Urziger Wurzgarten Riesling GG Alte Reben
⏳ Drinking Window
2022 - 2042
🍽️ Food & Wine Pairings
Spicy Thai or Vietnamese cuisine, roasted pork belly with crackling, and rich seafood dishes such as seared scallops with ginger.
✨ Technical Specifications
The Urziger Wurzgarten, or 'spice garden of Urzig,' is one of the Mosel's most dramatic and singular vineyards. Unlike the blue slate that dominates the region, the Wurzgarten is defined by a striking, iron-rich red volcanic soil mixed with slate. This unique terroir imparts a famously exotic, spicy character to the 100% Riesling grapes grown here. Dr. Loosen's 'GG Alte Reben' (Grosses Gewachs Old Vines) is sourced from ancient, ungrafted vines—some over a century old—whose deep roots draw complex mineral nutrients from the earth. Winemaker Ernst Loosen employs traditional methods, fermenting the juice with indigenous yeasts in historic, neutral 1,000-liter oak casks (Fuder) and allowing it extended contact with the yeast lees. The resulting dry white wine is a masterpiece of power and elegance, showcasing vibrant acidity, rich tropical fruit notes, and a distinct, lingering herbal spice that pays homage to its legendary vineyard name.
🍾 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.