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Country: | Germany |
Region: | Mosel |
Winery: | Dr. Loosen |
Grape Type: | Riesling |
Organic: | Yes |
Vintage: | 2021 |
Bottle Size: | 187 ml |
Dr. Loosen Riesling Eiswein is made from 100 percent Riesling.
This vibrant, racy dessert wine conjures flavors of densely packed pear, apple and guava, with an intense, nervy edge in the aroma. It is luscious, silky and juicy on the palate, with bright acidity giving it a crisp, dynamic finish.
Review:
Dynamic Rieslings from the Slate Slopes of the Mosel
The Dr. Loosen estate has been in the same family for over 200 years. When Ernst Loosen assumed ownership in 1988, he realized that with ungrafted vines averaging 60 years old in some of Germany’s best-rated vineyards, he had the raw materials to create stunningly intense, world-class wines. To achieve this, Ernst dramatically restricts crop size, prohibits chemical fertilization, insists on very strict fruit selection, and employs gentle cellar practices that allow the wine to develop its full potential with a minimum of handling.
Classified quality
All of Dr. Loosen’s six major vineyards were designated as “Erste Lage” — equivalent to grand cru — in the 1868 Prussian classification of Mosel vineyards. Only wines from these top-rated sites are bottled with a single-vineyard designation. All others are labeled simply as estate wines.
The Elements of Quality at Dr. Loosen
The regional climate
The Mosel’s steep, south-facing slopes create the perfect climate for Riesling, giving the vines ideal exposure to the low-lying, northern sun. Generally cool conditions allow the grapes to ripen slowly, while retaining bright acidity.
The slate soil
The Mosel’s stony soil and rocky outcroppings reflect sunlight and hold in heat, creating very warm microclimates in the best sites and helping to ensure excellent ripeness. Thin topsoil forces the vines to dig deep for water and nutrients, producing vibrant wines that capture the strong minerality of the soil.
Old, ungrafted vines
Dr. Loosen owns vines that are well over 120 years old, and all are on original rootstock (phylloxera can’t survive in the Mosel, so ungrafted vines are allowed here). Old vines produce naturally lower yields, resulting in higher concentration and richness.
Dry Rieslings
Starting with the 2008 vintage, Ernst Loosen has embarked on a quest to revive the dry Riesling style of his grandfather. Learn more
Accolades for Ernst Loosen
Winery of the Year, 2012, Wine & Spirits
Star Winemaker, Europe, 2010, Wine Behind the label, 7th ed.
European Winery of the Year nominee, 2007 & 2008, Wine Enthusiast
Best German Producer of the Past 25 Years, Wine & Spirits, 2007
Man of the Year 2005, Decanter
White Wine Maker of the Year 2005, Wine International
World’s 50 Most Influential Winemakers, Wine & Spirits
Germany’s Winemaker of the Year 2001, Gault Millau
Inky purple-red in color with intense depth to the rim. Aromas of sweet rich fruit and lifted cedar oak fill the glass. Abundant blackberry, violets and cigar box roll through the profile adding complexity and interest. The palate is round and silky with dark plum, liquorice, briar and blackberry primary fruits. The rich, toasty oak, and fleshy rounded tannins complete the palate of this dense, flowing wine. This poised and powerful wine is drinking amazingly well but with it's density and presence will cellar impeccably well.
