Ernst Loosen and Chateau Ste Michelle’s vice president of winemaking Katie Nelson.
‘The whole thing started in [19]99 when I was visiting Oregon’, says Ernst ‘Ernie’ Loosen, explaining the origin of the Eroica collaboration with Washington’s founding winery, Chateau Ste Michelle.
Having embarked on a joint venture with the Antinori family in 1995 at Col Solare on Red Mountain, Ste Michelle had shown an aptitude for international collaboration. As one of the largest producers of Riesling in the world, there seemed to be a natural synergy and collaborative opportunity between Ste Michelle and Loosen, the global spokesman for Germany’s iconic Riesling.
Seeing an opportunity in the northern reaches of America’s wine country for a grape of singular importance to his home region and Germany’s wine identity, Loosen made the first overtures.
He explains: ‘Kirk (Willey, CEO of Loosen Bros USA) and I wrote a four-page proposal and sent it to former [Ste Michelle] CEO Allen Shoup. He replied almost immediately and said, “let’s do it”.’
Notes and scores for vintages of Eroica…
Source : https://www.decanter.com/premium/eroica-25-years-of-ernst-loosens-washington-riesling-collaboration-with-chateau-ste-michelle-550375/
