The single Muller 2006 Scharzhofberger Riesling Kabinett is remarkably broad-shouldered and rich – not to mention packed with pit fruit and crushed stone stuffing – for a wine labeled “Kabinett,” but Muller’s response to this observation is insightful. “It was never our intent to think of ‘Kabinett’ as ‘light’ wine,” he says. “We go farther back historically in our concept, in the old sense of ‘Naturwein’ or capital-C ‘Cabinet,’ the estate’s calling card, an unchaptalized wine that can serve as a benchmark from one vintage to the next. If I could, though, I’d give up the word ‘Kabinett’ instantly.” The finish of this Kabinett has serious mineral weight and richness of peach and purple plum fruit, but a lovely aura of floral essences, and unusually pungent yet refreshing herbal notes suggesting mint and oregano hang over the whole performance. Despite the challenges of hail (which struck the Scharzhofberg but not the Braune Kupp) and rampant ripening and botrytis, Egon Muller has turned out a 2006 collection whose quality potential he says can be compared (as he did 2005’s) with 1976, the vintage his father believed to have been the finest of his time. “This was a vintage with massive botrytis,” Muller observes, “yet when you taste the wines today, you are amazed at how elegant and refreshing they are.” (Note: stellar quality was achieved in 1976 almost exclusively on the Saar, not in Germany’s other Riesling-growing regions.) Muller also draws comparison between the styles of 2006 and 1999, although the latter vintage involved a great deal of selection and resulted in no fewer than 37 different bottlings. “Surprisingly,” he says, “in 2006 we did very, very little selection. We played around a bit here and there, but we realized very quickly that the must weights were soaring, and haste in the vineyards and the cellar was essential. We did harvest a very small amount of Trockenbeerenauslese – we wanted to do that. But a lot more would have been possible had there been the time.” Importer: Frederick Wildman & Sons, New York, NY; tel. (212) 355-0700