideal balance between a sense of stuffing (despite only 11% alcohol) with a waxy texture, and refreshing levity. A faintly sweaty, animal dimension adds interest, in my view, to the wine’s winsomeness, although not all tasters may feel that way. This impeccably-balanced Riesling will be highly adaptable at table over at least the next half dozen years. When you taste a collection like this year’s from the two Jochen Ratzenbergers, you have to wonder why their wines’ consistent quality; track record for aging; and frequently stellar performances do not make this one of the most talked-about estates in Germany. (Maybe I shouldn’t wish that on us!) In fact, they are quite well-respected at home, but I think there is a certain snobbishness that rebounds against even the best Mittelrhein Riesling because this region’s precious half-timbered villages and crenellated slopes spell “tourist country” to most German wine lovers.Importer: Sussex Wine Merchants, Moorestown, NJ; tel. (856) 608-9644

The 2007 Bacharacher Riesling Kabinett trocken – incorporating fruit from Wolfshohle, and a bit from Kloster Furstental – tastes, as usual, like more than a twenty dollar per bottle generic Riesling. In fact, along with Gunderloch’s, I would rate this – did rate it, in the newly-released Parker’s Wine Bargains – the consistently best German Riesling trocken under $25. Lemon oil, peach, and toasted pumpkin seed on the nose lead to a palate that in the best possible 2007 manner combines stuffing with elegance and brightness. “I would actually have liked the alcohol a little lower,” says Ratzenberger – a complaint I seldom heard this vintage – but here the nearly 12.5% doesn’t in any way preclude a wine than dances on the palate and refreshes. Hints of cherry pit, wet stone, and toasted pumpkin seed extend the finish. Enjoy this over the next 5-6 years. Jochen Ratzenberger Jr. expressed delight with his 2007s, and even though I’m straining to recollect a vintage with which he wasn’t pleased, the truth is, he and his father comprise one of the most consistently high-performance teams in German viticulture, and their 2007 collection is consistently impressive. Both of the Ratzenbergers’ 2007 vintage Grosse Gewachse – in what has been fairly typical behavior – finished fermenting only in mid-August, and were immediately bottled with barely enough time to appear at the annual Berlin Presentation of Germany’s collective wines in this genreImported by Sussex Wine Merchants, Moorestown, NJ; tel. (856) 608 9644

Given the short crop, no generic Q.b.A. bottlings were attempted, but the 2006 Bacharacher Riesling Kabinett trocken exhibits an impressive broth-like suffusion of stony and savory mineral matter and tart plum skin and sizzling citrus zest lend chew to the finish, without engendering bitterness. This will prove useful over the next couple of years, even though it is not so memorable as some recent renditions of this wine that clearly performed well above their stature.Without spraying against botrytis, Jochen Ratzenberger Jr. insists that the proper management of the family’s vines and greening between the rows kept rot at bay, but 30% less than a normal volume was harvested. The Ratzenbergers began picking on Septermber 25 and were done on the 12th of October.Imported by Sussex Wine Merchants, Moorestown, NJ; tel. (856) 608 9644