{ this offer has become something of a ritual - it's almost a surreal experience, the power of the Pfalz with the energy of the Mosel }
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2022 Lukas Hammelmann "vom Löss" Kabinett
Lukas Hammelmann has become something of a star - an underground hero for the German-wine-dork crowd. For sure these wines aren't for everyone - but for those looking for energy and breadth, I can't think of many wines that replicate this experience.
As we wrote last year, given Hammelmann's reputation, the low price and the rarity of this wine (we have only around six cases to offer), we expect a quick sell-out. Please try and grab one!
We've tried before to contextualize Hammelmann's wines. We've compared them to Rebholz (the nearest geographically), Schäfer-Fröhlich (perhaps the closest stylistically?), Vetter, Weiser-Künstler and Jonas Dostert.
Perhaps today we should introduce a few other reference points: How about J.J. Prüm, Willi Schaefer, Florian Lauer, Egon Müller?
We're being a bit facetious of course; these are the Mosel masters of the Kabinett. And a Kabinett is perhaps the most unlikely wine you'd expect to come from the southern Pfalz, a warmer land of richer, riper wines.
Yet here we are, again, with another inexplicable wine from Lukas Hammelmann.
In certain ways, this is very much a Pfalz Kabinett: It is powerful, broad and deep. There is a depth and ripeness of fruit, a gushing glaze that unfurls itself across the palate. The fruit is technicolor - kaleidoscopic - a medley of bright lemon and lime, orange oils. Vibrant green apples shimmer as riper stone fruits rise from the depths to make your mouth salivate in the strongest of ways.
While the 2021 was a bit dizzying - a whirlwind, merry-go-round of a wine - the 2022 presents a straighter, more serpentine and elegant wine... but also a lighter, more ethereal wine.
The vintage is a curious one: Extreme dryness caused many vines to shut down for a number of months, keeping the potential alcohols very low. A cool harvest kept the acids quite high.
Thus we have a wine at only 8.5% alcohol, less than 40 grams of residual sugar with an acidity of nearly 9 grams. Yes, once again, Hammelmann achieves numbers that are in ways more Mosel than they are Pfalz.
Is this confusing? Magical? Inexplicable? In some ways, yes. But maybe that's where we have to finish: Just another inexplicable and *rare* wine from Lukas Hammelmann.