2019 Chateau Ste. Michelle & Dr. Loosen Riesling Eroica

Full bottle 1,291 g. A partnership with Dr Loosen, started 1999. On the sweetness scale on the back label, marked as on the boundary between dry and medium dry. Berries went direct to press, to avoid the possible loss of freshness caused by a crusher/destemmer. A cool fermentation for three weeks with fruit-driven yeasts. Ernie Loosen says, ‘This is not a Mosel Riesling made in Washington. I have learned a lot of new things from making wine here.’ They’ve moved the grape source from warm vineyards to really cool sites, in order to extend the hang time – ‘this is the way you get aroma ripeness without too much sugar’. They now harvest at the same time as the Mosel, sometimes even later. Some of the grapes they are picking have 9 g/l acidity, although the finished wine is usually around 7–7.5 g/l. The winemaking here is a little different to their other wines. For this wine they tend to pick from two cooler sites in the last week of October and do some spontaneous fermentation. They leave it in the bottle 6–12 months before releasing. Winemaker David Rosenthal reckons it will age 30 years. Tastes drier than their Columbia Valley off-dry Riesling. Tighter, more focused and more chalk-textured on the palate. Lime and lime blossom, lemon verbena and sorrel leaf. Moves in a lovely racy arc and into an aciculate finish. Mouth-watering. This has good structure. Peaches and sweet stone fruits build into the acidity and green notes are amplified on the finish. Don’t drink this too cold! Superior to the other two Ste Michelle Rieslings tasted in this line-up, but I do think it’s very overpriced in the UK (sells for around $20 in the US). (TC)