Visiting
German vineyards, part 6
Dr Loosen,
Mosel
Website: www.drloosen.de
Ernst in Wehlener Sonnenuhr
Ernst
Loosen – referred to more informally as ‘Ernie’ – is one of
the most dynamic winegrowers you’ll encounter. He’s a smart,
lucid guy who’s a wine journalist’s dream. Every time he opens
his mouth he says something quoteable.
He’s
been running the family wine estate since 1987, but took over during
a time of crisis. After completing a winemaking degree at Geisenheim
in the early 1980s, Ernst had been studying archaeology at Mainz,
but his father fell ill in 1986. The family wine domain had been
little more than a hobby for his father, but Ernst had to make the
difficult decision to either abandon his studies and run it, or sell
it. He took the former choice.
The village of Urzig
When
Ernst took over the vineyard manager and his team all quit, because
they didn’t want the change that was coming. As well as this,
Ernst inherited a debt of 500 000 Deutschmarks from his father. He
had a difficult choice. If he apologized and asked the staff back,
he’d never be able to control them. If he fired them, he
couldn’t afford to pay the redundancy, which for the four people
would be DM 50 000 minimum. So he just let them walk out.
Urziger Wurzgarten vineyard
Ernst
appointed Bernie Schug as winemaker. Up till then Bernie had just
been helping in the winery, but Ernst have him the standard oenology
textbook, and a night to read it through, while Ernst checked on the
state of the coming harvest.
There
was a problem, though. The Loosen vines were spread throughout a
number of vineyards in very small parcels. Ernst didn’t know
exactly where. In one vineyard, for example, they had 36 plots. But
Ernst had a brilliant idea. If he waited until everyone else picked
their vines, the rest would be his. On 1 November the weather
changed completely: the sun came out and there were blue skies, and
the grapes ripened perfectly. He was lucky.
Looking down from Urziger Wurzgarten
Since
the start, when Loosen had 8 hectares of vines, the domain has grown
to around 25 hectares, spread throughout some of the Mosel’s most
spectacular vineyard sites.
The soils in Erdener Pralat
We
began a short tour in the Erdener Prälat (above), a small
four acre jewel of a vineyard looking over the river to Erden. Ernst
has the lion’s share of the vineyard, which is owned by 19
growers. The 120 year-old vines are ungrafted; the soils red slate;
the aspect southerly. Above this lies the Erdener Treppchen.
Then
we headed off to one of the world’s most spectacular vineyards:
Urziger Würtzgarten (above). It’s a natural ampitheatre
formed by a bend in the river, and the unbelievably steep slopes are
formed of a reasonably thick layer of pulverized red volcanic and
slate soil, over a harder base layer.
Wehlener
Sonnenuhr (above) is quite different, with virtually no
topsoil – just pure blue slate. The vineyard is currently being
re-ordered a little because of the crazy number of small parcels
each grower owns. A road is being put in for access and the plots
are being graded and then reallocated. For example, in the 4.5 ha
vineyard Loosen currently has 186 different plots; after the
reorganization they’ll have around 8. Much more manageable.
Loosens
vines in these and other vineyards are ungrafted. The roots of these
vines go deep into the fragile slate cliffs, which are very well
drained. The topsoil of most of the vineyards is broken down slate,
and phylloxera can’t survive in this.
From
each of the seven ‘Grand Cru’ vineyards that Loosen have vines
in, a selective harvest is made, using a number of buckets. For
example, healthy grapes are harvested separately from botrytised
bunches. A bunch that is 70% shrivelled would typically go to
beerenauslese. Totally dry shrivelled grapes would go to trocken
beerenauslese. Each vineyard tends to specialise a bit (it would be
impossible to make every level of sweetness from every vineyard –
the result would be 60+ wines per vintage). As an example,
Bernkastel Lay gives delicate racy acidity, so this usually makes
Kabinett.
THE
WINES
Most
of our tasting was looking at the 2008 vintage. Ernie describes it
as ‘a classic vintage: ripe, but not overripe, with lovely
minerality from a long hang time.’ He says that the ripeness
levels were similar to 2007, but with 0.5–1 g higher acids.
Dr
Loosen Riesling Qualitätswein 2008
7.5% alcohol. Very fresh with a limey, mineral nose. Lean palate
with grapefruit characters as well as some applet notes. Some
richness but the driver here is the acidity. 88/100
Dr
Loosen Bernkasteler Lay Riesling Kabinett 2008
Taut grapefruit and mineral nose. The palate has lovely melony
richness with grapefruit precision and delicious fresh minerality.
