A while back I did a Riesling event in my home where we compared some well aged Rieslings (1986 was the oldest!) and it was a lot of fun. What I learned back then is that Canada make some lovely Rieslings (two my Favs are the Cave Springs Estate Bottled Riesling and the Stratus Wildass Riesling) and from a German point of view I prefer Kabinett’s. In case your not aware German Wine legislation have two quality levels QBA (Lowest quality) and QMP highest class. Chaptalization not allowed. German wines vary significantly year to year so vintage charts come in handy.
There are 6 levels of ripeness for German wines: Kabinett (least ripe), Spatlese, Auslese, Beerenauslese, trockenbeerenauslese (made only in exceptional years) and eiswein (ice wine). As you go up the scale they become sweeter and more syrupy. For me I prefer Kabinetts. These notes and more can be found on my Wine bible Summary.
This wine is quite pale in color as expected of a Riesling. On the nose there are typical varietal Riesling flavors. On the mid pallet this wine is sweeter than I would expect from a Kabinett. The LCBO says it is MD (medium dry) so I guess I should have expected it. This wine is closer to the bottom end of a Spatlese for my tastes. On the finish the wine is on the lighter side of medium. I would give it an 88 or so. Not bad at all. But for the money you could support local wineries like Cave Springs!
From the LCBO web site:
BALTHASAR RESS RIESLING KABINETT 2007 QmP Hattenheimer Schutzenhaus Estate Btld. Balthasar Ress is blessed with access to some of the finest vineyards in the Rheingau like the Schutzenhaus vineyard near the village of Hattenheim. The 2007 vintage is yet another dynamic flavourful beautifully balanced Riesling that is made with laser beam precision. A fantastic value enjoy this wine with a variety of seafoods asparagus cloved ham vegetarian curries or just chill and sip on its own. 735241 $18.95
