While the feinherb variation on this cuvee was a bit too diffuse and unemphatic to strongly recommend, Thanisch’s 2009 Bernkasteler Badstube Riesling Kabinett offers tart, refreshing, brown spice-dusted apple and pineapple complimented by a subtly oily texture, and displaying a lovely sense of lift and lingering, lip-licking finish. Even though I am inclined in the innumerable cases of this sort to ask myself whether such a wine really needs 57 grams of residual sugar, you look at the label and realize that it already harbors more than 9% alcohol, and I cannot honestly claim that it is suffering from any superficial sense of sweetness. Post-fermentative aromas slightly shroud the nose, but are apt, I suspect, to prove epiphenomenal, and this should deliver plenty of pleasure over at least the better part of the next decade. Sofia Thanisch expressed satisfaction with her 2009 collection, and with allowances for the by no means unusual degree to which some of the young wines were shrouded by post-fermentative aromas, I concur. That said, my overview omitted two of this year’s Doctor bottlings (about which see my note on the Spatlese A.P. #8). This is one of those numerous Mosel estates, incidentally, where the dry wines are fermented with cultured yeasts to insure that they complete fermentation, although the rest of the portfolio ferments spontaneously. Various importers, including P. J. Valckenberg International, Tulsa, OK; tel. (918) 622-0424

This kabinett possesses lovely balance, marrying sweet pineapple aspects with zesty citrus notes. The fruit is lush to the point of slightly covering the underlying minerality, but remains clean and racy on the finish. ——J.C.(6/1/2011)—— 90

This is relatively light in body despite an ample 9% abv. It’s slightly sweet, yet shows a taut, wiry frame and crisp green apple and citrus flavors accented by hints of crushed stone.——J.C.(6/1/2011)—— 87