Lukas HammelmannRiesling “vom Loess” Kabinett 2023 (750ml)

Hammelmann is a dry-wine specialist, as are most producers in the Pfalz. This is the only Kabinett he makes. It is his odd man out, a true labor of love. It is also a show stopper. In the ripe 2023 vintage the wine is a lush garden, a palate awash with green apple fruit, peach fuzz, mouth-watering stone fruit and edged by the bracing freshness of sea salt-studded lemon and a gravelly minerality.

With only 25 grams of residual sugar per liter, this is a treatise in restraint. With nearly 10 grams of acidity, this wine has formidable energy. Yes, if Hammelmann’s Kabinett is an arrow, it is also a hammer.