2007 Wehlener Sonnenuhr Grosses Gewachs

A 2007 Wehlener Sonnenuhr Riesling trocken represents the first time such a wine has been essayed chez Loosen. “I got tired of hearing for twenty years ‘Wehlener Sonnenuhr isn’t the terroir for trocken,” relates Schug, “so I just did it, see, without telling anybody. Then I stuck it in a blind tasting.” The result is very much as I would have imagined, with a mingling of fresh apple and vanilla cream; a heightened emphasis on the site-typical satiny texture and slight bitterness of apple pit, nut oils, citrus zest, and vanilla; and an enveloping richness of finish. That said its, 12.5% alcohol is evident, and this is not one of those wafting or buoyant 2007s. I suspect it will make its best impression if properly paired at table over the next 2-3 years. 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