2009 Weingut Prinz von Hessen Kabinett Riesling Rheingau 750 ml

It’s not every day that we come across a perfectly aged, golden-tinged German Riesling. And it’s not every year that we find one this delicious for around $20. Yet thanks to a suitcase-smuggled bottle of 2009 Prinz von Hessen Kabinett that showed up at our monthly Riesling dinner club, we oversaw a royal phone call to secure the U.S. exclusive for Wine Access members.

Aged Riesling is one of the most cited “epiphany” wines for many collectors and professionals, and for good reason. This 2009 Prinz Von Hessen gave us that same love-at-first-sip feeling that transported us back to the first time we experienced what Riesling is capable of—and structurally built for.

Generous and rambunctious right out of the gate, you can almost taste the eleven years of anticipation this dry Kabinett spent waiting to be unleashed. An intoxicating bouquet of floral jasmine and honeysuckle leads into a mouthwatering palate full of zesty lemon, savory herbs, and a kiss of wild honey sweetness that made it perfect with the Vietnamese fare we paired with it. The acidic lift is to thank for preserving it so beautifully while ensuring its tantalizing versatility with food. 

The purpose of the monthly “Riesnamese” dinner club we started was to find wines precisely like this 2009 Prinz von Hessen Kabinett. The world of Riesling is vast and deep, and those who can navigate it fluently tend to have the most encyclopedic wine brains (not to mention cellars) in the industry. We are always sure to invite one or two of these “Riesavants” to our dinners and ask them to bring the rarest bottles they feel comfortable sharing. Over the couple of years since we started this tradition, we’ve managed to taste some pretty special mature bottles. Most of which are accompanied by some pretty prohibitive prices as well.

That’s because Riesling with a decade or two under its belt starts to open doors to other dimensions. The 2009 Prinz von Hessen Kabinett wine is no exception, maintaining a lively, youthful quality that’s underscored with enough tension, stamina, and viscosity to lend it a gravitas that can only come with maturity.

What more could we expect from a Riesling with such a royal lineage? From Rheingau producer Donatus Prinz von Hessen—whose regal bloodline makes him 436th in line to the British throne—the Prinz von Hessen winery is nestled at the southern tip of the Rheingau village of Johannisberg, about an hour’s drive west along the Rhine River from Frankfurt. There, vineyards are protected from cold winds by the forest-capped Taunus Hills and benefit from the heat-reflecting surface of the Rhine, as well as the region’s famously chalky gravel soils that give the wines their unmistakable body and mineral verve.

Luckily, the prince proved as royally generous as his 2009 Kabinett. The importer who brought this Prinz von Hessen bottle to our dinner club had received it as a gift from Donatus while spending a weekend golfing with him outside Johannisberg. Leaning in hard on that connection, we managed to secure the U.S. exclusive on this library release.

Whether you have experienced perfectly mature Kabinett Riesling or not, this 2009 is an off-dry wine in perfect harmony that you’ll be pulling out of the cellar time and time again, whether to impress your VIP dinner guests or improve your Tuesday night takeout.