Loosen’s 2008 Riesling Blau Schiefer (also labeled as “Blue Slate Riesling”) – principally from Bernkastel, along with some Wehlen fruit – displays fresh lime and cooling herbs in an at once refreshing yet slightly creamy amalgam. The advertised sense of stoniness is never far from the surface of this once again excellent value among dry Mosel Rieslings. 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

Loosen’s dry generic estate Riesling, 2004 Riesling “Blau Schiefer”, is assembled from various lesser sites in the domaine. Smelling of apple, herbs, and wet stones, in the mouth this wine offers a real sense of stuffing and pulpy orchard fruit concentration, with deep, nutty low tones and distinctive wet stone slate character. The length and decisive minerality of the finish are formidable, reflecting the supply of old, ungrafted vines upon which Loosen can call even in lesser sites. Importer: Loosen Brothers, Portland, OR; tel. (510) 864-7255