German and Australian Riesling with Erni Loosen and Sam Barry – Monday 30th March

What happens when you cross a legendary German Riesling with its Australian counterpart? That’s what Erni Loosen asked Peter Barry a decade ago, when he proposed making an Australian wine with a German philosophy – all in celebration of what the family behind Clare Valley’s Jim Barry describe as ‘a long, valued and occasionally dangerous friendship’.

Erni first met Peter Barry – son of founder Jim – in London in the mid-‘80s, though it wasn’t until 2016 that he suggested they make a Riesling together in Australia. ‘But I told him that it had to be made in the traditional German way,’ says Erni. ‘The way my great grandfather made them, with indigenous yeast and aged two years in the barrel on full lees.’

Ten years on, the Wolta Wolta Riesling is a singular wine – the fruit left to hang a couple of weeks longer than the rest of the vineyard, and made exactly as Erni stipulated, aged for a year in the same older, large oak foudres he uses for his Grosses Gewächs wines for a savoury, ageworthy complexity and texture.

The ebullient Erni is best known as the saviour of German Riesling, having transformed the reputation of the category through his Dr Loosen estate in the Mosel. The name Jim Barry, meanwhile, resonates just as strongly in Australian wine circles, as one of the forces who helped shape Clare Valley into one of the country’s leading regions.

We are delighted to welcome third-generation Sam Barry to join Erni for some lively conversations, shaped – and hopefully just about controlled – by the editor of our Back Label newsletter, Guy Woodward.

As well as the Wolta Wolta Rieslings, we will also taste the Slate Hill cuvée – a similar collaboration but from younger vines and aged in stainless steel for a more accessible, refreshing style – as well as Jim Barry’s own Florita Riesling, and two Mosel equivalents from Dr Loosen, including a 2012 Grosses Gewächs from Erni’s own cellar.

The wines we will be tasting:
2023 Slate Hill, Loosen Barry, Clare Valley, Australia
2015 Florita Riesling, Jim Barry, Clare Valley, Australia
2024 Florita Riesling, Jim Barry, Clare Valley, Australia
2018 Wolta Wolta Riesling, Loosen Barry, Clare Valley, Australia
2022 Wolta Wolta Riesling, Loosen Barry, Clare Valley, Australia
2019 Riesling, Reserve Grosses Gewächs, Unterst Pichter, Ürziger Würzgarten, Dr Loosen, Mosel
2012 Riesling, Reserve Grosses Gewächs, Unterst Pichter, Ürziger Würzgarten, Dr Loosen, Mosel

Monday 30th March
St. James’s Room
18:30 – Welcome reception
19:00 – Masterclass starts
20:30 – Masterclass ends

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