2016 Riesling – Pretty Girl With the Earing
Rheingau, Germany
This is our second release of Riesling for Kitten Swish. We have always wanted (needed) a Riesling in our Swishy portfolio and this is an incredible second addition. Our Riesling quest continues and we’re pumped to release the 2016 vintage of Hattenheimer Schützenhaus Kabinett.
The vineyard lies just west of the town of Hattenheim, perched 100 meters above sea level and faces south south-west, giving it an incredibly sunny and warm disposition. This slight sloping to the west protects from cooler easterly winds, enabling the vines to reach incredible ripeness levels. The soils are relatively deep with a mixture of loess, loess-loam and Tertiary marls giving the vines firm rooting and access to ground water in dryer years. The name of the vineyard refers to the small huts (haus) used by vineyard workers to take shelter (schützen) while working the vines and also refers to the protective aspect of the vineyard.
The 2016 vintage in the Rheingau was an intense one with all sorts of ups and downs for viticulture.
A very warm winter led to a cooler March which
delayed bud burst. April showers were frequent and May was torrential with precipitation continuing into June. There was peronospora pressures everywhere. Fortunately the weather subsided closing in on harvest and warm weather pushed the grapes to full maturity. The vintage is being touted as a delightful Kabinett vintage…luckily this is what we make! The wines in general have a buoyancy and a lithe mineral cloud that rises throughout the nose and palate. This isn’t the flamboyant vintage that 2015 was, but it is very pretty…very very pretty.
The label this year stems from a photo I took of a very pretty girl about 15 years ago. She was lithe and generous and filled my life with a sense of wonderment….not unlike this year’s Riesling offering…. shear bliss.
A note on spelling. It’s always a good time to fill in the blanks with a little unexpected goodness. As you may have notice the spelling of earing is minus one “r”. This was a purposeful omission as it has a subtle hidden meaning. You see an earing as we’re using it is a nautical term. In the sailing sense an earing is a small rope that attaches two things together. It is a small and very crucial element, no ship could sail without these delicate pieces of binding. We used this term to symbolize the tying of our relationship with wine. The wine acts as an earing for our
relationships, for our friends, for our special occasions and for our unique bonds with the people we love most.
You stare out
Wondering who will stare back
Hopefully it’s her
The pretty girl with the earing
For allocation requests or a list of available retailers please contact us.