Wine Advisor
Dr Loosen, Wehlener Sonnenuhr Alte Reben Riesling Grosses Gewachs 2015
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Description
Tasting notes
Reviewed by: David Schildknecht
Weighty, palpably dense and adamantly stony – albeit with welcome primary midpalate juiciness and a modicum of residual sugar to help offset its austerity – this is not a wine I would have recognized blind as Wehlener Sonnenuhr. Incisive crunch and subtly bitter earthiness of salad turnip are accompanied by fresh lemon, leading to a finish impressive for sheer grip but pithy and tight. Bittersweet floral aromas lend intrigue and hopefully presage corresponding palate allure once the wine has had a couple of years in the bottle. Interestingly, Thomas Haag’s corresponding Grosses Gewächs also struck me as unusually austere for a Wehlener Sonnenuhr, even by the standards of its genre. (I last tasted this wine in mid-September 2016, shortly before it was bottled.)
About the Producer
Dr. Loosen is a winery with a history of over 200 years and has always been run by the same family. In 1988, Ernst Loosen took over the winery. Although Mr Loosen had no experience in winemaking, before taking over the winery he had studied at various famous wineries around the world and realised that the soil, climate and grapes were essential to making good wine. Together with his faithful comrade Bernhard Schug, he has since rebuilt the winery and taken it to new heights. Using the ungrafted old vine grapes grown on the estate, they have produced a more nuanced and fresh white wine than ever before. In order to produce good wine, Mr Loosen reduced the acreage, farmed only with organic fertilisers and minimised disturbance to the wine during the winemaking process. Only Riesling grapes are planted in the vineyards of Château Dr. Loosen, which have plots in famous vineyards such as the Sonnenuhr in Mosel. At harvest time, the vineyards are visited on a daily basis to determine when the grapes are harvested from the different plots. After the harvest, the grapes from the different vineyards are vinified separately. As a result, the quality of the estate's single-vineyard wines is high. Of the estate's plots, Sonnenuhr is known for its elegant and complex wines. The thin, blue slate soils give the wines a minerality and their fresh acidity and aromas of white peach and lemon blend together in a well-balanced wine. The Sonnenuhr is best known for its late-picked wines and Parker rated its 2004 vintage 90 points.
