2007 Bernkasteler Lay Eiswein

The Loosen 2007 Bernkasteler Lay Riesling Eiswein is Eiswein-typical only in the limited manner of the Blauschiefer bottling, namely in its icing like glaze and candied sweetness, which turn the black cherry, blueberry and lime character familiar from this site into black cherry syrup and lime sorbet. In the end, there is enough acidity here to keep the wine from outright imbalance of residual sugar or sheer confectionary character, but this is an Eiswein to definitely serve with dessert (if one can afford to) and I would hesitate to make any claims for its being worth following this long-term. Despite slightly disappointing dry wines, and Kabinetts and nobly sweet wines that do not reach the heights established in those genres by this estate’s 2005s and 2006s respectively, Ernst Loosen and his cellar-master Bernard Schug have nonetheless scored considerable success in 2007, a vintage they describe as temperamentally between 2005 and 2004. As regards style and success rate, the comparison with 2004 seems about right to me. Harvest began already in the first week of October, but as usual at this address with its enormous acreage of top-notch vineyards, the early phase was taken up principally with highly selective picking for nobly sweet wine. “From the first day to the last,” comments Loosen, “each picker gets two tubs” for separating qualities of fruit. “And there were shriveled, TBA-quality grapes already on the first day this year,” adds Schug. Importer: Loosen Brothers, Portland, OR tel. (510) 864-7255