For thoughts on Chateau Ste Michelle’s uniqueness and recent evolution, consult my extensive April, 2013 text designed to introduce recent tasting notes. The Ste Michelle-Loosen 2011 Riesling Eroica is scented with lime, apple blossom, clover, honeydew and mint, and gushes with juicy honeydew and apple fruit, its vivacity and (at 11% alcohol) levity reflecting the long, cool growing season including a summer without the usual hundred-degree heat spikes. But for all of that vivacity and lift, this Riesling is also downright lush, making for a refreshingly sorbet-like, metaphorically cooling impression. Its sweetness – at 22 grams – is perfectly judged to support the fruit but not be obvious or get in the way of the wine’s versatility. While not hugely complex, it’s irresistible and impressively persistent, with hints of salt and stone suggesting the basis for future call-and-response. Plan to enjoy this outstanding value over the next half dozen or so years, and I would not be at all surprised to witness it benefiting from bottle age.
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