Selected parcels of estate fruit were de-stemmed into our open fermenters and seeded with yeast. The ferments were pumped over twice daily to maximise color, tannin and flavor extraction. The temperature controlled fermenters allowed the ferments remain in the 22-25 °C range giving amazing fruit expression in the wine. Each parcel was pressed after a minimum of seven days fermenting on skins. The wine completed both primary and ML fermentation in tank before being filled to American oak hogsheads (300Ltrs) to mature. The wine was aged in a combination of new, 2nd and 3rd use barrels for up to 2 years. Prior to bottling the parcels were emptied from oak and
Rare roast beef or BBQ lamb cutlets
Review:
"Growers in Barossa for six generations, the Thorn-Clarke family farms close to 600 acres of vines, providing the fruit for this sleek, black-fruited shiraz. It’s silky- smooth, with the concentration and density of flavor that takes the tannins toward blood, iron and sage. A deep, dark wine with pleasure to spare, this begins to show floral scents of roses, then detailed flavors of plums and strawberries after a day open to air. - Joshua GREENE
- Wine & Spirits (December 2023), 93 pts
"Opaque dusty garnet color. Aromas and flavors of milk chocolate and coconut, blackberry syrup, eucalyptus, and pepper bbq sauce with a round, dry-yet-fruity full body and a hot, interesting, medium-long finish that exhibits notes of black berry bbq sauce, mint and eucalyptus, and chocolate sauce and vanilla with chewy, drying, coating tannins and light oak flavor. Knows that it is Barossa Shiraz and wears that moniker proudly tattooed as a sleeve; 10 out of 10 typicity here."
- Beverage Testing Institute (June 2023), 93 pts - GOLD MEDAL - Exceptional
Dr. Loosen Riesling Eiswein is made from 100 percent Riesling.
This vibrant, racy dessert wine conjures flavors of densely packed pear, apple and guava, with an intense, nervy edge in the aroma. It is luscious, silky and juicy on the palate, with bright acidity giving it a crisp, dynamic finish.
Review:
This is extremely rich, yet the acidity keeps it on its toes. The palate is rich, sporting rhubarb and apricot flavors that are laced by hints of earth, coriander seed and honeyed oolong tea. It has an appealing sweet tart character that takes over and is matched by super suave texture. Shows incredible persistence through the long finish. Drink now through 2050.
-Wine Enthusiast 95 Points
Dr. Loosen Riesling Eiswein is made from 100 percent Riesling.
This vibrant, racy dessert wine conjures flavors of densely packed pear, apple and guava, with an intense, nervy edge in the aroma. It is luscious, silky and juicy on the palate, with bright acidity giving it a crisp, dynamic finish.
Review:
Eiswein is a daunting test of patience for a producer working with what the vintage gives. The Loosens use grapes from Urzig and Erden to hedge their bets in a long, extended harvest. After the grapes freeze, it is time to pick. This is a special Eiswein with tangy notes of peach vinaigrette paired with the flavor of white chocolate-dipped raspberries, a combination that tantalizes the palate.
-Wine & Spirits Magazine 95 Points
Dr. Loosen Wehlener Sonnenuhr Alte Reben Riesling Grosses Gewachs is made from 100 percent Riesling.
This is one of the greatest vineyards in the Middle Mosel. This precipitously steep, rocky vineyard consistently yields some of the most elegant and sophisticated white wines in the world. Citrus and white peach flavors predominate when the wines are young, turning to a pure expression of the mineral soil as they age.
Dr. Loosen Wehlener Sonnenuhr Riesling Auslese is made from 100 percent Riesling.
An endlessly energizing late-harvest Riesling from a selection of botrytis-affected grapes harvested in the “sundial” vineyard. This precipitously steep, rocky vineyard consistently yields some of the most elegant and sophisticated white wines in the world. Auslese means “selected from the harvest,” and is a luscious sweet wine made from very ripe clusters that are about 50 percent affected by botrytis. The resulting wine is dense, intensely flavored and rich on the palate, but retains the elegant structure that is characteristic of this great site.
Review:
Rich, but very elegant and creamy with beautiful, peachy character and lovely, floral-honey notes. Long, very silky finish. Drink or hold.
James Suckling 95 Points
A heavenly, full-bodied dry Riesling with forceful minerality from 100-year-old vines grown in the blue slate soil of Graach.
Graach is a small village in the Mosel valley. It’s steep slate slopes produce wines that combine elegance with rustic strength. Grosses Gewächs (GG) is the designation for an estate’s best dry wine from a Grosse Lage (grand cru) vineyard. This limited-production wine was fermented with indigenous yeasts and kept in the barrel, on the full lees, for a year before bottling. The extended maturation time allows the wine to develop greater texture and a deeper natural harmony. This is a fully ripe wine, with vibrant aromatics and a pronounced acidity that gives it a brilliant structural precision.
