Wine of the Week: A Wine for Warm Weather

We are having a heath wave the likes we never have seen before, at least here in Bergen where I am. So, the question on everybody’s mind is: what wine should I drink when the temperature is over 30 degrees? My answer is: Look to Germany!

​In Norway we tend to favour the dry wines. The wines from Chablis and the rest of Burgundy, Loire, Alsace, even Italian and Spanish whites are bone dry. And from Germany we also get some fine try wines, or Trocken as they call them there. But today I want to focus on the sweeter German wines ad specifically the Kabinett! And we’ll stick to the Riesling wines, in my opinion a perfect grape for the German conditions.

​​A little background information. In Germany the have their very own way of categorising wine. You will find two major categories Table wine and Quality wines. We’ll leave the table wines and focus on the Quality wines. They are again categorised into two groups: Qualitätswein and Prädikatswein. The Prädikatswein is divided into six groups: Trockenbeerenauslese, Eiswein, Beerenauslese, Auslese, Spätlese and finally Kabinett.
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We are going to make a whole blog on the difference between the Prädikat but let’s focus on the Kabinett today.

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The Kabinett wines are fully ripened light wines from the main harvest, typically semi-sweet with crisp acidity. If they are dry you will see the word “Trocken” on the bottle and you’ll notice that the alcohol is about 11 %. The regular Kabinett is between 7 % and 9 %. That means that there is more sugar in the wines and of course they are sweeter. 

But I won’t call a good Kabinett wine a sweet wine. Why you ask? Because of the high acidity level! The acid balances out the sweetness and you get a delicate and fruity wine, that is perfect when chilled and served on a hot summers day!

Tasting Notes:

Maximin Grünhaus Herrenberg Riesling Kabinett 2015 – kr 250,60

The colour is a light, light yellow. Lemon, green apples and some tropical pineapple notes on the nose. You can also feel the tartness from the acid. Ripe peaches, and tropical fruits with some green apples in the mouth. So refreshing and delightful. There is also a distinct minerality to the wine that is superb.

Food:
This is a wine the you can enjoy all on its own. It’s fresh and refreshing, a real thirst quencher really. It will handle seafood without any problem, especially sushi. But also great with light salads and fruits.

Conclusion:
A perfect wine for those long, hot summer nights!