This wine just gets better with every new vintage. Young and fresh, it hits the palate with lip-puckering acidity, rolling on flavors of lemons, oranges, citrus rind, and then into mango and papaya. Though the residual sugar is listed at 1.6%, it shows only in a pleasing roundness in the lengthy finish. Delicious now, but entirely cellar-worthy for a decade or longer.
— P.G.
(5/1/2011)
The 10th vintage of Eroica may be the best ever. It’s supremely fresh, spicy, and mineral-driven. The well-textured mouthfeel runs the gamut from celery, chervil and other fresh herbs into melon, citrus and stone. Though technically off-dry, this is a low pH, high acid wine with plenty of length and depth.
— P.G.
(12/31/2009)
Complex and compelling, this has a luscious mix of fruits that run the Riesling gamut. It’s creamy and textural, fresh and primary, with exceptional aging potential and fine, juicy, natural acidity.
— P.G.
(12/31/2012)
For the first time this Ste. Michelle/Ernst Loosen collaboration is sourced predominantly from Yakima Valley vineyards. It is drier, more minerally than past vintages, with crisp, elegant pineapple, white peach and green apple fruit. Tight and beautifully structured, it shows surprising power through the long, crystalline finish. Cellar Selection.
— P.G.
(9/1/2002)
The winery’s flagship Riesling collaboration with Ernst Loosen has tweaked the vineyard sources and developed some new approaches to vine management in an ongoing effort to make Eroica more Germanic. This is a tight, high acid wine, that carries its 1.6% residual sugar with the grace of a spatlese. It briskly walks the line between crisp apple/citrus and off-dry…
— P.G.
(8/1/2006)
Eroica has a proven ability to age; in fact it needs at least a half decade in the cellar to show its real strengths. Tight and packed with primary fruit flavors of lime and peach, this beautifully proportioned wine has perceptible sweetness but plenty of natural acidity. Lively and fresh today, but best given a few more years in the cellar.
— P.G.
(12/15/2011)
This is consistently the most concentrated, complex and stylish Riesling made in Washington. In this excellent year it shows ripe pineapple, white peach and lime fruit, set up beautifully with crisp, defining acids. Balanced and intensely fragrant; with only 12% alcohol. 10,000 cases made.
— P.G.
(12/31/2003)
This Riesling collaboration between Chateau Ste. Michelle and Ernst Loosen is no longer unique, but the wine has been fine-tuned over the years and sets a consistently high standard. This may be the most acidic ever made, but it is juicy rather than sour, and has a textural creaminess that adds both depth and length. The fruit flavors mix ripe apple and Mandarin…
— P.G.
(12/1/2008)