Scented with strawberry distillate and black tea, Loosen’s 2009 Urziger Wurzgarten Riesling Alte Reben Grosses Gewachs deploys its modest (ca. 7 grams) acidity to better effect than does the corresponding Wehlener, generating satisfying juiciness of kiwi and peach, with the bitterness of fruit pit and black tea-like smoky pungency offering some counterpoint. Ample but not heavy; polished and glossy, it promises to perform well for at least the next 4-6 years. “I want real Kabinetts,” says Ernst Loosen by way of explaining his early start on the 2009 harvest, “between 80 and 83 Oechsle, with crisp acidity, freshness, and the like; and you can’t wait around, especially when you have five, maybe seven days of Kabinett-picking to do and every day ripeness is rising. This year, we wanted to delineate even more sharply the difference between Kabinett and Spatlese, as well as a distinct difference between Spatlese and Auslese.” In practical terms, this meant among other things slightly reducing the levels of residual sugar in the Kabinetts (Loosen says that trend will continue incrementally); and reserving botrytis fruit solely for wines labeled “Auslese.” Eiswein from Lay, Treppchen, and Sonnenuhr; Eiswein and T.B.A. from Pralat; as well as a T.B.A. from Wurzgarten were all – according to cellarmaster Bernhard Schug – in various states of fermentation or preparation for bottling when I visited in September, so consequently I shall review those wines (or at least some subset thereof) at such time as I report on the 2010 vintage.Importer: Loosen Brothers, Portland, OR tel. (510) 864-7255

Loosen’s Grosses Gewachs bottling from old vines is plump, custardy and slightly sweet-tasting, buoyed by ample ripe apple and peach flavors and tinged with hints of lime, fern fronds and crushed stone. It might well have been more impressive served in a different (sweeter) flight; in this context it seemed slightly soft.——J.C.(12/1/2011)—— 87

Loosen’s 2008 Urziger Wurzgarten Riesling Alte Reben Grosses Gewachs represents the latest re-naming of his Wurzgarten trocken (formerly Spatlese trocken). Cilantro and kiwi in the nose lead to a juicy, pungently herbal and piquantly nutty palate distinctly underlain by wet stone. A longer stay on the fine lees in cask than predecessors of this bottling usually received has resulted in a subtle sense of waxy, creamy textural interest and no doubt enhanced the wine’s nuttiness. Here the nearly 13% alcohol is well-buffered and the acidity a spring to juiciness and (for a wine labeled “Grosses Gewachs”) surprising levity. Will this be worth following past its first decade? A few of its Spatlese trocken predecessors have been, but shall simply have to see. Ernst Loosen insists he aims to observe an upper limit of 12.5% alcohol for his trocken bottlings, a level that one might have expected was easily achievable in 2008; but in fact, a portion of this vintage’s collection comes close to transgressing it. When it comes to residually sweet Kabinett – a genre in which Loosen has long excelled – his frequently-voiced concerns that “the real thing” was becoming almost impossible (or at least, impossibly expensive) to achieve nowadays certainly do not apply to the 2008 vintage, when his collection of Kabinetts is not only superb, but also lively and feather-light. Indeed, the whole 2008 Loosen Oeuvre – while consisting of fewer wines than usual, with its nobly sweet selections even more (and more spectacularly) focused than usual on Pralat – is superb. What’s more, even cellarmaster Bernard Schug voiced his amazement at just how little sweetness most of the residually sweet wines display.Importer: Loosen Brothers, Portland, OR tel. (510) 864-7255

The 2004 Urziger Wurzgarten Riesling trocken Alte Reben is from some of the oldest vines on the estate, which Loosen always employs to obtain a dry wine with sufficient substance. Smelling of kiwi and wet stone, this does indeed come onto the palate rich and dense, tasting of kiwi and grapefruit and with obvious slate underpinnings. The finish is long although rather austere, featuring wet stone and salt expressions of slate. When opened, it became marginally more generous, and Loosen sought to assure me – although I have had no occasion to test his claim - that after a day open this will show much more than it does now.Importer: Loosen Brothers, Portland, OR; tel. (510) 864-7255