Very bright and crisp with real intensity. Lovely stuff with
beautiful precision. 92/100
Dr
Loosen Erdener Treppchen Riesling Kabinett 2008
Very mineral and precise with a persistent, pure, limey
character. Really high acidity, with firmness and minerality. Quite
lean, but wonderful freshness and purity. 91/100
Dr
Loosen Ürziger Würzgarten Riesling Kabinett 2008
The palate is rich and a bit spicy with some tropical fruit
notes but also lovely precision. Riper and fuller with lovely crisp
lemony fruit as well as richer tropical notes. 91/100
Dr
Loosen Wehlener Sonnenuhr Riesling Kabinett 2008
7.5% alcohol. Really fine, limey, crisp nose with lovely mineral
character. The palate is linear and crisp with wonderful intensity
and high acidity. Real focus. 92/100
Dr
Loosen Erdener Treppchen Riesling Spätlese 2008
Precise, crisp and intense with lovely rich texture and focused
lemony fruit, with some minerality. Fresh and precise with
complexity and focus. 93/100
Dr
Loosen Wehlener Sonnenuhr Riesling Spätlese 2008
Beautifully pure, precise fruit here: melony richness combines
with fresh acidity. Broad, pure melon and pear fruit dominates. Ripe
but well balanced. 93/100
Dr
Loosen Ürziger Würzgarten Riesling Spätlese 2008
7.5% alcohol. Rich melon/tropical fruit nose. Ripe and full with
some fresher citrus notes. The palate is really rich and melony with
spicy citrussy notes and some sweetness, although the high acidity
keeps it fresh. Deliciously broad yet refreshing. 93/100
Dr
Loosen Wehlener Sonnenuhr Riesling Auslese 2008
200 cases made. 8.5% alcohol. Very fresh lemony nose. Rich pure
lemon and grapefruit palate is broad, sweet and pure but still
really refreshing and quite complex. Lovely precision here. 94/100
Dr
Loosen Ürziger Würzgarten Riesling Auslese 2008
200 cases made. 8% alcohol, 100 g/l residual sugar. Minerally,
crisp and tight with a lovely spicy nose. The palate is smooth and
fruity with amazing purity and intensity. Mineralic with grapefruit,
lime and melon fruit. 93/100
Dr
Loosen Erdener Prälat Riesling Auslese 2008
130 cases made. 7% alcohol. Complex, minerally, quite rich and
ripe. Deeper and richer than the other Ausleses. Very ripe palate
with dense peach, pear, apricot flavours. Viscous and dense yet with
taut minerality. Precise and complex. 95/100
Dr
Loosen Erdener Prälat Riesling Auslese Goldkapsel 2008
50 cases made. 7% alcohol. Very pure. Wonderfully complex,
mineralic, taut palate with rich peach and pear notes, as well as
apricot and spice and some creaminess. While this is very sweet it
also has amazingly fresh acidity and a long, almost eternal finish.
95/100
Dr
Loosen Riesling Beerenauslese 2006 (1/4 bottle)
Very rich, fresh lemony nose. The palate is fresh and herby with
lovely texture and some spicy notes. Very crisp and fresh with
lovely balance and some minerality. This is largely from
Bernkasteler Lay, but is simply labelled as BA and sold in very
attractive quarter bottles, making it affordable at £10 a pop.
92/100
Dr
Loosen Wehlener Sonnenuhr Riesling Eiswein 2007
Very pure and fresh grapefruit and peach nose. Amazingly intense
lemon and grapefruit palate with pure, viscous fruit and lovely
precision and purity. Really intense. 93/100
Dr
Loosen Bernkasteler Lay Riesling Eiswein 2007
Light coloured. Very pure, fresh, precise lemony notes on the
nose. Fantastically aromatic. Sweet, pure lemony palate with some
spicy notes and massive intensity. Super-sweet yet quite delicate.
93/100
Dr
Loosen Wehlener Sonnenuhr Riesling Spätlese 1979
8% alcohol. Intense, waxy, mushroomy nose. Ripe and sweet with
lovely fresh citrus notes as well as richer apricot characters.
Sweet, rich and full. 91/100
Dr
Loosen Wehlener Sonnenuhr Riesling Auslese Feinherb 1988
Minerally and quite lean with lovely citrus fruits and some
evolution. Crisp and a bit herby with a long mineralic finish.
Lovely precision. 93/100
Dr
Loosen Erdener Prälat Auslese Goldkapsel 1976
Waxy, intense and herby; bold, limey and honeyed. This is
deliciously taut with some sweetness. A very expressive old wine.
93/100
GERMANY
SERIES
Part
1: Introduction
Part
2: Leitz, Rheingau
Part
3: Dönnhoff, Nahe
Part
4: Gunderloch, Rheinhessen
Part
5: Paul Furst, Franken
Part
6: Dr Loosen, Mosel
Part
7: JL Wolf, Pfalz
Wines
tasted as 05/09
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