New Jost plantings in the cooler reaches immediately above the Hahn will soon bear their first fruit, a recognition that the weather is too often conspiring to render a wine like the 2007 Bacharacher Hahn Riesling Kabinett impossible, or at least its description as “Kabinett” misleading. But for this vintage, we have the sense of lift and refreshment promised by its Pradikat. We also have an unusually saline, alkaline, sweaty, animal character, along with more usual tropical fruits (grapefruit, maracua) and sweet floral perfume. There is a lovely combination of richness and levity and a balanced, judicious sweetness that supports and sets off the wine’s virtues rather than calling attention to itself. The fascinating parade of mineral-like nuances in the finish here demonstrates clarity such as Riesling is uniquely able to exhibit. This should be fascinating to follow for as many as 15-20 years. The 2007 vintage was immensely satisfying for the Josts, combining as it did high must weights (but less so than in most recent vintages); ripe acid-retention; ample precipitation (for a flagship site so notoriously dry that it is among the very few in Germany to have been approved decades ago for drip lines); perfect botrytis; and a bumper crop (after several straight years of penury). All of that noted, I was still marginally disappointed by this year’s dry wines. I cannot help but wonder whether the Hahn simply promotes too much sugar in its Riesling grapes for ideal balance at legal Trockenheit. Peter Jost continues to follow a distinctive approach to nobly sweet success – honed only over the past several years – of rigorously removing and discarding in September any botrytis that might not later at harvest be distinguishable from fresh botrytis, and of favoring lower residual sugar and correspondingly higher alcohol in the finished wines than is nowadays fashionable.Importer: Terry Theise Estate Selections, imported by Michael Skurnik Wines, Inc., Syosset, NY; tel. (516) 677-9300
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