The 2007 Riesling Eiswein Blauschiefer (also bottled as “Blue Slate”) comes from Loosen’s Bernkasteler Matheisbildchen, and some of the Lay below it. One of the striking things about the two days of 2007 Eiswein, relates Loosen, is that upper stretches froze harder (on the second day, at least) than did those (like the Lay) lower down and more predictably predestined for Eiswein. Black cherry and blueberry tinged with mint and sassafras make for a striking nose. Fresh lime helps quicken an exceptionally delicate, silken-textured palate, but this finishes with candied, sweet superficiality that is mildly disappointing in the context of what came before. To exhibit the distinct icing-like, confectionary sweetness of Eiswein without its efficacious, balancing high acidity strikes me as offering half a loaf. Despite slightly disappointing dry wines, and Kabinetts and nobly sweet wines that do not reach the heights established in those genres by this estate’s 2005s and 2006s respectively, Ernst Loosen and his cellar-master Bernard Schug have nonetheless scored considerable success in 2007, a vintage they describe as temperamentally between 2005 and 2004. As regards style and success rate, the comparison with 2004 seems about right to me. Harvest began already in the first week of October, but as usual at this address with its enormous acreage of top-notch vineyards, the early phase was taken up principally with highly selective picking for nobly sweet wine. “From the first day to the last,” comments Loosen, “each picker gets two tubs” for separating qualities of fruit. “And there were shriveled, TBA-quality grapes already on the first day this year,” adds Schug. Importer: Loosen Brothers, Portland, OR tel. (510) 864-7255