1994 J.B. Becker Riesling Oberberg Kabinett Halbtrocken

Instead of writing a coherent sales narrative, I'm going to randomly hit upon a number of important topics, all of which I believe wildly relevant to this offer.

I just think these sorts of bottles are so special. I just know this wine is great (I just drank a bottle). And I both think and know this is a great price. These will sell quickly.

So here is my stream-of-consciousness thinking:

First, these are perfectly stored bottles and the one I drank in early October of 2024 was so good there was a part of me that thought maybe I should just keep the few cases we have to offer. The simple act of writing this line has honestly just compelled me to hold one case. Sorry.

Second, look at the color: such a profoundly beautiful green-gold, obviously not young but almost glowing and youthful looking. Somehow the color betrays something of the wine. See the next point.

Third, this really reminded me of a Ruwer wine, like an old Von Schubert or Karthäuserhof with that minty, mossy, dark-soil-and-spearmint thing you get. I understand this is a slightly insane thing to write about a Rheingau wine, but as I've outlined, Becker and his wines have nearly nothing in common with any other Rheingau wine I've ever tasted. This wine has a just stunningly fresh nose, glowing ripe citrus, green apple, perfumed pear, a saline quality, fresh mint and spearmint. There is a delicate herbal richness, wet aromatic tobacco, sweet floral aromatics, maybe honeysuckle, verbena, hard to say. But it's gorgeous. 

The overall effect is almost dry - tangy, vibrant... Such great energy and a long, pithy, citrus-finish.

Fourth, even though I get scolded constantly by most German winemakers for always asking what the residual sugar and acidity are, I'm interested and I think you are too. For the record, Hans Josef Becker never cares when I ask. He just looks down at his book and tells me the number. Then normally he says, "Wonderful." For this wine, the residual sugar is 14.8 grams, the acidity is a formidable 9.2 (!) and the alcohol is 10.56%. This wine is so old school; a very low residual sugar and a very high acidity. Growers in the Saar would (and do) brag about numbers like this if they can get them these days.

Fifth: Look at the cork. Granted, this is a sample size of one, but the top of the cork was very funky and without a Durand, I may have lost the cork. (What's a Durand? See above. They are expensive but worth it.) Note the bottom of the cork was perfect, as was the wine. All this to say, be very careful. I'm sorry but if there are any cork or bottle issues, we cannot offer refunds or exchanges. Part of the equation of an offer like this is there is some risk. But Hans Josef has asked for a very fair price, we are not taking an egregious markup and so, here we are.

Sixth: This is exactly why you age wine. But in this case Hans Josef has done it for you. These few cases literally arrived a week ago? They were in the cellar, untouched, for thirty years.

Seventh: Finding the absolute rarest German dessert wines is actually quite easy. Wine-Searching "Egon TBA" right at this moment, I come across nineteen unique offerings, starting in the $7K-range for the half-bottle (if of interest).

On the other hand, finding any bottles of old Kabinett, whether regular, Halbtrocken or Trocken, is nearly impossible and normally a lucky, chance occurrence. As in, an old collector had 100 bottles of 1971 TBA but I also found one bottle of 1986 Kabinett! These wines were, for the most part, drunk in the first ten years...  which I totally understand. But I think this fact makes any back-vintage Kabinett offer a very, very special occurence.

To finish, point eight: I finally found a use for the "pano" function on the iPhone - see above.

We hope your October is off to a good start and thank you as always for the support!

Stephen and Robert

This offer is now closed. If you need help finding the wines please email orders@sourcematerialwine.com.