Dr Loosen Wehlener Sonnenuhr Riesling Kabinett 2017

Why is this Wine so Yummy?

Aged Kabinett is the BOMB!

With the addition of a box of 2017 to my personal cellar, I have realised a Wine Life Goal of having 15 vintages of Dr Loosen Kabinett in the cellar!

Having Dr Loosen Kabinett back to 2002 means I can now drink these delicious Rizza’s at a beautiful mature, yet still fresh and youthful stage in their life!
Kabinett from the Mosel starts life on release with little puppy fat, and, an infantile, raw, primary nature & often are a little closed.

Between 3-8 years the puppy fat drops, they become more vinous & expressive, they relax and harmonise.

From 8-15 years they really start to layer up with secondary characters building.

Last night I hoovered the 2004 in the pic. Delicious, such a textural seamless wine. Complexity levels were really popping up. It still has plenty of life in it!

Ernie Loosen reckons the Kabinetts easily make 30 years.

Me, well, I’m just stoked to have a permanent supply of 15 year old Loosen Kabinett. Next on the list do the same for Loosen’s neighbour, Prüm, and, for the Rheinhessen duo of Keller & Gunderloch!

About the Wine

Famous “sundial” vineyard has lightest soil of all vineyards on long hillside from Bernkastel to Wehlen.

Grape Variety: 100% Riesling

Soil Type: Blue Devonian slate

Age of Vines: 60 years average; ungrafted

Viticulture: Sustainable, according to strict German environmental regulations

Average Yield: 50 hl/ha Harvest (much lower in 2017) Method: Selective hand picking

Vinification: Cool fermentation in a combination of stainless steel tanks and traditional Fuder barrels; half fermented with natural yeasts, half with cultured yeasts; fermentation stopped by chilling

Alcohol: 8.0%

Residual Sweetness: 47.2 grams/liter (5g higher than 2016 works with the higher acid)

Total Acidity: 9.6 grams/liter (1.2g higher than 2016)

Dr Loosen

Loosen has been in the same family for more than 200 years and its present guardian, Ernst Loosen, is one of the great characters of the wine world. He assumed ownership of the estate in 1988 and immediately realised that, with ungrafted vines averaging 60 years old in some of Germany’s best-rated vineyards, he had the raw materials to create stunningly intense, world-class wines. To achieve this, Erni dramatically reduced his crop size and ceased using chemical fertilisers, preferring only moderate use of organic fertilisers. And, most importantly, he turned to gentler cellar practices that allow the wine to develop to its full potential with a minimum of handling and technological meddling.

Kabinett or Lightly Sweet

Alcohol: ~8 % Acid:  ~8.5 g/L Sugar:  ~40-45 g/L

Of the styles including sugar, the freshest style is Kabinett with little influence from Botrytis.

The standard line for the German’s being that where the English offer tea to guests in the afternoon the German’s offer Kabinett or Spätlese wines, more akin to a table wine. That said I devoured a Wagner-Stemple Kabinett, with pasta and cheese on a 38°C day in Melbourne, perfection!

You can see the different condition of the grapes and the detailed selection process required to produce the different styles in the film below. Starts at 2mins 30sec.

The German System

Wow, even the most dedicated wine geek often has trouble getting their head around the German naming systems, something they’ve been working on simplifying!

When it comes to wines containing some level of grape sugar, the Germans have a classification that dictates ranges of sugar levels grapes for a specific wine must be picked at, in essence establishing a framework for the ripeness, amount of Bortytis and shrivel / raisoning the fruit should have when picked. The amount of grape sugar left in the wine after it has fermented, is up to the maker.

All of this super detailed information is interesting to know.

At the end of the day the most important thing is whether the wine meets those standard criteria for good wine. During Riesling Down Under it was great to hear winemakers from around the world, all saying they don’t care much for the numbers, they picked their fruit on flavour and made their wines to achieve balance and harmony.

The following is courtesy of Dr Loosen, who sums up German Riesling styles with sweetness beautifully

The Versatility of Riesling

Riesling is one of the few grapes that is capable of producing a complete spectrum of wine styles, from bone dry to lusciously sweet. The key to maintaining top quality throughout this broad range lies in a rigorous selection process. As the harvest progresses, we make daily decisions about each vineyard parcel based on the maturity of the fruit and the prevailing weather conditions. Healthy grapes are painstakingly separated from botrytis-affected fruit, and the various selections are vinified separately.

Classic Wines with Sweetness

Our traditional wines, with residual sweetness, are selected from the harvest according to their ripeness and flavour development. The finest lots from our classified vineyards are bottled with their corresponding single-vineyard name and ripeness (Prädikat) level. For the non-botrytis wines, there are two Prädikat levels, Kabinett and Spätlese.

Beyond the lightly sweet Kabinett and Spätlese bottlings, made without botrytis, there are three Prädikat levels of botrytis-selection wines that get progressively sweeter: Auslese, Beerenauslese [berry selection] and Trockenbeerenauslese [dried berry selection]. In addition, when vintage conditions allow it, we produce Eiswein from grapes that have frozen on the vine.

The picture from Dr Loosen above is a great illustration of the different conditions of grapes at harvest and the styles they are destined to make. You can see the level of Botrytis and shrivel / raisining increasing as we move through the styles from Kabinett to Trockenbeerenauslese. The Botrytis or Noble Rot, imparts wonderful flavours and textures to the wine, and is to be revered like the blue moulds of Rocquefort and the washed rind cheeses of Munster in Alsace, appropriately both cheeses marry beautifully with a glass of Riesling.

Note how the buckets are colour coded according to the end destination of the fruit and how little of the Trockenbeerenauslese is produced. The skill of pickers and willingness to pass through the vineyard several times to ensure all grapes are picked at the optimal time is the key to success.

The freshest style is Kabinett and as you move up the scale you’ll see additional complexity added by botrytis and other winemaking influences in addition to greater levels of sweetness. Each style whether Kabinett or Eiswein being perfect for consumption on different occasions with different foods. The Beerenauslese, Trockenbeerenauslese, and, Eiswein being exceptional dessert wines. Kabinett and Spätlese being suited to table wine consumption. The standard line for the German’s being that where the English offer tea to guests in the afternoon the German’s offer Kabinett or Spätlese wines, more akin to a table wine. That said I devoured a Wagner-Stemple Kabinett, with pasta and cheese on a 38°C day in Melbourne, perfection! Auslese sitting on either side depending on the style the estate makes.

This intense sorting process is beautifully articulated by Ernie Loosen from 2min 25sec in the vineyard below.

The Mosel

In general, you’ll find the wines from the Mosel, particularly the Wehlener Sonnenuhr vineyard, to finer, more restrained than the wines of the Rheinhessen.

The Mosel river snakes its way between dramatically steep, slatey slopes from just south of the ancient Roman city of Trier to Koblenz to the north, where it empties into the Rhine. The valley is home to many of the world’s most famous Riesling vineyards. The wines are richly fragrant, pale to golden in colour and light-bodied with lively acidity. The slaty soil lends a distinctive taste to wines which range from fine and fruity to earthy or flinty, often with a hint of spritz.

In the video below Ernie Loosen talks about the famed Wehlener Sonnenuhr vineyards. Checkout:

• How ridiculously steep the site is!
• Note the slate that makes up such a high percentage of the ground.
• How much manual labour has to go into working the site.
• How small the bunches are and how few there are per vine.
• The grapes that look rotten, but actually, have a beautiful natural Botrytis infection or Noble Rot, that will impart so much personality & texture into the wine.
• The natural river fogs create the perfect environment for Noble Rot, like the caves of Roquefort for its delicious blue moulds.