Merkelbach Mosel Riesling Urziger Wurzgarten Kabinett 2023 Reasonable Cellar 2024 A Ramonet from outside Chassagne

A Ramonet from outside Chassagne is a small surprise in itself

it's rounded and complex

It's the kind of Pinot a chef would pour with dinner

a small Carneros site near Napa

often described as the country cousin of those grander neighbors but capable of real elegance in the right hands

Merkelbach Mosel Riesling Urziger Wurzgarten Kabinett 2023 Reasonable Cellar 2024 A Ramonet from outside ChassagneSome things never change, and that is the whole point here. For decades the brothers Alfred and Rolf Merkelbach made Riesling in a cellar barely bigger than a garage in Urzig, working their steep slate parcels by hand and bottling wines that felt like they'd arrived from another era. When they finally retired, the estate passed to the Selbach family just down the river, who kept the same cellar, the same old casks and the same stubbornly hands off