Dr Loosen

The Loosen empire extends across the world these days and they have a swanky new HQ from which to direct these other operations and where they make their Mosel gems. Not quite in the shadow of the new bridge - an over-budget, behind-schedule and unnecessary monstrosity - the cellars shelter some of the loveliest wines from the super vineyards neighbouring the river. There is a long heritage here and in the vineyards. Although they had been in the family for many, many years, the wine business was always run as a sideline until Ernie and his brother Tomas took over. There hadn`t been any investment for years but Ernie started on a replanting programme and made the crucial decision to only sell vineyard designated wines from Grand Cru vineyards as shown on a map from 1863. Everything else goes into what are some very high quality branded wines under the Loosen name. Their Grosses Gewachs wines are bottled after 12 months in cask and they are experimenting with double that time of lees contact. So far they really like the results and having tasted them I have to agree. This is a return to traditional winemaking, rather than the more hurried postwar techniques. (CW 21/06/18)