Geiben’s 2004 Kaseler Nies’chen Riesling Kabinett exhibits a clarity of fruit, balanced sweetness, and sheer vigor that his corresponding Mauerchen bottling missed. Pear, fresh strawberry, honeysuckle, and almond aromas lead to a satisfyingly silken-textured and subtly honeyed but bright and invigorating palate impression and a clear, rather delicate, mineral-tinged finish. Note that proprietor Peter Geiben has begun to put his family name in large letters on at least some of his bottlings, and his wines from the holdings that he took over from the neighboring Patheiger estate are still labeled “Patheiger”. Add to this his proclivity for labeling certain of his wines with the names of individual vineyards, his looseness in the use of “gold” and “l(fā)ong gold capsule”, and his attempts to do away with distinctions of “Pradikat” on most of his dry wines, and you have a recipe for potential confusion of which consumers should be aware. But by no means allow yourself to be deterred, because this estate is rather routinely bottling some very fine wines.Importer: Terry Theise Estate Selections, imported by Michael Skurnik Wines, Inc., Syosset, NY; tel. (516) 677-9300.