2023 Lukas Hammelmann "vom Löss" Kabinett

Teeth-shattering AND plush and ripe.

I can't think of many wines that can replicate this experience, whether in Germany or beyond.

In the lower Pfalz, in the cold plains of the Rhine basin, in fields once declared only fit for potatoes and onions, Lukas Hammelmann is turning the status quo on its head. From this humble and overlooked region, he is shaping some of the most startling and dynamic wines in the Pfalz.

Singularly in the Pfalz, Lukas also makes a Kabinett that can sit on the table, side-by-side with the arrow-like Kabinetts of the Mosel.

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.

Yet the wine is also a fortress, with a truly staggering grip and tension.

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. 

And collectors have taken notice. While all of Hammelmann's wines have found their place on the radar of the more serious collectors, the Kabinett has become one of those not-to-be-missed bottles. The high quality, the low price and the rarity of this wine make it a perennial Source Material favorite.

This is a triumphant, delicious, serious, cerebral and absurdly priced bottle. Go as deep as you can.

It's probably not too much to say that Lukas Hammelmann is becoming something of an underground hero for the German-wine-dork crowd with wines that crackle with the energy of strobe lights... while having textured and gushing mid-palates.

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 with this offer we should also introduce a few other reference points: How about J.J. Prüm, Willi Schaefer, Florian Lauer, Egon Müller?

This is the third vintage we've been able to offer. The 2021 was a bit dizzying, the 2022 straight and elegant, almost ethereal. The 2023 is a bit of everything.

Is this confusing? Magical? Inexplicable? Yes, yes and yes.

For more on Lukas Hammelmann, we'd strongly recommend the fabulous article "Zeiskam is only good for potatoes: the Lukas Hammelmann story" available at vomboden.com.

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