Winemaker Notes
Erni Loosen has quickly established himself as one the premier GG producers in the Mosel Valley. This Wehlener Sonnenuhr GG is sourced from 70-year-old vines, is meticulously hand-picked, fermented bone dry from immaculate, botrytis-free fruit, and is fermented and aged in neutral oak, remaining on the lees for a full 12 months. Textbook Wehlener aromas and flavors: White peach, Granny Smith apple, lemond rind, jasmine, hyacinth, lilac, vanilla cream, wet stone. Rich in texture, dense, simply packed with flavor. Think shellfish: Fresh cracked crab, Eastern scallops, Alaskan halibut.
Professional Ratings
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
From the famous Laychen parcel, the 2017 Wehlener Sonnenuhr Riesling GG Alte Reben is bright, clear, fine and relaxed on the subtly concentrated nose that displays aromas of perfectly ripe stone fruit intertwined with delicate slate notes. On the palate, this is a concentrated, lush, vital, crystalline, highly refined and complex Sonnenuhr with finely racy acidity, lots of energy, grip and mineral tension. This is a rich, concentrated, powerful but still refined, vital and elegant Sonnenuhr that will improve over the years in the bottle.
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James Suckling
The slight funk on the nose blows off fast to reveal a sleek and beautifully proportioned dry riesling with a very crisp, mineral finish that goes on and on.
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Wine Enthusiast
Tasted in early 2020, this zesty, light-footed GG highlights exhilarating green apple, lemon and pineapple flavors edged by tangs of steel, slate and earth. A touch of honey cushions the finish, but it’s still tightly wound and nervous in its youth. An invigorating wine that should gain texture and depth. Best enjoyed from 2022.
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Wine Spectator
A bit tight, with white peach, kiwifruit and yellow apple notes, underscored by savory mineral elements. Hints of brown sugar and pine linger in the background before being scooped up by a wave of bright acidity, leaving a mouthwatering finish.
Riesling possesses a remarkable ability to reflect the character of wherever it is grown while still maintaining its identity. A regal variety of incredible purity and precision, this versatile grape can be just as enjoyable dry or sweet, young or old, still or sparkling and can age longer than nearly any other white variety. Somm Secret—Given how difficult it is to discern the level of sweetness in a Riesling from the label, here are some clues to find the dry ones. First, look for the world “trocken.” (“Halbtrocken” or “feinherb” mean off-dry.) Also a higher abv usually indicates a drier Riesling.
Following the Mosel River as it slithers and weaves dramatically through the Eifel Mountains in Germany’s far west, the Mosel wine region is considered by many as the source of the world’s finest and longest-lived Rieslings.
Mosel’s unique and unsurpassed combination of geography, geology and climate all combine together to make this true. Many of the Mosel’s best vineyard sites are on the steep south or southwest facing slopes, where vines receive up to ten times more sunlight, a very desirable condition in this cold climate region. Given how many twists and turns the Mosel River makes, it is not had to find a vineyard with this exposure. In fact, the Mosel’s breathtakingly steep slopes of rocky, slate-based soils straddle the riverbanks along its entire length. These rocky slate soils, as well as the river, retain and reflect heat back to the vineyards, a phenomenon that aids in the complete ripening of its grapes.
Riesling is by far the most important and prestigious grape of the Mosel, grown on approximately 60% of the region’s vineyard land—typically on the desirable sites that provide the best combination of sunlight, soil type and altitude. The best Mosel Rieslings—dry or sweet—express marked acidity, low alcohol, great purity and intensity with aromas and flavors of wet slate, citrus and stone fruit. With age, the wine’s color will become more golden and pleasing aromas of honey, dried apricot and sometimes petrol develop.
Other varieties planted in the Mosel include Müller-Thurgau, Spätburgunder (Pinot Noir) and Weissburgunder (Pinot Blanc), all performing quite well here.