Weingut Robert Weil, Kiedrich Gräfenberg Spätlese, Riesling, Rheingau, Germany, 2017

Overview of the Wine
Founded in 1875, Weingut Robert Weil is considered to be one of the Rheingau’s younger wine estates. It is located in the heart of Kiedrich, a village first documented in the year 950. Kiedrich Turmberg and Kiedrich Gräfenberg, the estate’s top vineyards, are among the finest sites in the Rheingau.

The estate cultivates 90 hectares (222 acres) of vineyards, of which 100 percent are planted with Riesling. Today, Wilhelm Weil, the great-grandson of the estate’s founder, carries on the tradition of uncompromising, quality-oriented vineyard and cellar practices – a tradition that has been the hallmark of the winery for four generations.

Grape / Blend
Riesling

Origin
Rheingau, Germany

Winemaker's Tasting Notes
The outstanding quality of the Gräfenberg (“hill of the counts”) site was first documented in the late 12th century. It is a steep, southwest-facing slope in a sheltered side valley, with deep to medium-deep stony soil made up of phyllite interspersed with water-retaining layers of loess and loam. Yields are very low, resulting in wines with extraordinary concentration.

Always stunning, the Spätlese (“late picked”) from Kiedrich Gräfenberg is a massive wine of bewildering depth and complexity, with many layers of gorgeous fruit that unfold on the palate. It is a stately wine with power, harmony and impeccable balance.

95 Points - James Suckling
A concentrated but very elegant Spätlese with mandarin oranges, white peaches and a touch of mint in the nose. On the palate this is still tight and highly strung, like a fully wound pocket watch. Very bright and very long finish. Drink or hold.

95 Points - Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
Based on completely healthy fruit picked at 97° Oechsle, the 2017 Kiedrich Gräfenberg Spätlese is clear, very ripe and balanced on the fruity, comparatively warm scented nose, where flinty and mineral flavors of crushed stones represent the terroir of the Gräfenberg. Enormously ripe and lush, almost creamy on the palate, with very elegant abundance, good density and tightly woven structure, this is a highly delicate, mineral as well as opulent Gräfenberg with remarkably elegant fruit and lingering salinity. Very long. Tasted in August 2018.

94 Points - Wine Enthusiast
Intensely stony notes of crushed slate and earth permeate through this invigorating, light-footed Riesling. Crisp green-plum and white-grapefruit flavors are sweet and tart, calibrated by spine-tingling acidity. It is currently a zesty, pristinely fruity wine that should gain earthen intensity well through 2030.

93 Points - Vinous
Fusil, marine and carnal notes are prominent already in the nose, anticipating the mouthwatering savor that is subsequently delivered. The mid-palate is polished and delivers an impression of salted veal stock mingled with white peach and grapefruit. The finish offers a gripping concentration of salt, chalk and citrus that nearly eclipses the wine’s generous fruit juiciness and renders sweetness a mere afterthought. While lacking the seductive floral nuances of the corresponding Turmberg, this Gräfenberg nearly makes up for that thanks to its deep savor and overall intensity.

Product size: 750ml