Riesling Lenchen Kabinett VDP Grosse Lage 2024

Wine description for Riesling Lenchen Kabinett VDP Grosse Lage 2024 by Peter Jakob Kühn

A Kabinett from a Grosse Lage – this combination alone arouses curiosity. The Oestricher Lenchen usually yields the estate’s noble-sweet treasures; here it reveals its finest, medium-dry side. Peter Bernhard Kühn, trained at Zind-Humbrecht in Alsace and at Burgundian estates, crafts from it a Riesling of dancing tension: barely nine per cent alcohol, yet an electric nerve of acidity and that transparency for which the biodynamic estate is now celebrated far beyond the Rheingau.

Colour & appearance

Pale straw yellow with greenish reflections – cool and luminous like a spring morning.

Nose

Reserved at first, then of delicate finesse: flowering citrus groves, white peach, along with wet river pebbles and a hint of lemon balm and borage. A fragrance that whispers rather than shouts – and captivates precisely because of it.

Palate

Immense tension between vibrating acidity and shimmeringly fine fruit sweetness. Sinewy, taut, almost slender in stature, yet astonishingly light-footed – a Kabinett in the classic, finest sense: graceful rather than opulent.

Finish

Long and cool-mineral, with an aftertaste of citrus and stone. A wine one trusts to enjoy a long life in the cellar – if one can summon the patience.

Terroir & origin

The Oestricher Lenchen, a VDP.Grosse Lage in the Rheingau, rests on deep loess and loess-loam soils over limestone, interspersed with heavy, iron-rich clay marl and quartzite. The vines stand at 110 to 135 metres, facing west to south-west – soils that lend the Riesling depth and a distinctive, almost saline contour.

Grape variety & vinification

Pure Riesling, tended in the twelfth generation by Peter Bernhard and Viktoria Kühn. Demeter-certified, with consistent manual labour, spontaneous fermentation and minimal intervention in the cellar – the harvested fruit is allowed to speak of its place.

Food recommendations

The fine residual sweetness and lively interplay of acidity make this Kabinett a stroke of luck at the table: Asian dishes with chilli and lime, baked goat’s cheese on a summer salad, sushi or trout with herbs. Also a joy on its own, well chilled on a warm evening.

Special features

A Grosse-Lage-Kabinett is a rarity – here the Kühn family’s ambitious understanding of vineyard sites meets the carefree drinkability of the Kabinett Prädikat level. Produced biodynamically at one of the oldest family estates in the Rheingau, founded in 1786.

Whoever opens this wine experiences the Rheingau in its purest form: clear, cool, alive – and will find it hard to put the bottle down again.