We aim to have all wines be vintage specific. In the case the listed vintage is out of stock and you note you would like that particular vintage, we will inform you via email for approval to go ahead.
js96
James Suckling – “I love the bouquet of stone fruits, Amalfi lemon, bergamot and licorice. The richness and concentration easily fill out an ample body that’s rare in the 2021 vintage. However, this dry riesling masterpiece remains precise and cool. Glides off into the distance at the long, silky finish.” - Stuart Pigott, JamesSuckling.com
rp95
Robert Parker/Wine Advocate – “The 2021 Kiedrich Gräfenberg Riesling Trocken GG offers a clear and coolish, precise and refined bouquet of ripe but fresh and elegant Riesling fruit intertwined with lime zest aromas and flinty notes. On the palate, this is a rich, vital and elegant, very complex and mineral, dense and powerful Riesling with enormous grip and tension and a long, saline finish. This is a powerful and extract-rich wine with huge aging potential.” - Stephan Reinhardt, The Wine Advocate
About This Wine
The vineyard of Kiedrich Gräfenberg—or ‘hill of the counts’—has been used to designate Robert Weil’s finest wines since the site was officially classified as ‘Weinlage 1 Klasse’ in 1867. Home to Weil’s oldest vines (up to 80 years of age), with the majority on their own rootstock, it makes perfect sense that Wilhelm Weil decided that it was only from this site that his Grosse Gewächs would derive (despite the fact that he could actually release three GGs from all his single vineyards).
Weil’s aim has been to replicate the style and quality of the full-bodied dry wines that were produced in the Rheingau a century ago when the region’s finest Rieslings were the most expensive wines in the world. Despite the high quality of the Turmberg and Klosterberg, this is clearly on another level. It’s not necessarily more intense, but it’s certainly finer and more complete—a wine of obvious Grand Cru class. This year the GG was raised for 10 months (instead of 12) on lees in large, neutral oak doppelstückfass (large Stockinger casks). When you think of what we are paying now for top-notch Grand Cru white Burgundy wines, Weil’s remains an absolute bargain, matching the best of them for class and quality. Few (if any!) could match it for longevity.
| Type | White Wine |
|---|---|
| Varietal(s) | Riesling |
| Country | Germany |
| Region | Rheingau |
| Brand | Robert Weil |
| Vintage | 2021 |
About German Wines
Germany is the world’s northernmost fine wine producing region and thus requires its vines to endure some of the coldest temperatures. Fortunately, the country’s star variety, Riesling, does well in cooler climates and can survive even these freezing winters.
Germany Riesling is classified by ripeness at harvest which is also used to indicate the wine’s level of residual sugar. Picking earlier means the grapes have less time to ripen and the corresponding wines will be on the drier side; while picking later gives the grapes the opportunity full ripen and produce a lusciously sweet Riesling. The classifications from driest to sweetest: Kabinett, Spätlese, Auslese, Beerenauslese, Trockenbeerenauslese and Eiswein (ice wine). While not as common to age white wines outside of Chardonnay, top tier German Rieslings can be aged for decades.
Other notable white grape varieties produced in Germany include Müller-Thurgau (a cross between Riesling and Madelaine Royale in the search for varieties that could withstand the extreme temperatures), Grauburguner (Pinot Gris) and Weissburguner (Pinot Blanc). The cooler German climate leads to earlier harvesting in general and gives German wines a distinctive character of higher acidity.
Historically red wine has always been harder to produce in the German climate. However, Pinot Noir grown in slightly warmer pockets of the country, has been highly successful in recent times. Going by the German name, Spätburgunder, German Pinot Noir can be elegant, structured and have vibrant acidity.
France
Italy
Spain
Australia
New-Zealand
Germany
Austria
Portugal
South-Africa
Greece
USA