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Kirk Wille & Ernst Loosen at Frankland Estate Tasting

Hi everyone, Kirk Wille here.

Ernie and I traveled to Australia last week for the 2012 Frankland Estate International Riesling Tasting.

It’s a two-day celebration of the world’s finest Rieslings, put on by our good friends Judi Cullam and Hunter Smith of Frankland Estate, an exceptional Riesling producer in Western Australia.

Our host, Hunter Smith, welcomes us to the first tasting – 30 dry Rieslings, which included the Robert Weil Kiedrich Turmberg Trocken and the Dr. Loosen Ürziger Würzgarten GG.

The tasting was held in a beautiful harbour-side setting in Sydney, and the range of wines was stunning, from bone-crushing dry to gloriously sweet.

Dry Riesling Tasting: Panelists Willi Bründlmayer, Jancis Robinson and Hunter Smith joined Stuart in giving their insights on the wines.

Along with a lot of wines from Australia, New Zealand and Tasmania, there was a healthy contingent from Germany, including Dr. Loosen, Robert Weil, Christmann, Dönnhoff, Gunderloch, Rebholz and Wittmann.

Willi Bründlmayer was there to represent Austrian Riesling.

Ernst Loosen & Jancis Robinson: Ernie was on the panel with Jancis for the international tasting of Riesling with sweetness. The tasting ranged from off-dry wines with barely perceptible sweetness, to the ultra-lush, über-concentrated Beerenauslese from Robert Weil.

Our Eroica colleague at Chateau Ste Michelle, Wendy Stucky, was there to show what’s going on with Riesling in Washington state.

The Riesling Coalition: Global Riesling Coalition partners Wilhelm Weil of Weingut Robert Weil, Dr. Loosen’s Ernst Loosen, Wendy Stuckey from Chateau Ste Michelle, and Frankland Estate’s Hunter Smith have committed to a three-year rotation of international Riesling events. The next event will be the Riesling Rendezvous, co-produced by Chateau Ste Michelle and Dr. Loosen, and to be held in Seattle in July 2013. In 2014, Robert Weil will host the International Riesling Symposium in the Rheingau. And in 2015, we will be back in Australia for the next Frankland Estate International Riesling Tasting!

Our hearty congratulations and sincere thanks to Judi and Hunter for putting on another stellar and inspiring gathering of Riesling wines, Riesling producers and Riesling lovers. They will join us for the Riesling Rendezvous in 2013, and we hope you will be there, too!

See more photos — Jancis Robinson gets a Riesling tattoo! — on our Facebook page.

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