Robert Weil Rheingau Kiedrich Turmberg Riesling Auslese HALF 2019

Why is this Wine so Yummy?

Weil’s entry-level cuvée is a blend of fruit from high altitude sites, including the brilliantly named Sandgrub vineyard, dotted around the village. There’s a good dollop of wine from Wasseros too (a steep, southwest facing vineyard that abuts the Gräfenberg vines). The soils of these sites are typically composed of stony, fragmented phyllite interlaced with loess and loam.

“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

“Weil is widely seen as the jewel of Rheingau.” Jancis Robinson, The Financial Times

“Robert Weil has been one of the icons of German wine culture for many years. Nothing but the finest Rieslings are produced. And as more than 100 years ago, the wines are distinguished in terms of their origins and their style.”
Stephan Reinhardt, The Finest Wines of Germany

“The style of Robert Weil wines is unmistakable […] mineral, citrus-fruit flavor in the dry wines with no angular acidity and a crescendo of concentration and white peach fruit in the sweet wines.”
Freddy Price, Riesling Renaissance

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.

The 2019 Vintage at Weingut Robert Weil

2019 VINTAGE WILL GO DOWN IN HISTORY AS AN AUTUMN OF ENVY, AS HARVEST YIELDS VARIED GREATLY FROM LOCATION TO
LOCATION, WITH SOME ESTATES ONLY ABLE TO BRING IN HALF OF THEIR ANTICIPATED VOLUMES.

OUR YIELDS HERE AT WEINGUT ROBERT WEIL FORTUNATELY STOOD ONLY A FEW PERCENTAGE POINTS BELOW THE ANNUAL
AVERAGE, BUT IN UNIFORMLY PHENOMENAL QUALITY: GUTSWEIN AND ORTSWEIN ARE FANTASTIC … THE DRY SINGLE
VINEYARD LAGENWEIN ARE STUNNING … THE NATURALLY SWEET KABINETT AND SPÄTLESE WINES ARE INCREDIBLY
BEAUTIFUL … AND ALTHOUGH EXTREMELY SMALL IN QUANTITY, THE NOBLE SWEET SPECIALTIES ARE A DREAM …
MUST WEIGHTS FOR THE TROCKENBEERENAUSLESE RUNNING UP TO 209 °OE, WITH OUTSTANDING ACIDITY AND
PRESSED FROM THE VERY FINEST BERRIES.

LOOKING BACK, 2019 WAS CERTAINLY A DEMANDING VINTAGE. YET IT WAS ALSO ONE THAT REWARDED OUR CONSTANT
LABORS IN THE VINEYARD WITH STUNNING, HEALTHY AND HIGH-QUALITY FRUIT – THE FOUNDATION FOR LONG-LIVED WINES
GUARANTEED TO GRACE CELLARS FOR MANY YEARS TO COME.

AS ALWAYS, WE OWE OUR SUCCESS TO THE INCREDIBLE QUALITY OF THE KIEDRICH HILLSIDE SITES AND THE REMARKABLE
HARD WORK OF OUR HIGHLY MOTIVATED WEIL TEAM!

Where in the World is Weingut Robert Weil?

Weil is based in the Rheingau just to the north of the Rheinhessen on the western border of Germany. The German VDP has an excellent interactive map covering the wine growing regions of Germany. Clink on the Map to go to the live version.

Map by Fernando Beteta, MS @fernandobeteta on Twitter