The 10th vintage of Chateau Ste. Michelle Eroica Riesling releases this month. The 2008 vintage marks a decade of collaboration between Chateau Ste. Michelle and our own Ernie Loosen to craft an extraordinary Riesling from Washington state grapes.

Check out this conversation between Chateau Ste. Michelle winemaker Bob Bertheau and Ernie about their partnership and what they have learned over the past decade about the best sites in Washington for Riesling and the changing vineyard practices needed to achieve the best results.

We love this New York Times article on Riesling by Eric Asimov and not just because he chose Chateau Ste. Michelle’s Eroica (a joint venture with Dr. Loosen) as the favorite of a tasting of American Rieslings.

Well, okay, we love what he said about that. Here’s a snippet:

“Our favorite, the 2007 Eroica, is a collaboration between Chateau Ste. Michelle, the huge Washington winemaker, and Ernst Loosen, the eminent riesling producer from the Mosel region of Germany. The wine is made at Chateau Ste. Michelle from grapes grown in the Columbia Valley. Regardless of where the inspiration comes from, the wine is superb, graceful and tangy, full of mineral, peach and ginger flavors. It is not quite dry, meaning the wine has a bit of residual sugar in it, yet it was so balanced it didn’t taste sweet.”

We also love what he said about the worldwide surge in the popularity and production of Riesling. Dr. Loosen USA VP Kirk Wille says: “Promoting the worldwide ascendency of Riesling was a big reason why Ernie Loosen began our joint venture with Chateau Ste. Michelle 10 years ago. He was convinced that it would take a seriously good New World Riesling to help bring the variety back to the forefront.”

Read the Eric Asimov’s entire article here, and, hey, pass it on to all the wine lovers you know!

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Loosen’s own Brian “The Harlanator” Harlan will be pouring Dr. Loosen wines at the Chicago Gourmet Food & Wine celebration this weekend (Sept 26 & 27). Are you going? Stop by and say hi!

* Trust us, meeting The Harlanator is always a memorable experience, and of course, you’ll get to try some of our wines!

Hugh Johnson has joined the fight against the Moselbrücke, the proposed bridge across the Mosel that Johnson is decrying as a “desecration.”

Here what he says…

Veteran wine writer Hugh Johnson has protested against the ‘folly and desecration’ of a new road bridge and motorway through some of the Mosel’s finest vineyards.

But opponents still hope the project can be stopped and held a so-called ‘Last Chance’ forum to bring the issue to the attention of the world.

Here’s an artist rendition of the proposed bridge.

Read the rest of his article at Decanter.com and find a link at the bottom of article that you can use to add your voice to the growing International protest.

Meet our Florida distributor, Terri Froelich, CEO of Selected Brands. Here she is with Ernie, visiting the Ürziger Würzgarten vineyard last week. If you’re in the wine trade in Florida and are looking for Dr. Loosen wines, Terri is your go-to person. Here’s her contact info:

Terri Froelich
Selected Brands
5001 NW 13th Avenue Ste L
Deerfield Beach, FL 33064
Wk: (954) 428-0019
Fx: (954) 428-0029
Email: tfroelich (at) sbrands.com (replace “(at)” with “@”)

In addition to its unmatched ability to capture the essence of a vineyard’s terroir, Riesling is one of the few grapes that is capable of producing a complete spectrum of wine styles, from bone dry to monstrously sweet.

There are three categories for non-botrytis Rieslings:

Kabinett: The lightest and most delicate style, from normally ripe grapes picked early in the harvest.
Spätlese: Richer, bolder wines made from riper grapes harvested later than Kabinett.
Auslese: Very ripe, late-harvested grapes that are selected cluster by cluster.

A lot of people believe that Spätlese Rieslings are sweeter than Kabinetts. Interesting fact: Kabinetts are technically sweeter than Spätlese, but they taste drier because they have more pronounced acidity.

So, what’s your favorite Riesling style? Try them all and remember, it’s perfectly okay to love all three, especially when pairing them with different foods.