Product Description
92 points Fastaff
"Green-golden reflections in the glass, spicy herbal nose with minerality and a slight honey scent, smoky-mineral, magical acidity, extremely elegant, fine supporting (but remaining tender, not over-accentuated) sweetness, extremely juicy."
92 points Wine Spectator
Jancis Robinson
"A Kabinett like a breath of fresh air wafting across from the apple orchard and herb garden. But Kilian Franzen has a clear concept of winemaking and like Tina Turner he doesn’t do nice and easy. On the palate even his Kabinett shows some firm edges, crisp apple fruit, phenolic peel and strapping acidity stimulating the salivary glands, residual sugar not used as make-up, but enough to soften the impact of tactile constituents. 16.5/20 points. (MS)"
Vinous Reverie Notes
“That things would be hard for us was clear. What we hadn’t expected was that they would also bring so much joy.” ~ Angelina and Kilian Franzen
Angelina and Kilian Franzen’s story is every bit as moving as their wines. It begins in the Mosel’s Bremmer Calmont. After millennia of cultivation, these sheer vertical vineyards — among the world’s steepest — had, by the 1980s, been abandoned. One wine grower embraced the daunting prospect of recultivation: Ulrich Franzen. “His vision was to bring the Mosel Terraces, especially the Bremmer Calmont, back to where it once was: at the top of German wines,” explains his son, Kilian. Today, the Franzens have 5 hectares in the Calmont and holdings in the venerated Neefer Frauenberg and Kloster Stuben vineyards nearby. The focus is, naturally, Riesling. Vines are up to 90 years old, their roots driven into the terraced slate, giving immense concentration to the wines. Perhaps because so much has been forced in the vineyards and in the Franzens’ young lives, nothing is in the cellar. Fermentations are spontaneous, some taking nearly two years to complete. The wines go through malo. All this accounts for wines that are as much about texture, herbaceousness, and salinity as they are fruit. They display remarkable freshness and animation as well as power and echoing length. Because so little wine is made from the Calmont, the wines have largely remained a secret, even among Riesling connoisseurs. Through pure dedication and heart, the Franzens have made it the source for some of the most arresting wines in all the Mosel.
