ROBERT WEIL

KIEDRICH – RHEINGAU

What the critics are saying:

“This is now the superstar estate of the Rheingau.” Stephen Brook, The Wines of Germany (Mitchell Beazley)

“The famous blue label of the estate has become the symbol of the highest quality of German wines. Only a few wine estates can boast such a continual and high level of overall quality.”
Michel Bettane and Thierry Desseauve, Great Wines of the World

With J.J. Prüm (Mosel) and Muller Catoir (Pfalz) in our portfolio with Robert Weil, we are proud to be able to offer three of Germany’s greatest producers from the three top Riesling regions. The Rheingau is of course one of the great Riesling areas of the world. It could be called the Côte d’Or of Riesling. Like the latter, the Rheingau is practically one long hillside, a collection of south-facing, sun-trapping vineyards that slope down to the Rhine and Main rivers along their 30 km, east-west journey. The Taunus Mountains shield the area from the bitter north and east winds, giving the Rheingau its famous warm (by German standards) and dry climate. It is these favourable conditions, along with the slate rich soils of the region and the botrytis inducing mists of its two rivers that makes the Rheingau such a unique place to produce great Riesling.

The Rheingau wines of Robert Weil have reached well beyond cult status and today are revered across the globe as some of Germany’s most superlative Rieslings. Based in the town of Kiedrich, Weil’s wines are fuelled by the three epic, high altitude, south facing vineyards of Klosterberg, Turmberg and most famously, Gräfenberg, all situated in the foothills of the Taunus Mountains. From these historic sites, Wilhelm Weil, a pioneer of ‘earth to glass’ wine growing, guides Rheingau Riesling to its most seamless, precise expression and in doing so produces some of the world’s most inspirational Rieslings.

While Wilhelm Weil’s meticulous, everything by hand, berry by berry, approach, is a key factor in understanding the remarkable precision of these wines, it is, as always, the vineyards that dictate the ultimate quality and personality of the wines produced. These steep, stony, mineral rich vineyards are managed in order to maximise their terroir. Herbicides are never used, and as the aim here is to encourage life in the soil, only organic manure is applied and cover crops are grown to add to the organic matter. Grapes are harvested by hand with as many as 17 passes through the vineyard, ensuring only the most pristine and perfectly ripe grapes make it into each wine. In the winery all fruit receives a pre-ferment maceration, typically between 6-24 hours (or a lengthy 72 hours for the Erstes Gewächs). There is a very gentle pressing of whole berries, the musts are allowed to start fermenting naturally and spend varying time on lees subject to the cuvée.

The Rheingau was historically Germany’s most revered vineyard region and once produced the world’s most expensive wines. You only need to glance at a wine map of Germany to see why. This is Riesling’s Côte d’Or; a series of sheer, south facing, rocky slopes that maximise exposure to the sun and protect the vines from the bitter northern winds. It is this confluence of natural elements that enables Riesling to perfectly ripen at this very marginal, northern climate. With some of the highest (up to 780 ft ASL) and most revered vineyards in the region, Robert Weil is today the superstar of the Rheingau.





Understanding the range: Weil produces a dizzying range of wines but with just nine wines in this offer, things are a little more straightforward. Five of the wines are dry starting with the ‘generic’ Rheingau Riesling followed by the ‘village’ Kiedricher Riesling. Next up we have the two ‘1er Cru’ vineyards Kiedrich Klosterberg and Kiedrich Turmberg and finally the Weil ‘Grand Cru’ Kiedrich Gräfenberg. Lastly we have a small selection of the fruity Prädikat wines from the Gräfenberg and Turmberg sites.
2010 is a truly great vintage for Robert Weil. The dry wines are quite extraordinary. They are concentrated, fine and pure with fresh ripe fruit and electrifying acidity. The sweeter styles, of which Weil is one of the recognised masters, perfectly balance the liquid sweetness (akin to a beautifully ripe piece of fruit) with stunning freshness and pungent minerality. With acidity that clearly delineates the exotic fruit, these are some of the most exciting young Rieslings that we have ever tasted. We have top up stocks arriving in April.