Willi Schaefer

Tasting through a kinda boring Rizza line up one day my nostrils pricked up when I landed on Willi Schaefers gear from Graach in the middle Mosel.

That little spark ignited!
Schaefer’s Graacher Domprobst Kabinett was the wine.

The balance was on the fresher side, more typical Kabinett. Refreshing proper brekky and afternoon tea gear! A tiny hint of funk and reduction was at play, layering nicely and dancing with the peach and yellow nectarine. The phenolic grip worked beautifully, playing it’s part in balancing sugar and fine acid while adding a cleansing textural element. Beautifull drinking!

Schaefer’s use of 1,000L old barrels with extended time on lees harmonises the wines, and adds that extra dimension of joy!

The line up of Schaefers continued to be hit after hit. Makes sense when you hear of Christoph’s MO.

“It is important to us that our Rieslings are light, playful and yet very strong in character. They should reflect their origins. The DOMPROBST is rather spicy and wild and the HIMMELREICH is more fruity and charming. Our wines should remain appetizing and never be sticky-sweet. We also prefer our dry Rieslings to be light in alcohol. The tremendous minerality gives the wines tension and flatters the fruit sweetness as a counterpoint. We don’t like to talk about analyses. One should taste the wines and form one’s own opinion. For us, perfect Riesling is something magical and refined, perhaps something like a dream. Light and yet tasty, long-lasting, playful and with incredible ripening potential.”
Christoph Schaefer

About Willi Schaefer

An ancestor of the Schaefer family was mentioned in a vineyard donation already in 1121. In addition, records show that the Schaefers have been cultivating vineyards since 1590. Johann Schaefer (1809–1878) married Anna Catharina von Meyerbach (1808–1878) in 1935. Her noble coat of arms is still on today’s label.

The estate is all of 4.2 hectares with no desire to grow. Since 2015, Christoph Schaefer and his wife Andrea run the family winery in Graach, the pair met while studying oenology at Geisenheim. Their winemaking philosophy is not much different than that of Christoph’s father or grandfather.

In the Vineyard

Although Graach is just a stone’s throw away from Bernkastel, the clocks seem to tick differently here: Graach is contemplative, placid, and is located at the foot of the imposing steep slopes, which is only separated from the Mosel River by the riparian plains. With these vineyards, we have a treasure that has no equal. In a south-to-southwest exposition, the grapes grown on these steep slopes have sun throughout the day. The deep, weathered clayey slate soil, together with the rather cool climate of the Mosel, and the perfect sunlight, is a paradise for Riesling. Numerous water veins in the hillside guarantee an optimal water supply. No wonder that everything is still planted seamlessly here.

The Romans already knew the benefits of Graach’s sites and cultivated vines here. In the Prussian classification of the Mosel vineyards from 1816 to 1832, Graach’s vineyards had the highest ratings.

As one can see by the names of the sites even today, the Catholic Church was the primary owner of the Graacher vineyards till secularization in 1803.

Compared to the wines just slightly northwest in Zeltingen, the wines from Graach show cooler green and white tones rather Wehlen and Zeltingen’s more orange and red flavors. These wines perfectly reflect this unique terroir and show the distinct differences between these two sites right next to each other. Domprobst is more mineral, smokier, shadowy, and takes longer to emerge while Himmelreich is buoyant, more floral, lighter in texture, and is open from day one.

In the Winery

To tap the potential of each individual site, we rely on our sense of taste and our gut feeling. Before the harvest, we go through the vineyards and sample the grapes in every single plot. What counts is the taste of the grapes.

Therefore, we don’t stubbornly rely on measurable data, such as the amount of Oechsle or acidity. Only when we’re completely convinced that ‘it’s time’, do we begin our selective harvest. If you’re personally satisfied with the taste of the grapes, then the wine will taste good, too. We rarely look at the analysis.

The same goes for the must. During fermentation, we sample very often to see when the balance between sweetness and acidity, plus structure, are perfect. Here, also, we trust our feeling and not numerical values.

The fermentation takes place with natural yeasts from the vineyard mainly in old 1,000-liter Fuder casks. In the cellar, we try to intervene as little as possible and accompany rather what nature has provided us. We give the Rieslings the time in the cellar that they need. Therefore, a long lees contact and a late bottling are self-evident.

“In the cellar we simply try to preserve the quality that nature has given us. If we have suitable grapes for a dry Riesling, then we also ferment dry. But if I am convinced that the must is better suited for a semi-sweet wine, the fermentation is interrupted as soon as the balance is perfect. We ferment with wild yeasts in classic Fuder barrels. Depending on the vintage, it can occur that there is no dry wine or only Spätlese and Auslese wines. That is nature.”

Christoph Schaefer

Check out the article in the Wine Bites Magazine exploring ‘The Bewildering Array of Sweet German Rieslings from the Mosel’.