Location and history
The winery Dr. Loosen is located at the St. Johannishof in Bernkastel-Kues in the wine-growing region Mosel in Germany. The family-run winery, which has been in operation for more than 200 years, has been led by Ernst F. Loosen since 1988 and has been a member of the VDP since 1993.
Vineyards and vines
The vineyards are in Bernkastel-Kues, Graach, Erden, Kinheim, Lösnich, Wehlen and Ürzig. The winery works with steep Mosel slopes, including the Bernkasteler Lay, with a south-south-westerly to south-facing exposure, a gradient of 50 to 70 percent and an elevation of around 110 to 160 metres. The soils include blue and red slate as well as red volcanic rock; the Bernkasteler Lay consists predominantly of grey-blue Devon slate with some loam.
The vineyard areas are planted to 98 percent Riesling and 2 percent Weissburgunder. All of the winery’s own parcels are planted with ungrafted vines, some of which are up to 100 years old. Cool nights and misty mornings on the Mosel can, in suitable vintages, favour the development of botrytis.
Wine style and vinification
The winery produces Rieslings across the entire range of Prädikatswein from Kabinett to Trockenbeerenauslese. For the Prädikatsrieslings, the grapes are hand-selected depending on the conditions of the specific vintage. In addition, dry VDP.GROSSES GEWÄCHS Rieslings are produced from selected VDP.GROSSE-LAGE vineyards.
The dry Rieslings ferment spontaneously in wooden barrels and mature without batonnage on the lees for twelve or 24 months. Selected VDP.GROSSES GEWÄCHS reserve wines have been fermented spontaneously since the 2011 vintage in old Fuder barrels, developed on the full lees for 24 months without racking and then stored in the bottle.
Classification
Since 1988, the winery has bottled Rieslings from classified Grosse-Lage vineyards as single-vineyard wines and has further wines as Gutsrieslinge. The range includes the VDP.GUTSWEIN-, VDP.ORTSWEIN-, VDP.GROSSE-LAGE- and VDP.GROSSES-GEWÄCHS categories.
