The 2018 Riesling Kabinett is refined, clear and flinty on the nicely reductive and slate-driven nose. Lush and round, with concentrated, ripe fruit and dense texture, this is a promising and persistent Riesling bottled with 8.5% alcohol plus about 45 grams of residual sugar. Tasted in July 2019.

The 2014 Riesling Kabinett is an assemblage from all of the vineyards, and offers a clear and flinty bouquet of ripe apples. Very piquant and racy on the palate, this is a clear and straight party-wine with just the right amount of sweetness.

A generic Diel 2011 Riesling Kabinett delivers engagingly-juicy fresh apple and grapefruit backed by impeccably-judged sweetness and suffused with flowers and fine herbs. There is a sorbet-like sense of metaphorically cooling refreshment here, while the cut of apple skin and bite of apple pip add invigoration to a delicate, sappy finish. Enjoy this anytime over the next 6-8 years. Given the lovely stylistic template presupposed here and the Diels’ successful execution within its parameters, is it any wonder that their single-vineyard Kabinetts of the vintage are deliciously and (even if not by prevalent German metrics) profoundly successful? Caroline Diel is now the mother of two, but shows every intention and indication of personally staying on top of her estate’s viticulture. In collaboration with long-time cellarmaster Christoph Friedrich, she is both perpetuating and further refining the styles of wine that have come to characterize and enhance the long-standing reputation of Schlossgut Diel. Picking began in the last week of September and most of the top Rieslings were harvested already in the first week of October, by which point there was a significant amount of botrytis, happily largely noble, most of it picked-out in parallel with the fruit for the Grosse Gewachse. Wisely, I think – as heaven knows they have an austere side as is – the Diels elected for the sake of moderating alcohol to leave a bit more residual sugar behind this year than usual in their Grosse Gewachse. Importer: Terry Theise Estate Selections, imported by Michael Skurnik Wines, Inc., Syosset, NY; tel. (516) 677-9300

The generic Diel 2009 Burg Layen Riesling Kabinett (corresponding more or less to the wine labeled last year as “Burg Layen Kabinett”) is generous with apple and pear; tinged with Erdener Treppchen-like notes of sassafras and licorice; and finishes with subtle sweetness, ample juiciness, and alluring underlying nuttiness. A mysterious hint of gentian emerged in one of the two bottles I tasted as it opened to the air. This combines creaminess, refreshment, and interactive complexity in a manner that anticipates the striking success of the Diel single-vineyard Kabinetts. And at 10.5% alcohol, it sacrifices no sense of levity or delicacy yet is able to project merely discreet sweetness. Enjoy this delightfully versatile Riesling over the next 10-12 years. Caroline Diel’s 2009 collection is noteworthy not only for a range of outstanding Riesling such as has long been anticipated (though seldom bettered) at this estate, but also for a set of wines from the Pinot family – all, incidentally, now labeled with French rather than German names for their varieties – that in my estimation mark a significant up-tick in quality. That this estate has been famous in Germany for its work with Pinots ever since Armin Diel assumed charge in 1987 and began barrique vinification, I am of course well aware. But only in recent years have I witnessed tendencies to restrain the influence of new wood and to encourage real subtlety, which seem to me prerequisites for achieving with these varieties anything remotely approaching the class of Schlossgut Diel’s Rieslings. The 2009 Pinots were harvested in mid-October and most of the Rieslings in the two weeks following. The superb botrytis selections were all picked-out ahead of even the Pinots. Importer: Terry Theise Estate Selections, imported by Michael Skurnik Wines, Inc., Syosset, NY; tel. (516) 677-9300

This wine was recommended, but no tasting note was given.Incidentally, readers with the requisite disposable income are urged to explore Diel’s 2003 T.B.A. (from the Pittermanchen), which was unfortuitously also being bottled the day I visited. Importer: Terry Theise Estate Selections, imported by Michael Skurnik Wines, Inc., Syosset, NY; tel. (516) 677-9300