2003 Winninger Uhlen L (Laubach) Riesling Erste Lage

Reinhard Lowenstein, who in his next life will certainly be a philosopher, has been an avid proponent of the concept of terroir for many years, resurrecting old names given to individual parcels of land such as Blaufusser Lay, Laubach and Roth Lay in order to draw attention to the different types of soils found in his Uhlen vineyard.Those vines grow on ecological niches, terraced vineyards that appear stuck to the rock cliffs above the river valley like swallows' nests.Long a proponent of dry riesling, he is still one of the few on the Mosel who do it well.As these wines, which can have as much as 18 grams per liter of residual sugar, are only released a year later, I include them below as "also recommended" from the last vintage.But even his ausleses are not overly sweet, maturing toward dryness with bottle age.(Chambers & Chambers Wine Merchants, San Francisco, CA) Also recommended: 2003 Hatzenporter Stolzenberg Riesling (89), 2003 Winninger Uhler Roth Lay Riesling (93).