2009 Erdener Pralat Auslese

The Loosen 2009 Erdener Pralat Riesling Auslese mingles distilled herbal essences with luscious tangerine and pineapple, on an enthralling nose and rich, expansive, caramel-tinged yet delicate, buoyant palate. This epitomizes not only vintage virtues, but also the new, lighter, and more vivacious yet still unctuous style that Loosen and his cellarmaster Bernard Schug have adopted for what is arguably their estate’s signature vineyard. I expect it to perform well for 25-30 years. “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