The 2023s from cult producer Weingut Willi Schaefer have landed. Wine Cellar could not be more excited and proud to import these wines from the family’s 4.2 ha of hallowed ground. ‘Bottled poetry from the steep slate slopes of the Mosel’, writes Decanter, and these über classical, thoughtful Rieslings are just that.
The quality of the fruit was so good in 2023 (‘too good’, says Christoph Schaefer) that no Trocken or Feinherb was made. All of their grapes and focus went into the Kabinett, Spätlese, and a tiny bottling of Auslese.
From one of their famous grand cru sites comes the Willi Schaefer Graacher Himmelreich Kabinett AP 02 2023. Here the vines grow at an altitude of 110-325m, with a 45-75% slope. Himmelreich means ‘Kingdom of Heaven’ and is so named because the church owned much of this land in the Middle Ages. The Graach slope has a rich soil bed with greater water retention, producing wines with beautiful floral aromatics, slate-like minerality, concentration, and complexity.
It was a rollercoaster of a growing season but ended with the finesse, electric energy and precision that only Mosel Riesling can deliver. ‘The result is another great series of Rieslings from the three grands crus: Graacher Domprobst, Himmelreich and Wehlener Sonnenuhr.’ – Wine Advocate
Don’t miss out on these brilliant and rare wines. See their entire offering here.
Tasting Notes:
Willi Schaefer Graacher Himmelreich Kabinett AP 02 2023
‘The 2023 Graacher Himmelreich Riesling Kabinett opens with substantial depth and a brilliant bouquet of wet slate. The fruit is intense but not dominating, thanks to the flintiness and savoriness of the Himmelreich terroir. On the palate, this is a mouth-filling, dense and complex Kabinett with ripe, elegant and juicy fruit intertwined with very fine phenols and an ethereal slate thread that gives this Kabinett an enormous length and animation. This will be a superb gastronomic wine after a decade of bottle age, although the 2023 already drinks beautifully today. 7.5% stated alcohol. Natural cork. Tasted at the domaine in August 2024 from AP 2 24.’ – Stephan Reinhardt, Wine Advocate, 96/100
‘The 2023 Riesling Graacher Himmelreich Kabinett teases with a touch of scented white summer blossom and a stony crackle of wet slate bathed in ripe, juicy clementine. The palate is smooth and full, shining with pure, rounded, sweet clementine juiciness while standing on light, slender feet. A caress, a cloud of scent, a lovely and tender evocation of purest fruit. Such length, purity and exquisite balance are disarming.’ – Anne Krebiehl MW, Vinous, 95/100
