2006 Riesling Beerenauslese

Estate-owned vineyards on incredibly steep, south-facing, mineral-rich slopes overlooking the Mosel. No shortage of botrytis in 2006, the grapes here were harvested at 135°Oechsle in early Oct. TA 8.5g/l, RS 150g/l. Actually not that sweet but very pure and fine. Note the bottle size – not a bad way for a wine student to get to grips with the taste and smell of noble rot. £9.99 for 187ml Waitrose Wine Direct and 1 branch (JR)

Liquidised dried apricots with a seam of lemon freshness. In fact, incredibly fresh given the sweetness level (160 g/l RS). Purity and power combined. Sldes down. Mainly Bernkasteler Ley. Picked first week in October, thus benefiting from the early, most elegant and freshest botrytis. Stunning. Also available in alf and quarter bottles.

So bountiful in sugar was this vintage, that not only did Dr. Loosen render Beerenauslese from most of the estate’s major vineyards, there is also a highly-affordable generic 2006 Riesling Beerenauslese. This displays a lovely dynamic of lemon and honey, a creamy richness, subtle suggestions of floral and herbal distillate, and the sort of polish, refinement, and well-judged residual sugar one expects from this great estate. If not terribly complex, it will hopefully serve over the coming decade as a window for many wine enthusiasts (especially as diners) to the unique balance and virtues (not least versatility) of nobly sweet Mosel wine. “My grandfather would have said ‘Too much Beerenauslese? Impossible!” relates Loosen. “But in fact that’s how it was this year.” (And hard though this would have been to believe only until recently, one cannot rule out there being another such bumper crop of botrytized, mega-Oechsle Riesling.) ||Ernst Loosen, Bernard Schug, and their team finished their harvest on October 6, before many growers had even begun. “Thank goodness we were able to bring 15 people up from Weingut J. L. Wolf in the Pfalz,” says Loosen about the hectic and heroic day-and-night harvest of 2006. “We’ve never before had 50 people out there in the vineyards.” “Those guys from the Pfalz had just plain had it at the end, I can tell you,” adds Schug, without a trace of humor. But he brightens when assessing the vintage as a whole. “I considered the 2005s the best collection of my career, but at this stage, I don’t think 2006 as a whole is weaker.” During the past three vintages in his collaborative work with Chateau Ste. Michelle in Washington State, Loosen points out, he has moved on to their harvest after that of his own estate in the “cool climate ‘Old World.’” Wine Advocate.October, 2008