Urziger Wurzgarten Riesling Spatlese Goldkapsel Auktion
⏳ Drinking Window
2022 - 2050
🍽️ Food & Wine Pairings
Spicy Szechuan duck, glazed pork belly, or artisanal blue cheese.
✨ Technical Specifications
Hailing from the legendary Urziger Wurzgarten, or 'Spice Garden of Urzig,' this rare Auction bottling represents the absolute pinnacle of Dr. Loosen's craft. Unlike the blue slate found throughout most of the Mosel, the Wurzgarten is famous for its striking red volcanic and iron-rich slate soils. This unique terroir imparts a famously exotic, spicy character to the Riesling, filled with notes of tropical fruit, ginger, and wild yeast. The Goldkapsel designation indicates an exceptionally rich, late-harvest selection of superior quality, crafted from extremely old, ungrafted vines. Sold exclusively at the prestigious annual VDP auctions, this highly collectible Spatlese is fermented with native yeasts and aged in traditional Fuder casks, balancing luscious sweetness with a spine of electric acidity.
🍾 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.