Schloss Lieser, Brauneberger Juffer, Riesling Kabinett, 2005

The Schloss Lieser estate, dear readers, is the one winery that has had more of their bottles consumed chez Mr. Munich Wine Rambler than any other I've never told you about (except very briefly here). Admittedly, this also involves an order I placed twice in considerable confusion, but mostly, it is because Ute and Thomas Haag have been offering arguably the most consistent value in fruity and sweet Riesling for the last seven or eight years. Thomas Haag is known to Mosel afficionados as the son of Wilhelm Haag from the Fritz Haag estate, wine being a family affair in that part of the country. The 2005 Kabinett from the iconic Brauneberger Juffer Sonnenuhr vineyard was the first of their wines I ever got to taste, four or five years ago.

So how has it been holding up?

Straw colour. Enormous, dominating sweetness, untypically for a Kabinett (many Spätlesen, even aged Auslesen, are a good deal drier, in all seriousness), very ripe peaches, apricots, herbs. Not to get all sentimental here, but I've known this wine practically since it was a little kid, and clearly the freshness and the explosive, exotic fruitiness it showed then has now changed into a meatier style and the kind of middle Mosel minerality that I think of as "hot". Those who like their Mosel sweet, but also concentrated (and that is by no means a bad thing, just a matter of taste), will find enormous quality for a laughable price here.

But a Kabinett it most certainly isn't.