Graacher Himmelreich Riesling Spatlese
⏳ Drinking Window
2022 - 2032
🍽️ Food & Wine Pairings
Spicy Sichuan or Thai cuisine, roasted pork belly, and rich, washed-rind cheeses.
✨ Technical Specifications
Nestled in the steep, slate-carved slopes of Germany's Mosel valley, the Dr. Loosen estate has been family-owned for over 200 years. The Graacher Himmelreich vineyard, whose name translates to 'Kingdom of Heaven,' sits adjacent to the legendary Wehlener Sonnenuhr. Unlike its famous neighbor, Himmelreich features deeper, blue Devonian slate soils with abundant natural springs. This unique terroir imparts a distinct, assertive minerality and a slightly more robust, herbaceous character to the 100% Riesling grapes. Ernst Loosen, a passionate champion of traditional Mosel winemaking, crafts this Spätlese (late harvest) using fruit selected for its concentrated flavors. Fermented with indigenous yeasts in traditional Fuder oak casks, the wine beautifully balances luscious residual sweetness with a vibrant, electric spine of acidity, embodying the historic nobility of Mosel Riesling.
🍾 About the Producer
Weingut Dr. Loosen stands as one of the preeminent global ambassadors of Germany's Mittelmosel. Under family ownership for more than two centuries, the estate experienced an epochal renaissance after Ernst 'Erni' Loosen assumed leadership in 1988. Loosen immediately implemented draconian yield restrictions, prohibited chemical fertilizers, and embraced spontaneous fermentations in neutral oak Fuder casks, frequently practicing extended lees contact. The domaine's strength rests in its holdings of ancient, ungrafted vines—many over a century old—clinging to perilous, south-facing slate amphitheaters. These steep slopes span blue Devonian slate in the Wehlener Sonnenuhr, red volcanic-slate colluvium in the Ürziger Würzgarten, and heat-retaining cliffs in the Erdener Prälat. Dr. Loosen is renowned both for crystalline, classically delicate Prädikat expressions defined by buoyant acidity and low alcohol, and for benchmark dry Grosses Gewächs bottlings that celebrate age-worthy, mineral-driven tension.