2015 Riesling Kanzemer Altenberg Spätlese Alte Reben

While the vines here did not suffer as much from drought as did those of director Andreas Barth’s own Lubentiushof estate on the Lower Mosel, he nonetheless emphasizes the positive role played by September rainfall and subsequent cool, clear weather in achieving Saar Rieslings that are very ripe but also buoyant and precise. That said, I was surprised at the number of wines here this year that were significantly marked by botrytis, in some of which its presence inhibited clarity. As on past occasions, I wish I could say that I find the dry Rieslings at this address among their region’s best, since the prodigious potential of Kanzemer Altenberg is undisputed, and Barth’s talent with dry Riesling is consistently on display at his home estate. But the best von Othegraven wines nearly always inhabit the realm of residual sugar, and this collection’s two Spätlesen are its high points. Consistent with a promising development that I discussed when introducing this estate’s 2014s, their sales of Kabinett are increasing domestically as well as abroad, and this year site-specific Kabinetts were bottled from each of the estate’s principal sites. “But in fact, one consideration with these four Kabinetts,” noted Barth, “was simply to insure a diversity of residually sweet single-vineyard bottlings, since we weren’t so sure at that point whether the must weights would continue to rise.” Rise they did, albeit with attendant botrytis. (For details concerning this estate’s recent history, consult the introduction to my account of their 2014s.)