1997 Riesling Leiwener Laurentiuslay Spätlese

Loewen vines were hammered by the heat and drought of August '97, shutting down at several points. To compensate, he let some of his fruit hang very late. But sugar levels changed little, "the late-harvested grapes had no riper aromas than the early-harvested," and the crop size diminished by half during November through dehydration and attrition of berries. Fermentations were exceedingly prolonged and hardly any of Loewen's '97 wines went dry. Casting about recently for some samples Stateside for a public tasting, I was dismayed to find how pathetically few merchants had purchased any of Loewen's wine from his importer Terry Theise. If unique and exciting quality from a just-discovered talent who is rediscovering some great Mosel terroirs means anything in the market, that ought to change. (See International Wine Cellar Issue 76 for an introduction to Loewen and his terroirs.)

Loewen vines were hammered by the heat and drought of August '97, shutting down at several points. To compensate, he let some of his fruit hang very late. But sugar levels changed little, "the late-harvested grapes had no riper aromas than the early-harvested," and the crop size diminished by half during November through dehydration and attrition of berries. Fermentations were exceedingly prolonged and hardly any of Loewen's '97 wines went dry. Casting about recently for some samples Stateside for a public tasting, I was dismayed to find how pathetically few merchants had purchased any of Loewen's wine from his importer Terry Theise. If unique and exciting quality from a just-discovered talent who is rediscovering some great Mosel terroirs means anything in the market, that ought to change. (See International Wine Cellar Issue 76 for an introduction to Loewen and his terroirs.)