2022 Riesling Thörnicher Ritsch Grosses Gewächs

Carl Loewen was founded in 1803 when Karl Josef Loewen bought the Detzemer Klosterlay vineyard after secularization. Until Napoleon confiscated church property to sell it off, the vineyard had belonged to the Benedictine abbey of St. Maximin in Trier. While other estates were sold in their entirety, others were split to be sold off in smaller portions, which is how ancestor Loewen managed to buy his land. Christopher Loewen joined his father, Karl-Josef, at home in 2015 and took over entirely in 2022. The Geisenheim graduate worked stages with the Karthäuserhof in the Ruwer, Clemens Busch in Pünderich, Hermann J. Wiemer in New York’s Finger Lakes, Maximin Grünhaus in the Ruwer and finally at Felton Road in Central Otago, New Zealand. Father Karl-Josef Loewen set the path for quality in the 1980s by exchanging sites in the valley with steep parcels of old vines in top sites like the Leiwener Laurentiuslay and Thörnicher Ritsch. In 2008, they could take over the entire vineyards of the historic Carl-Schmitt-Wagner estate, including several very old, own-rooted parcels planted in 1896 and 1904. The aim throughout is to have small, concentrated berries. Today, the Loewens farm 17 hectares, of which 95% are planted to Riesling, and the balance is Pinot Blanc. The entry-level estate wines are machine-harvested. All the rest is hand-harvested. The grapes are pressed directly and receive no skin contact. They are sedimented and then fermented without temperature control, the estate wines in stainless steel, the single-site wines in Fuder, and stay on gross lees until the following spring. The result is a full-bodied, bold, textured, generous and rich style. The wines have density and saltiness, and the top wines are elegant, notwithstanding all their power. The 2022 harvest started in September. The Prädikatsweine were picked before the rain, prompting a ten-day harvest break; they finished in mid-October. During my visit, I tasted the full range of 2022 wines plus one Beerenauslese from 2021.