2022 Weingut Carl Loewen, Riesling Trocken, Laurentiuslay VDP Erste Gewächs, Mosel, Germany.
The smoky and intensely steely 2022 Loewen Leiwener Laurentiuslay Old Vine Dry Riesling again shows off a crisp and crystalline palate of zesty citrus and orchard stone fruits along with a hint of tropical essences and flinty/stony spiciness. It’s blessed with vibrant lime, green melon, white peach, tart apricot and tangerine fruits, as well as crystalized ginger, wet shale, salty sea shore, white lavender/rose florals, chamomile and tart apple skin. Mineral driven and mouth watering, this Alte Reben is still concentrated, ripe and textural and has loads of structural extract, making for a complete Riesling that is youthfully zippy and refreshing, but one that can deliver a world class performance with age. This Laurentiuslay Trocken, a Premier Cru bottling is from old ungrafted parcels in Loewen’s collection of steep plots, between 20 and 80 percent slopes, which are on this part of the Mosel’s classic grey slate soils, though Christopher Loewen says there are veins of red volcanic deposits here too. These steep vines, which are quite rocky and get a ton of exposure to the sun, close to 100 years old, are now being worked only using organic methods and harvested by hand. Weingut Loewen farms mostly in three VDP Grosse Lage sites, Longuicher Maximiner Herrenberg, Thörnicher Ritsch and Leiwener Laurentiuslay and is now considered one of the region’s superstars, the rise from solid to stellar has come recently with the generational shift from father, Karl-Josef, to son Christopher, has happened smoothly and the praise here is incredibly well deserved, with Christopher’s touch bringing these wines, especially the drier style Rieslings, to the very top echelon of German wine.
The Carl Loewen estate, the winery notes, dates back to 1803 when an agent in Paris purchased a set of vineyards and buildings owned by the Maximin order, and this sale was part of an auction used to generate money for the Napoleonic government after secularization. The purchase originally included the Maximiner Klosterlay, Maximin Grünhaus in the Ruwer, and Maximiner Herrenberg in Longuich. Interestingly Loewen has been buying the hardest and steepest sites in the area that were once not favored, but now fetch top dollar. These days winemaker Christopher Loewen carefully sorts the grapes in the vineyards, only bringing in perfect full bunches, which then are then pressed whole cluster and pomace is never moved as to not break the stems, which Loewen notes, avoids phenolic (green) flavors and bitterness.The juice, he adds, is “browned” or oxidized pre- fermentation, a practice common in Burgundy, and his ferments are completely natural without addition of yeast known here as Sponti, plus absolutely no enzymes or nutrition is used. This wine, 100% stainless steel, is a serious Premier Cru dry Riesling for those that want pure minerallity and racy acidity above all else. This 2022, a hot draught, highly stressed vintage is concentrated, it shows a bit more depth, richness and structure of form, though without losing any energy with exciting flavors that are excellent with food. This 2022 Alte Reben Laurentiuslay is a sleeper in the latest set from the talented Loewen, but it shouldn’t be overlooked and it is worth seeking out! Christopher is at the top of his game and wines like his monumental 1896 Feinherb from the Maximin Herrenberg and the mighty Ritsch Riesling Trocken “GG” are both mind-blowing wines I’ve fallen in love with in recent years and written a lot about.
($40 Est.) 95 Points, grapelive