Öko-Weingut Zang - Riesling Kabinett
We drink two bottles of Riesling Kabinett dry from 2015 and 2016 from the Zang organic winery.
The Bronner already showed that the wines from Zang like a little more time in the cellar to mature. From the set of bottles, which last year in Nordheim went into the boot of our car, this time two Rieslings are on the table. We are drinking dry Riesling Kabinett from 2015 and 2016, which are Ortswein from the vineyards around Nordheim. The winery itself says that the wines consistently represent the origin of the sites and the style of the winemaker. Let’s have a taste.
The 2015 starts with spice, grapefruit and herbs. Dense, creamy in the mouth and with a lot of structure on the back of the tongue that stays there for a long time. One does not really notice the time on the bottle. A little forest honey is added, almost a little sweetness.
More citrus after a night in the fridge. The honey has disappeared. The room is now occupied by the acid. More grip and much more pull than on the first evening. Seems even fresher than it did the first evening anyway. Dense, spicy, the fruit is not the center stage, it stands at the back and just accompanies. Velvety pear, creamy and becoming longer and longer. Really good and benefits from every minute in the glass. Another night emphasises the creaminess even more. It becomes softer and one has the feeling that the harmony is now perfect. It’s really nice at the moment, but I think it will stay that way for a few more years.
The 2016 directly appears lighter, slimmer in the nose. Yellow fruit, apple, juicy, almost a bit exotic with passion fruit and peach. With lime and a fresh acidity. The wine has a completely different structure than its predecessor. It takes place further forward on the tongue, has more minerality and the fruit becomes clearer and finer as the evening progresses. It leans more in the direction of Mirabelle and along with the fruit also grows the pithy and unruly character. Not as round as the 15.
And in contrast to the previous vintage, the 16er dips after the first night in the fridge. Where the 15 grows, things recede here. The fruit becomes much more sparse, the velvety things more tender. Everything becomes less. Less passion fruit, less pome fruit, less minerality. This gets better with a lot of air, but it doesn’t reach the level of the first evening. Back it goes into the fridge. But even a second night has hardly any positive influence. Seems closed and is therefore directly put back. Never mind. The 2015 is more than making up for this.
The reward follows the next day. Everything done right when putting it back into the fridge. We are now on evening number four after opening. The fruit is back, soft, very clear and clean, the minerality on the tongue far exceeds what was indicated on the first day. The difficult notes have disappeared. Orange, grapefruit, a beautifully round acidity that gives a lot of freshness and a great herbal spice. The wine needs time. Either in the cellar or, if you do it like we do now, gladly in the open bottle. It’s great how it has developed and I find it remarkable that a Riesling, which costs just 9 Euros from the winery, goes through such a development over four days. Sure, it’s not the relaxed afternoon wine and if you like a lot of fruit, you won’t really be happy here either. But if you get involved and bring a little time with you, you will be rewarded for your patience and for very little money.