“It’s a miracle how brilliant and tension-filled the 2014s are,” writes The Wine Advocate’s Stephan Reinhardt of Heymann-Löwenstein. There are some – many – Riesling fans out there for whom there’s no match for this estate. The composition and feel of these wines, heady with slate and flowers and never less than exhilarating, moved up a level some years back. And they keep getting better.
Stephan Reinhardt feels the same way. “His 2013s were already great, but Reinhard Lowenstein’s 2014 Rieslings from Winningen and Hatzenport in the Terrassenmosel are simply outstanding, and belong doubtlessly to the very best in the whole Mosel valley. They are all dry and much more precise and stimulating than in former years when botrytis was more tolerated than it is today.”
They get off to a flying start with a cracking rendition of the Schieferterrassen, and just keep going higher…
2014 Heymann-Löwenstein Riesling Schieferterrassen RRP $52
Löwenstein’s 2014 Riesling Schieferterrassen comes entirely from steep top sites in Winningen and opens with a super precise and spicy, fresh and flinty slate bouquet of ripe Riesling berries. Very elegant and round on the palate, this is an intense and minerally structured, very well balanced Riesling with a remarkable, complex expression of the quartzite/slate soils. The finish is long, pure and salty. Probably the best Schieferterrassen I have ever tasted. 90 points. Stephan Reinhardt, Wine Advocate
2014 Von Blauem Schiefer RRP $62
Sourced in Kobern and the top site Brauneberg in Klotten, the 2014 Riesling Von Blauem Schiefer opens a bit more reductive than the Schieferterrassen, and displays a pure and flinty bouquet with herbal and lovely, clear, ripe Riesling flavours. Pure, delicate and silky textured on the palate, this is a fine and elegant, rather light-footed dry Riesling with great expression of the predominant blue slate soils; it has a long and pure, stimulatingly salty finish. This wine is still young and should be cellared for another year or two, but can age for 12 or more years. 91 points. Stephan Reinhardt, Wine Advocate
2014 Heymann-Löwenstein Riesling Kirchberg RRP $71
From sandier red slate soils compared to the Winningen terroirs, less warm but more vigorous and picked at the beginning of October, the 2014 Riesling Kirchberg ‘VDP Grosse Lage’ needs a bit of time to show its talents. The wine starts with a pure and smoky nose with stony and herbal flavours, as well as ripe Riesling berries. Full-bodied, round and silky, with a lot of finesse and a lovey purity on the palate, this perfectly balanced Riesling reveals a very, very long and salty finish; it has ripe and intense Riesling fruit in the endless aftertaste. 93 points. Stephan Reinhardt, Wine Advocate March 2016
2014 Heymann-Löwenstein Riesling Röttgen RRP $80
Once a “cornucopia of tropical fruit flavours and coffee aromas,” (Reinhard Löwenstein) the earlier ripening 2014 Riesling Röttgen ‘VDP Grosse Lage’ opens pure, stony and deep, almost ethereal on the nose – revealing its ripe and concentrated Riesling flavours only with air contact, but also showing some refreshing green apple and ripe pip aromas. Full-bodied, rich and round on the palate, with a powerful structure and an intense and juicy texture, this Röttgen combines its fruity opulence with a delicately silkiness and purity; it has a long and salty finish with a lovely grip. This is another milestone of the estate. 94 points. Stephan Reinhardt, Wine Advocate
2014 Heymann-Löwenstein Riesling Uhlen Laubach RRP $99
From slate soils with calcareous parts, the 2014 Riesling Uhlen L ‘VDP Grosse Lage’ (picked in the lieu-dit Laubach) opens with a deep and cool, fascinating, yet still somewhat discreet and dusty/stony, herbal bouquet. This wine is rich and intense on the palate, with concentrated and juicy fruit, as well as an impressive structure and silkiness. It has perfectly integrated acidity and is a highly complex and expressive Riesling, with an enormously long and complex finish. Still some yeasty flavours in the aftertaste. This is another milestone in the Mosel in general and of this avant-garde estate. Highly recommended, also for Burgundy lovers. 95 points. Stephan Reinhardt, Wine Advocate