The "St. Johannishof Dr Loosen" winery is located in the municipality of Bernkastel-Kues in the German Moselle wine-growing region. It has been family-owned for over 200 years, with links to the famous Prüm winegrowing dynasty. Dr Paul Loosen (1924-2001) held a number of important winegrowing offices. In 1967, he was a founding member of the Mosel-Saar-Ruwer wine brotherhood and was the brotherhood's chancellor for 25 years. He was awarded the Federal Cross of Merit for his services to German viticulture. After many visits to important wineries all over the world, the business was taken over by Ernst F. Loosen in 1988. One of the first measures introduced was a rigorous yield restriction.
Vineyards
The vineyards cover 22 hectares of vines in the single vineyard sites Johannisbrünnchen, Lay (Bernkastel), Domprobst, Himmelreich (Graach), Prälat and Treppchen (Erden), Rosenberg (Kinheim), Försterlay (Lösnich), Sonnenuhr (Wehlen) and Würzgarten (Ürzig). They are 98% planted with Riesling vines with an average age of 60 years (some over 100 years). 98% of them are cultivated ungrafted. The small remainder is Pinot Blanc.
The vines are cultivated according to the principles of sustainable, non-invasive viticulture with only organic fertilisers and no chemical fertilisers. The grapes are harvested selectively in many manual harvests. The legally prescribed Oechsle levels are exceeded for all predicate levels. Only the Grosse Lagen are labelled as Lagen, all others are marketed as Gutsweine.
Product range
Depending on the degree of ripeness, the Prädikat wines without botrytis are divided into three quality classes: Kabinett (normally ripened grapes), Spätlese (higher degree of ripeness) and Auslese (selected, partially botrytised grapes). The noble rotten grapes are meticulously selected and the three quality classes Auslese-Goldkapsel (highly ripe grapes), Beerenauslese (grapes that have shrivelled by half) and Trockenbeerenauslese (from raisined grapes) are produced. In years with favourable weather conditions, an ice wine is also produced.
VDP member
The winery has been a member of the VDP (Verband Deutscher Prädikatsweingüter) since 1993. Two wines are regularly contributed to the annual VDP auction: the Rieslings "Ürziger Würzgarten Spätlese Goldkapsel" (from the oldest vines) and "Erdener Prälat Auslese Lange Goldkapsel". Around 180,000 bottles of wine are produced each year, which are sold in over 50 countries worldwide.
Further activities
In 1996, the Palatinate winery J. L. Wolf was taken over, which today operates under the name Villa Wolf. Together with winemaker Jay Christopher Somers, the J. Christopher winery has been operated in Newberg near Portland in the US state of Oregon since 2010. There is a joint venture with the Château Ste Michelle winery in the US state of Washington, where only Riesling wines are produced.
