Eroica Riesling
Last week, Ernst Loosen (of his eponymous Mosel winery) and Bob Bertheau of Chateau Ste. Michelle hosted a ten-year vertical of their well-regarded collaboration, Eroica Riesling.
In 1999 Loosen approached then-CEO Allan Shoup to do a joint Riesling project, “to get Riesling back in people’s mind”, according to Loosen. He added, “I didn’t know much about the Riesling in the US in 1999.”
And he wasn’t trying to produce a Mosel Riesling in Washington. He said, “You need to be open and free to allow both sides of experience to come together.”
The wines showed well, especially the higher acid 2002 and 2007 wines. Loosen was particularly impressed with the 2003, from a very hot vintage in the Northwest; he thought it showed very nicely. Bertheau commented that these wines “are not about a terroir-driven blend; they are style-driven.”
Wendy Stuckey, Chateau Ste. Michelle’s newer winemaker (she started in 2008), now handles the white wines at the winery. Having come from Australia and used to making Clare and Eden Rieslings, the balanced sweeter style was new to her. Bertheau said, “Wendy brought ideas about tannin management to our white wine making team. She has also helped to bring down the residual sugar in our Rieslings.”
The group also was treated to a vertical of the expensive Single Berry Select, a 100 percent botrytised dessert wine in the style of a TBA. The 1999 showed particularly well, as did the 2007, although Loosen thought them way too young to drink. “In Germany, ” he said, “you wouldn’t touch this style of wine for at least 20 years and they should last much longer than that.”
By Lisa Shara Hall
Tags: reisling, washington, wine
