Happy 20th Anniversary, Eroica!

Time flies when you're drinking good wines, especially the Rieslings of Ernst ("Ernie") Loosen and Chateau Ste. Michelle's Bob Bertheau - whether those are made independently or together. 

Ernie is from Germany's Mosel region while Bob is an Idaho transplant to Washington State. (NB: Bertheau left Chateau Ste. Michelle in early 2021.) This Old World-meets-New World collaboration is called Eroica, and with the 2018 vintage, Eroica celebrated the 20th anniversary of its first release. While compelling on release, these wines always age well, as seen here by the 2011.

91
Eroica 2018 Riesling Columbia Valley 12% 
Enticingly lively on the palate, this pale, youthful wine shimmers with sweet-tart citrus aromas backed up by a surprisingly intense chalk note. The attack shows some sweetness, but the racy acidity briskly structures the palate and leaves a rather dry and tangy palate feel. Lingering nectarine flavors hover on the solid finish.
Drink: 2020-24 

92
Eroica 2011 Riesling Columbia Valley 11% 
Incredibly youthful in color, aroma and flavor, this cheeky, perky wine offers a layered bouquet coupled with an exuberantly refreshing palate. The nose starts with donut peach, petrol and drying white flowers. The medium-bodied wine spreads onto the palate with lovely breadth and a delicate sweetness that quickly - and surprisingly - cinches the back palate into a dry and moderate finish. I love the palate's invigorating, lemon-lime pithiness. As it warms up in the glass, it scintillates with filigreed complexity. Patience will be rewarded with this decade-old wine.
Drink: 2020-23 

93
Eroica 2016 Riesling Dry XLC Columbia Valley 11.5%
XLC stands for Extended Lees Contact, a technique Ernie learned from his great-grandfather, Peter, who made dry Rieslings in Germany over 100 years ago. The intention of this wine is to make a Grosses Gewachs, or Grand Cru, style of German Riesling from Washington State grapes.

This is the first release of this dry Eroica, one of remarkable complexity that should not be served too cold. The typical refrigerator temperature of 40° F is much too cold, quelling the wine's exotic flavors. On the flip side, when the wine warms up too much, a strong yeasty tone dominates all others, including white flowers, raw hazelnuts and donut peach core. One of this wine's most fascinating aspects is its incredibly light and fluffy texture that stems from the yeast lees' impact. The palate feel is incredibly different from the other Eroicas. While delicious and intellectual now, this distinguished, multi-dimensional wine will only continue to improve with time.
Drink: 2020-24 

94
Eroica 2016 Riesling Ice Wine Horse Heaven Hills 8%
A beautiful, honey-gold color in the glass, this wine's aromas are ethereal. The wine glides onto the palate with hedonistic lushness and laden with flavors of dried apricot, spicy ginger and succulent mango. Despite the sensuous, mouthcoating feel, this wine somehow remains fairly light with an impressively even keel of sweetness and refreshment balancing the low alcohol. It's an electrifying Riesling, even before the barrage of flavors fully sets in on the very long finish.
Drink: 2020-30