Germany

94 Points! There’s no denying that this very elegant Mosel riesling Spatlese has some natural grape sweetness, as is normal for the category. This sweetness is married to understated fresh acidity that makes it very cool, minty, lively and elegant. Plenty of white tree fruit and shrub notes. Drink or hold. - JamesSuckling.com

93 Points! The 2023 Riesling Bernkasteler Badstube Spätlese has a touch of flint on the nose before chervil, lemon and dead nettle kick in. The palate brings in notes of Reine, Claude plum greengage, white peach and candied lime peel. Sweetness is cut by acid and vice versa-they are equal elements creating their own, quiet, delicious drama. It has wonderful length. (Sweet)" - Anne Krebiehl MW, Vinous Media

95 Points! For this light-bodied category this has a remarkable concentration of stone fruit, honeysuckle and slate character. But it’s the combination of this with the elegance of the mineral acidity that makes it stand out. Glides over your palate in the very graceful finish. Fermented and matured in two 1,000-liter Fuder barrels, of which one was new. Drink or hold. - Stuart Pigott, JamesSuckling.com

96 Points! Dazzling nose that stands on a knife edge between the lusciousness of papaya and the coolness of crisp apple! Also delicate notes of hyacinth (which of itself is not delicate!). At once succulent and energetic on the light- to medium-bodied palate, this barely off-dry riesling Kabinett is hard to resist. Whiplash energy at the extremely long finish. From organically grown grapes. Drink or hold. - JamesSuckling.com

91 Points! The 2022 Kirchspiel Riesling Kabinett is clear and spicy on the intense and fruity nose that reveals clove notes intertwined with slightly stewed apple aromas. Round and elegant on the palate, this is a saline, finely grippy and stimulating Kabinett with tension. This is a Mosel-worthy Kabinett cultivated on calcareous Westhofen soils. It's adorable. 8% stated alcohol. Screw cap. Tasted at the domaine in July 2023. - Stephan Reinhardt, robertparker.com

97 Points! This youthful dry Rheinhessen riesling combines stunning concentration with a chalky minerality that’s all-encompassing yet never dominates the cool and restrained stone fruit character. Major structure that remains below the waterline of perception on the front palate and emerges like the back of a whale breaking the surface of the ocean. Spectacularly brilliant finish in spite of the moderate acidity. Great potential. From organically grown grapes. Drinkable now, but best from 2024. - JamesSuckling.com

96 Points! The aromas of dried flowers and peaches are very cool and delicate. In fact they are only just beginning to unfurl. Super-focused and salty on the very concentrated, medium-bodied palate. Barely off dry, also thanks to the gigantic minerality that powers the elegant steamroller that is the finish. Sustainable. Drinkable now, but best from 2027. - JamesSuckling.com

97 Points! This youthful Mosel riesling has an extraordinary depth of fresh apricot character on the very concentrated, medium-bodied palate. Restrained succulence in the Spatlese context, but there’s nothing restrained about the wine’s mineral energy and the drive in the extremely long finish. And if you pay close attention, you will find a wealth of mineral, herbal and spicy nuances. Reminds me of the great 1990 vintage of this wine. Drinkable now, but best from 2026. - JamesSuckling.com

94 Points! The 2023 Riesling Brauneberger Juffer Sonnenuhr Spätlese, made with just 10% botrytized fruit, opens with a touch of mango and plunges into vivid peach compote sweetness. Pink grapefruit peel counters and intensifies it. Simply gorgeous, with absolute lightness. A dream. - Anne krehbiel MW, Vinous Media

#Richter_2023

93 Points! Very attractive, juicy wine with so much ripe melon, plus hints of lemon zest and pie crust. Long and elegant with beautifully integrated natural-grape sweetness. Drink or hold. - JamesSuckling.com

97 Points! Some people say that Riesling Kabinett must be sleek and very acidic, but this wine shows why this is narrow-minded. Fabulous nose of white flowers, ripe pear and white peach, then on the seriously concentrated palate this is so succulent and so precise you don’t want to think about anything else! Almost perfect balance at the long super-silky finish. From 60-year-old vines. Drink or hold. - JamesSuckling.com

97 Points! The sensuous curves of Art Nouveau design and joyful flourishes of rococo both give an idea of what Mosel riesling elegance means, but in a masterpiece like this it takes on a totally distinctive feeling unlike anything else on Planet Wine. The white peach fruit, white flower aromas and slatey minerality all tingle on your palate, then flicker on and on in a totally fascinating manner in the nearly endless finish. The touch of sweetness is already beautifully integrated, although the wine just began a decades-long life. Drink or hold. - JamesSuckling.com

96 Points! Super elegant and super filigreed, with ravishing aromas of honeysuckle, white peaches and Asian pears, this is a very sophisticated and polished wine for this category. Incredibly refreshing, but also incredibly silky on the light-bodied palate. Then comes the extremely long and precise finish in which floral and wet-stone elements are almost perfectly interwoven. Drink or hold. - JamesSuckling.com

