1988 Dr. Loosen Ürziger Würzgarten Riesling Auslese
Community Tasting Note
Seth Rosenberg Likes this wine:
Friday, January 3, 2020 - Inglorious Batards (Noreetuh restaurant, Manhattan, NY): Tasted double blind. This is clearly older Riesling from the Mosel. Nose is sweet with sugar, lime, stones, rock candy. Palate is sweet/sour with lime, good acid, light and airy, delicate. Great cut and light finish. Nose - 5/6, Palate - 5/6, Finish - 4.5/6, Je ne Sais Quoi - 1-1.5/2 = 15.5-16/20.
I guessed 1990 with the acid and decent fruit but then told that these were 1988s which clearly made more sense. We were told that the 2 blinds were from the same year and same producer and I ended up guess Egon Muller and WBK Spatleses, with this being the Scharhofberger, based on some feeling of Saar, something musky. When told they were Loosen I immediately knew this was UW and thought the other to be EP. I think I was the only one at the table who liked this better than the EP - to be it had more grace, even though it was a lighter wine. Although the other wine was bigger and had more power and acid, it lacked the poise, finesse and complexity of the UW. Thanks Matt!
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Comment posted by Matt Neel:
1/4/2020 7:16:00 PM - Great note, Seth. But I think the table was about 50/50 on preference between the UW and the ET. I landed on the Erderner side, as for me it had substantially better cut, freshness, and fruit on the palate; the wines were a gorgeous tie on the nose. In particular, the length of the ET far outclassed the UW. That said, the spices of UW made for an incredible food match.
These were wines I bought on release (1989/90-ish; I was 21 or 22 y.o. and had NO money!) and they had perfect (in my opinion) provenance; anyway, they were kept identically. Perfect fills. I had saved them expressly for this experiment and incredible luck meant that I could bring them for my favorite Riesling lovers in the world (just missing a few of them: SK, JR, SC, MP, and JK). I feel such a fine sense of closure sharing them this way! Thank you, Seth.