Urziger Wurzgarten Riesling
⏳ Drinking Window
2023 - 2032
🍽️ Food & Wine Pairings
Spicy Thai or Vietnamese curries, classic roasted pork with apple sauce, and rich shellfish dishes like crab or lobster.
✨ Technical Specifications
The Urziger Wurzgarten (literally 'spice garden of Urzig') is one of the Mosel's most dramatic and unique vineyards. Rising precipitously from the river, this amphitheater-like cliff consists of iron-rich, red volcanic soil and decayed slate, which is highly unusual for the slate-dominated Mosel. This singular terroir imparts a famously exotic, spicy, and tropical character to the 100% Riesling wines produced here by the legendary Dr. Loosen estate. Ernst Loosen has long championed these steep, ungrafted old vines, some of which are over a century old. Traditionally fermented in large, neutral oak Fuder casks, this wine beautifully balances vibrant acidity with wild strawberry, kiwi, and distinct herbal spice notes, reflecting a winemaking heritage that spans generations.
🍾 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.