We have a large cache of German estates that we have been working with for many years, and are essentially so accustomed to a certain quality level that we rarely ever find new estates that we haven’t worked with before that make the cut. St. Urbans Hof, in case you haven’t seen any of the recent stock reports, is one of those rare new names for us that made the cut this year but had already established quite a reputation before we ever saw it. The beauty of 2007 is that its traditional stylings mean kabinetts are kabinetts. This one, from a Saar vineyard, has plush flavors of peach, orange, slate, and flinty notes. Broad, ripe and juicy, like biting into a nectarine, it delivers the goods and then cuts cleanly in the end with some minerality to the finish. It was a “non-blind” 90 in a recent Spectator piece about the producer, but we figure that made it easier to spot the bottle and pour another glass. Execllent value.
Bruce Sanderson of The Wine Spectator.com writes in his blog of 6-5-08: The Rieslings from Bockstein are often floral or fruity, but always have a strong mineral element and savory quality. The Kabinett 2007 expressed this beautifully, with its racy structure defining the mineral, orange and smoke flavors. It had terrific length, with a chalky, saline intensity on the aftertaste (90 points, non-blind).
From the Stock Report: Warmer weather is coming, and we have been waxing poetic about our first encounters with the 2007 Germans. Here’s a wine that addresses both agendas. St. Urban’s Hof has been a pretty consistent call in past Spectators, the last two vintages getting 90 and 93 respectively. A bit of apple, lime and peach with notes of spice, this is lifted, zesty, and fruit driven without being too sweet. It nicely showcases the expressive fruit and well integrated, light on its feet acidity that we have found a consistent, and very appealing theme with the 2007’s thus far. Also, given the stinky dollar and what we saw from prices on VDP estate kabinetts in the 2006 vintage, this may ultimately turn out to be one of the best deals of the vintage as well.
Other excerpts from the Spectator blog from Bruce Sanderson, June 5-08: Last week, I sat down with Nik Weis of St. Urbans-Hof to taste through his 2007 Mosel Rieslings that will be available soon in the United States. Weis is a thoughtful grower and winemaker and an astute taster, so it is always a productive and educational experience tasting through his wines together. . . We began the tasting with the estate Riesling, a QbA that Weis fashions in a slightly drier style than other estates. He prefers to stop the fermentations by tasting and feels that if the wines are drier, they show better out of the gate and will age equally well, with less residual sugar...Piesporter Goldtröpfchen is the other major site for St. Urbans-Hof. It’s a warmer site, compared to Ockfener Bockstein, and the soils are a little deeper, resulting in wines with more flesh and mouthfilling richness.
