A sweet-tart mingling of creme de cassis and gooseberry preserves characterizes the Loosen 2008 Bernkasteler Lay Riesling Eiswein, which blazes a slightly metallic and edgy path across a viscous yet lightweight palate. (This is another instance of something barely legally wine.) Like its generic counterpart this is slightly unruly but perhaps its pronounced tartness and phenolic finishing intensity of lemon rind and berry skin will calm down after it has had a few years in bottle. For sheer length and energy this is certainly impressive. I wouldn’t however assume that these characteristics translate into longevity, nor let it get more than 4-6 years along without monitoring this wine’s evolution. “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
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