2007 Vertikal Riesling Kabinett

I'm not taking a picture of this one as this posting is a little story about how sometimes you can be surprised by a discount wine.

This Mosel riesling comes in the traditional blue bottle, and the price label under it said $7 or $8.  When I checked out, it rang up at $3.  I thought, Why so cheap?  It was at that point I noticed that it's a 2007. 2007 is getting long in the tooth for rieslings and so I didn't expect it to be very drinkable.

I was pleasantly surprised.  It wasn't a great wine by any means, but it was perfectly acceptable for sipping in the evening with a snack, and it held on well for a couple nights in the fridge.  The label says notes of Granny Smith apples, and I'd agree with that.

This is the first riesling I've had labeled Kabinett, which I though I knew what it meant, but I looked it up to be sure.  Wikipedia says Kabinett ["cabinet" in German] "is a German language wine term for a wine which is made from fully ripened grapes of the main harvest, typically picked in September, and are usually made in a light style. In the German wine classification system, Kabinett is the lowest level of Prädikatswein, lower in ripeness than Spätlese. A German Kabinett is semi-sweet (lieblich) by default, but may be dry (trocken) or off-dry (halbtrocken) if designated so."