Wehlener Sonnenuhr Im Laychen Reserve Riesling Alte Reben Dry
⏳ Drinking Window
2023 - 2040
🍽️ Food & Wine Pairings
Pan-seared freshwater fish with lemon-butter sauce, roasted pork belly, or mature alpine cheeses.
✨ Technical Specifications
Hailing from the legendary, dizzyingly steep slopes of the Wehlener Sonnenuhr—named after the historic sundial erected in 1842 by Jodocus Prüm—this dry Riesling represents the pinnacle of Ernst Loosen's commitment to traditional Mosel winemaking. The 'Im Laychen' parcel features ancient, ungrafted 'Alte Reben' (old vines) digging deep into Devonian blue slate soil. To craft this Reserve bottling, Dr. Loosen employs native yeast fermentation in traditional 1,000-liter oak Fuder casks, followed by extended aging on the full lees. This historical method tempers the Mosel's naturally electric acidity, resulting in a dry Riesling of extraordinary textural depth, rich stone fruit character, and a profound, smoky mineral complexity.
🍾 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.