A Slightly Incomprehensible Riesling from Beate Knebel

Riesling feinherb – “feinherb” means something along the lines of “delicately dry” – is a stylistic term that’s started to appear with greater frequency on German wines over the last few years. For many producers, it’s nothing more than a preferred synonym for halbtrocken, a style (or at least a term) that’s started to fall out of favor on the contemporary German market. For others, though, feinherb provides a subtle distinction, crossing over between the richer end of the halbtrocken spectrum (up to 18 grams of RS) yet stopping short of the amount of RS usually found in a fully fruity-style Kabinett, Spätlese or Auslese. A handful of the wineries in this latter group have even been known to produce halbtrocken and feinherb wines from the same vineyard and at the same pradikat level in a single vintage.

Mosel Winninger Hamm Riesling Kabinett feinherb, Weingut Reinhard und Beate Knebel 2005
$19. 12.5% alcohol. Cork. Importer: Mosel Wine Merchant, Manhasset, NY.
In the simple context of residual sugar, Beate Knebel’s 2005 Winninger Hamm Kabinett feinherb seems to slot right into the feinherb category, most likely at the drier end of its possible spectrum. There’s nothing delicate about it, though. The sprightly minerality, light, fresh fruit and lithe acidity I’ve come to associate with most other Kabinett level wines from the Terrassenmosel aren’t in evidence. Instead, the wine expands across the palate with earthy, pungent flavors of slate, displaying a breadth and darkness of flavor along with the muscular expression of acidity I’d expect more from a Spätlese trocken from the same area. Flavors are less of crisp apples and white peaches than of apricots and baked apples. At 12.5% alcohol – even though Winningen is considered a warm spot – it’s also way up the scale relative to what I’d expect from a Kabinett feinherb (something more along the lines of 10-11% perhaps).

In case the notes above left you wondering, I liked it but it definitely caught me off guard, made me scratch my head a little. My translation: I’d hazard a guess that this is declassified Spätlese, fairly ripe Spätlese at that, fermented long and slow. This is speculation on my part, not backed up by technical specs from the winery or importer, so I’d be more than happy to hear from anyone with more experience with Knebel’s wines.