96 Points! This great Spatlese from the Graacher Himmelreich has everything we hope for from this famous site: excellent concentration and delicacy on the barely medium-bodied palate, terrific slatey character and a broad spectrum of aromas that range from white flowers and peaches to blackcurrants. Super-stony and precise finish. All of this has a wonderful spring-like freshness that makes it irresistible. Drink or hold. - JamesSuckling.com

93 Points! A smoky mineral layer hovers in the backdrop of this streamlined, concentrated Riesling, with beautiful clarity and range to its notes of lime oil, peach and green herbs. Flinty and sultry through the long finish, which features some phenolic extract for a dry impression. - Wine Spectator

95 Points! This Mosel riesling kabinett is a miniature masterpiece of delicacy. I love the aromas of wildflowers and herbs that are married to a wealth of mineral nuances on the light- to medium-bodied palate. Although a hint of sweetness is perceptible, this has quite a firm core, yet is very filigreed at the long, pristine finish. Drink or hold. - JamesSuckling.com

99 Points! Welcome to the Bladerunner of Nahe riesling Spatlese. This is also extremely fine and complex, with a cornucopia of stone fruit, exotic fruit and spices. Radical stony minerality and racy acidity, yet with a feather-light mouthfeel on the barely medium-bodied palate. Then you wonder if the wine will ever leave you, so long is the almost endless farewell. Drink or hold. - JamesSuckling.com

97 Points! The 2023 Riesling Niederhäuser Hermannshöhle Spätlese, grown on shale, has equal notions of moss and lemon. More air makes this smell simply of wet stone. The palate carries gentle sweetness but is absolutely precise and slender. Citrus frames everything with the clearest precision. Everything is serene, zesty, tender, yet so very serious. The 2023 is glorious in its lightness and disarming in its elegance. - Anne Krehbiel MW, Vinous Media

90 Points! The 2020 Saar Riesling Kabinett Ayler Kupp opens with clear and quite intense, elegant fruit intertwined with crushed slate aromas; it's less reductive or stinky on the nose than the Mosel Kabinett siblings from the Himmelreich and Würzgarten. Supple and round, with vibrantly fresh acidity but also palatable residual sugar, this is a charming and pleasing but less exciting or mind-blowing Kabinett with an aromatic and piquant finish. 8% stated alcohol. Natural cork. Tasted from AP 138 21 in November 2021. - Stephan Reinhardt, robertparker.com

With its classic Nahe lines of apricot and pear with some underlying earthy minerality, this wine is in amazingly fine shape. 

It has certainly evolved brilliantly in the bottle and presents a lovely and versatile beverage for current ‘applications’ including as a killer foil for a number of Asian dishes.  A traditional, lightly fruity kabinett sitting in a perfect place from a top German terroir, it was showing exactly what we were looking for in this kind of wine, substance and complexity with both freshness to the fruit and the development of complexing secondary aromas and flavors of wildflower honey, spice and mineral with the fruitiness dialed back.  A piece of history

96 Points! The 2023 Graacher Himmelreich Riesling Kabinett opens with substantial depth and a brilliant bouquet of wet slate. The fruit is intense but not dominating, thanks to the flintiness and savoriness of the Himmelreich terroir. On the palate, this is a mouth-filling, dense and complex Kabinett with ripe, elegant and juicy fruit intertwined with very fine phenols and an ethereal slate thread that gives this Kabinett an enormous length and animation. This will be a superb gastronomic wine after a decade of bottle age, although the 2023 already drinks beautifully today. 7.5% stated alcohol. Natural cork. Tasted at the domaine in August 2024 from AP 2 24. - Stephan Reinhardt, robertparker.com

96+ Points! The 2023 Graacher Domprobst Riesling Kabinett #3 opens with a clear and coolish, very precise and flinty as well as vegetal bouquet of dark, crushed slate. Very elegant and mouthwatering on the palate, with lively, mineral acidity and stimulating salinity, this is an almost dry-tasting Domprobst Kabinett due to its continuous mineral character and grippy phenols. The wine is full of finesse yet still discreet in its hedonistic compounds. The Domprobst is the aristocrat of the Mosel Kabinett world yet also offers a certain charm. Very subtle and long, this will be a classic in a decade, especially when served with very fine dishes. 7.5% stated alcohol. Natural cork. Tasted at the domaine in August 2024 from AP 3 24 (thus the #3 on the label). - Stephan Reinhardt, robertparker.com

94 Points! With an enticing and subtle nose of lemon blossom, this is a dangerously fresh and delicate riesling Kabinett for a region often considered unsuitable for the production of this light-bodied style. Wonderful elegance and wet-stone minerality at the long, barely off-dry finish. From organically grown grapes. Vegan. Drink or hold. - JamesSuckling.com