Review:
Convincing proof that 2020 is an excellent vintage for dry GG on the Mosel! Cool and stony with delicate white-peach and white-currant aromas. Really takes off at the intensely slatey and racy finish.
-James Suckling 95-96 Points
Dr. Leimbrock Brauneberger Juffer Sonnenuhr Riesling Auslese is made from 100% Riesling
Aged 6 months in classic large oak barrel.
ABV 8%Grapes come from Juffer-Sonnenuhr - one of the most prestigious vineyards in the Mosel winegrowing region. The vineyard faces south and provides the best conditions for growing Riesling.
delicious with exotic and candied fruit, flavors of date, honey and caramel, full-bodied Auslese with very concentrated aromas of apricot and dried fruits.
Vines were planted in 1990.
Wine was slightly filtered before bottling
Pair with dessert, cheese or dried fruits.
Kershaw Chardonnay Deconstructed Lake District Bokkeveld Shale CY95 is made from 100 percent Chardonnay.
The inspiration for this Chardonnay stems from my belief that the Elgin region has both a signature grape as well as particular terroirs within its demarcated boundary that reflect regional credentials. This Chardonnay was selected from a sub-region of Elgin from a specific vineyard and an individual clone.
Tasting Notes: Sourced from a parcel in the Western part of Elgin the 95 clone is known for its excellent quality creating wines that are aromatic, fuller bodied and rich yet tightly structured, well–balanced with length of flavor, managing to show restraint and mouth-watering passivity with a great line through the palate and fruit veering towards white peach flesh and nectarine. On Bokkeveld Shales it brings amplified perfume on the nose and persistence and elegance to the palate.
Winemaking:
Grapes were hand-picked in the early autumnal mornings, placed into small lug baskets and tipped directly into a press before being gently whole-bunch pressed up to a maximum of 0.6 bar or until a low juice recovery of 580 liters per ton was obtained. The juice gravity-flowed directly to barrel (no pumps were used at all) without settling. The unclarified juice had no enzymes or yeast added to it and therefore underwent spontaneous fermentation until dry, with malolactic discouraged. The wine rested in barrel for 4 months prior to judicious sulfuring and a further 7 months’ maturation in barrel before racking and bottling.
Review:
"Minerals and a hint of flint on the nose. The expressive minerality of this wine also shows on the palate with complementary light stone fruit notes. Aged in 50% new 228L oak aging for 11 months."
- International Wine Review (Richard Kershaw Lifts Elgin To New Heights, February 2019), 95 pts
Lismore Chardonnay Reserve made from 100 percent Chardonnay.
A careful selection of the best of the vintage that exemplifies the extraordinary terroir of Lismore. This Reserve Chardonnay shows intense citrus, stone fruit, jasmine and walnut layered with honey and vanilla carried by a distinct minerality and crisp acidity with a lingering citrus finish.
Wine Made in the Soil
The vineyards are planted in decomposed shale over clay at 300 meters in the foothills of the Sonderend Mountain Range. A low mean February temperature lends to an extended ripening period that can put harvest 3-4 weeks later than traditional wine growing regions in South Africa. The intense citrus notes and the lingering finish are consistent trademarks of Lismore's specific terroir. The restrained minerality of the Chardonnay is a clear indication of the cool climate in which it is grown.
Wine of Origin "Greyton" has been designated by SAWIS recognizing the special terroir of this region.
Delightful with warm curries which lift the aromatics or a traditional pairing of smoked salmon highlighting the fresh acidity.
Review:
100% Chardonnay matured in Burgundian oak (33% new) for 11 months. This Reserve Chardonnay shows intense citrus, stone fruit, jasmine and walnut layered with honey and vanilla carried by a distinct minerality and crisp acidity with a lingering citrus finish.
-Karen McNeil 95 points