Ernie Loosen is the most famous face of the whole Moselle region. A great mixture of smart, business-minded and a dedicated winemaker. He went out to convince the world what Riesling really is. Read about our visit to winery Dr. Loosen…
The beautiful winery of Ernie Loosen is a monument at the Moselle river. You can’t miss it. It’s right at the street between Graach and Bernkastel. In the middle of some off the most famous vineyards of the Moselle. The tasting room couldn’t be more old school. But Dr. Loosen can afford to point out it’s long and great tradition.
The winery Dr. Loosen is one of the icons of the region – just as Ernie himself. He is one of the rock stars of German winemaking. Not because his wines are always the most expensive or win 100 points ever year. It is because of the continued high quality, and it is because of Ernie. You could say he is known all over town. But the story goes far beyond that. He is especially well known overseas.
A true ambassador of Riesling
It is pointless to list all the awards that Ernie Loosen has won over the years. One is still missing – due to fact that it doesn’t exist yet. It would be the “Changing the global perception of Riesling”-award. When you consider how Ernie started this is even more impressive. Back in the 80s, when Riesling was bad and sweet, he took over the winery very young from his sick father. And he decided to change things.
Back to today: Ernie Loosen has been the face of German wines in many countries for many years – but especially in the USA. When no other German winemaker went to North America to promote German Rieslings, Ernie did. He even founded a North American import company that today is one of the main sellers of German Riesling in the US.
From sweet to trendy
Riesling is not an easy sell. Especially not overseas. The variety of the grape is huge. A lot of sweet, flat wines have flooded the market which led to the general opinion that all Rieslings are like that. Many heavy acidity wines made other people think that Riesling is not easy drinking. You need a lot of explaining and convincing. If there is one thing that Ernie achieved in his life than it is to explain and convince.
The result was two fowled: On the one hand he supported the idea of sweet wines in the very beginning of his exporting activities by selling a lot of residual sugar Moselle wines. But he also made the transformation to attractive dry Rieslings that have changed the minds of many wine consumers. They learned from his “Dr. Loosen Red Slate” and “Dr. Loosen Blue Slate” Rieslings that these wines can be complex and harmonic. This way of showing people what Riesling can be is truly smart.
He acted smartly. His cooperation with Chateau St. Michelle with the gorgeous “Eroica Riesling” was one of these intelligent moves. If you look at how Riesling has become a trend among wine lovers you get the idea. It may be still a niche but with huge potential. What Tatomer is doing in Napa and what other great winemakers like Hermann J Wiemer or Ravines did at the Finger Lakes – producing amazing dry Rieslings that show complexity and sexiness of this grape. Everything is a little bit related to Ernie’s work.
A truly impressive lifetime achievement. Especially looking at the fact how simple the philosophy of Ernie Loosen is when you reduce it to its core. Don’t judge a wine by what you have heard or what you think it might taste like. Just try it and then “drink the wines that you love”.
A great tasting of the 2018s
When we visited the winery, we were most of all interested in the 2018 vintage and how Ernie dealt with it. But that became quite obvious in a short time. He did great. We were really positively surprised. Everything Desiree Schröder, his Sales powerwoman, and Ernie served - from the Ortswein to the high-price wines: Dr. Loosen is worth every Euro or Dollar spent.
Read our Tasting Notes here.
Ernie Loosen presents a broad lineup of GGs and GG Reserve wines. But his Reserve wines really hit the spot. Especially the amazing Erdener Prälat GGR is a wine that should be part of every wine cellar. It is made to be a legend.
You can read all the tasting notes HERE.
Weingut Dr. Loosen
St. Johannishof 1
D-54470 Bernkastel/Mosel
Germany
Visit website of winemaker Dr. Loosen.