In one of the greatest Kabinett vintages of the last twenty years, Stein has crafted two Grand Cru masterpieces. It’s as simple as that.
For some readers, there is probably little that needs to be said about Dr. Ulrich “Ulli” Stein. In his fifty-some-year career, he has made some of our favorite wines, period.
We were among the first to enthusiastically champion Stein wines already some twenty years ago. In a way, Ulli feels like family; his wines are dear friends.
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Today, we offer Stein’s two Grand Cru Kabinett masterpieces – the Palmberg Kabinett Trocken, and the Himmelreich Kabinett Feinherb – at the lowest prices in the country.
In these last twenty years, Stein’s reputation has soared – rightly. Yet he still only farms a few hectares of old, ungrafted vines on the terraces of the Mosel. Quantities are very limited.
For those readers who do not know Stein, some context is required.
For the last half-century, Stein has farmed some of the oldest vines, some of the steepest terraces in the Mosel. When the fashion and the fame were in making sweet dessert wines, Stein stayed true to the larger history of the Mosel: He focused on dry and gently off-dry wines with a glacier, mineral-rich acidity.
A Stein wine is a laser beam, an ethereal explosion of citrus, herbs, salt, and mineral.
The Kabinett is his language; he is one of its greatest practitioners. In 2024, we have some of the best Kabinetts Stein has ever made. They are on par with the vaunted Kabinetts of 2021, if a bit more polished.
The Himmelreich Feinherb is just off-dry and is driven by a fine, satiny citrus, with gossamer layers of lime, green apple, and pear – a sublime minerality and focus.
The Palmberg is formidable – although extremely fine and low in alcohol – the wine is profoundly structured, almost tough. This is density, concentration, compactness, an embarrassing amount of raw material polished to a razor’s edge. This is a wine to open 24 or 48 hours before drinking, or to bury deep into the corner of the cellar.
Either way, make sure you get these wines in the cellar.
To order, email offers@crushwineco.com or call the store at (212) 980-9463.
Joe Salamone
Wine Buyer
Crush Wine & Spirits
