A warm welcome back, dear producers. And a rosé surprise.
The same smile, unchanged energy level and sparkling enthusiasm. Long, narrow, graceful flute bottles line up, the humidity condenses into small pearls on the neck and label. Expectant glances follow the bottle from glass to glass while the congregation around the table is silent for a moment. It is sparse with producers visiting Sweden when restrictions shackle growers and winemakers at their vineyards and cellars. Finally, sitting at the table, are Sybille Kuntz and Markus Riedlin from the Moselle and Baden.
It is very easy to navigate among Sybille’s wines. Clever labels whose colours follow the development of the grape from fresh and quick to seductively sweet and botrytis styled. The picture below gives a simple and educational description with the grapes paired to the bottles.
Every year, the wines have delivered at a consistently high level. Sybille Kuntz Qualitetswein Trocken 2019 is for around 25 euro is affordable. A personal reflection can be that you will gain a lot by keeping your fingers off the bottles for a while and let them develop in the cellar.
As proof of the potential in the wines, a couple of older bottles were also served. A spätlese trocken from 2003 and a Goldkapsel from the same year gave such a broad and rich flora of aromas and taste that the bottle belongs as much under the heading of contemplation as a food wine.
But to return to this year’s launch of Kuntz’s wines, it seems that the orange wine is the one that makes the biggest achievement. In my opinion, it is not just the orange trend that causes her production to increase from year to year. Sybille Kuntz Organic Riesling 2019 is nicely positioned between traditional wines and the more brutal orange wines. Pure and elegant characters of riesling, minerals and freshness. In 2019, the skin maceration was shortened from six to three weeks. If you who have stubbornly missed orange wines you can challenge yourself by pulling the cork on a Sybille Kuntz Organic Riesling 2019, there is an imminent risk that you like it.
Riedlin rosé from Baden
The week before the visit, on a terrace basking in the evening sun, we unanimously elected the best rosé of the summer. Lumping together rosé as if everything were one and the same wine is certainly not good as wines can be so fundamentally different. Everything from salmon pink and feather-light aperitifs to solid food wines where Riedlin Rosé can be described as the latter. We had uncorked a bottle of Riedlin Rosé 2017 with grilled Swedish pork chops and a slightly warm French potato salad.
Eager to replenish our stock, we could see a “temporary out of stock” at Systembolaget. But now there is a refill with the 2019 on the shelves again, but I guess you have to react quickly to have a chance to get one of the bottles.
A rich and powerful nose with so many more shades than the glass of rosé many of us have had to endure during the summer. In the mouth, a good viscosity, noticeable but soft and long acidity, some youth but with a lot of power. Good now but I make a bet that it will gain more from ageing.
Rosé of this calibre is excellent to keep in the cellar. Around 33 euro. For those of you who live in Stockholm, you can currently find the 2017 at the restaurant Sekt on Runebergsgatan. A restaurant that consistently delivers a range of German food and drink on a level far above the traditional piles of sauerkraut and bratwurst.
