Summary
The Dr. Loosen estate in Bernkastel-Kues is one of the Mosel's best-known addresses worldwide – and its owner Ernst „Ernie“ Loosen is regarded internationally as one of the most important ambassadors of German Riesling. Since he took over the family estate, held for generations, in 1988, he has farmed around 18.5 hectares planted exclusively with Riesling. His true capital is old, often ungrafted vines (growing on their own roots) in some of the most famous steep sites of the Middle Mosel. From them Loosen crafts the full spectrum of Mosel Riesling – from dry Grosses Gewächs (grand cru dry wine) through finely fruity Prädikat wines to noble-sweet Auslese – and has done much to renew the reputation of Mosel Riesling around the world.
History
The estate has been in the hands of the Loosen family for over 200 years. The decisive turning point came in 1988, when Ernst Loosen – known to many simply as „Ernie“ – took over the running of the family estate. He broke off his archaeology studies to devote himself fully to wine and recognised early on the extraordinary potential of the vineyards he had inherited: old, never-regrafted vines in first-class steep sites.
Rather than aiming for quantity, Loosen consistently pursued quality. He cut yields drastically, avoided chemical intervention and switched the work in vineyard and cellar to traditional, gentle methods. In 1993 the estate joined the VDP. Over the following decades, with tireless travel and great communicative talent, Ernst Loosen became one of the world's most visible advocates for German Riesling – a variety whose global reputation he did much to renew.
Location & Terroir
The estate is based in Bernkastel-Kues on the Middle Mosel, at the heart of the region that produces some of the finest Rieslings in the world. The vineyards are spread across several of the historically most important single sites – all already listed as top sites in the 19th-century Prussian vineyard classification.
The defining factor is Devonian slate: in Wehlen and Graach, grey-blue slate dominates and produces elegant, filigree wines with fine acidity, while the red slate and volcanic soils of Erden and Ürzig yield spicier, more powerful Rieslings. A large share of the vines stand on extreme steep slopes with inclines of over 30 percent, which can only be worked by laborious hand. Crucial to the character of the wines are the old, ungrafted vines: a considerable proportion is over 100 years old, and the oldest stocks have rooted in the slate since the late 19th century, delivering tiny yields of great concentration.
Style & Philosophy
Ernst Loosen works in an emphatically traditional and gentle way. Low yields, late harvesting, spontaneous fermentation with the vineyard's own yeasts and long lees ageing in large wooden casks shape the wines. The aim is to bottle the unmistakable character of each site – its minerality and its „slate taste“ – as unaltered as possible. Loosen sees his role less as that of a maker than as that of a companion who gives space to the great terroir of his old vines.
His range covers the full spectrum of Mosel Riesling: from dry Grosses Gewächs (grand cru dry wine) from the best parcels through the classic, finely fruity Prädikat wines (Kabinett, Spätlese, Auslese) to the rare, noble-sweet peaks. The range is rounded out by accessible estate Rieslings such as the widely distributed „Dr. L“, which serves as an entry point into Mosel Riesling around the world.
Beyond the Mosel, Loosen runs the second estate Villa Wolf in the Pfalz and is involved in several international projects. The best known is „Eroica“, a Riesling he produces together with the Chateau Ste. Michelle winery in Washington State.
Famous Sites & Wines
Dr. Loosen holds parcels in six of the most famous sites of the Middle Mosel, already listed as first-class sites in the Prussian classification of 1868:
- Wehlener Sonnenuhr – on blue slate, for wines of great elegance and finesse
- Erdener Prälat – a tiny, sheltered top site on red slate, powerful and long-lived
- Erdener Treppchen – spicy and mineral
- Ürziger Würzgarten – on red volcanic rock, exotic and spicy
- Graacher Himmelreich – full-bodied and deep
- Bernkasteler Lay – elegant and fine-nerved
These sites yield both the dry Grosses Gewächs and the classic Prädikat wines, which regularly rank among the most highly rated Rieslings of the Mosel.
Awards
Ernst Loosen and his estate have collected top scores in the leading national and international wine guides and trade magazines for decades. Loosen himself has been honoured many times as an „ambassador of German Riesling“ and recognised for his life's work. To this day, Dr. Loosen counts as one of the flagships of the Mosel – an estate that, with old vines, a classic signature and a worldwide presence, has done much to renew the global reputation of Mosel Riesling.