Urziger Wurzgarten Unterst Pichter Riesling Reserve GG
⏳ wine.drinking_window
Extremely age-worthy due to its extended lees aging and old-vine concentration; typically best enjoyed 10 to 25 years from the vintage release.
🍽️ wine.food_pairings
Spicy Southeast Asian cuisine, roasted duck or pork belly, and aged Alpine cheeses like Comte
✨ wine.spec_sheet
The Urziger Wurzgarten, or 'spice garden of Urzig,' is one of the Mosel's most iconic vineyards, famous for its steep, amphitheater-like slopes of red volcanic soil and slate. This unique terroir imparts a distinctly exotic, spicy character to the Riesling grapes grown here. Within this grand cru site lies the historic 'Unterst Pichter' parcel, home to ancient, ungrafted vines situated close to the river. For this Reserve Grosses Gewachs (GG), winemaker Ernst Loosen revives traditional cellar practices: the wine undergoes spontaneous fermentation with native yeasts in traditional 1,000-liter oak Fuder casks, followed by an extraordinary 24 months of aging on the full lees. This extended maturation gives the dry Riesling a remarkably creamy texture, structural density, and a complex interplay of tropical fruit, herbal spice, and vibrant minerality.
🍾 wine.about_producer
The historic Dr. Loosen estate, located in Bernkastel-Kues in the Mosel region of Germany, has been in the same family for over two centuries. Since taking ownership in 1988, Ernst Loosen has propelled the winery to international acclaim by focusing on the estate's extraordinary heritage of ungrafted, old Riesling vines—some over 120 years old—situated in historic grand cru sites such as Erdener Pr$lat, $rziger W$rzgarten, and Bernkasteler Lay. The winery's philosophy centers on minimalist winemaking and a deep respect for the region's diverse slate soils, which yield intensely mineral-driven, expressive wines. Dr. Loosen is globally renowned for its precise, elegant Rieslings, spanning from dry (Trocken) styles to exquisitely concentrated sweet expressions like Auslese, Beerenauslese, and rare Eisweins.