This afternoon, a small group of us gathered in Dallas to taste through the entire range of 2017 Willi Schaefer wines that were released for retail. We had hoped to add the auction bottlings, but they are in still transit- and as it turned out that might have been a good thing.
I opened all of the bottles on Friday evening around 9PM, gave them an aggressive double decant and then left them open until midnight. Even by that point, they were all still little acid bombs- almost blistering with lemon driven acidity. Opened them again at 8AM the next morning, another double decant around 11 AM when they showed little movement, and left them open until 2:00 when I packed them up for the tasting.
But even so, they were for the most part quite monolithic today. For anyone with past tasting experience of Willi Schaefer, there were enough hints to show just how incredible these will be with time, but the fact remains they were even more closed than the 2015s were at release. I very rarely say this, but anyone tempted to try a 2017 Schaefer young- my advice would be don’t do it unless you have 2-3 days to follow the wines, or unless you open the Wehlener Sonnenuhr Spatlese which is the only one currently showing much of the nuance yet to come.
2017 Willi Schaefer Graacher Himmelreich Riesling Kabinett
pale yellow color, ripe and inviting nose, pears, apples, soft mineral edges, blood orange, on the palate luscious at first but leading into a very muted palate with a tight and incredibly long finish, while at a bit harsh at first opening- after all the airing and decanting a rounded and deep acidity, with time some pear and apple notes developed on the palate but overall this remained quite close to the vest. The scale here is exceptional- when the details emerge this should be magnificent.
(****), 2027-2050
2017 Willi Schaefer Graacher Domprobst Riesling Kabinett
pale yellow color, a more grand nose than the Graacher Himmelreich but also less defined at this point, hint of blueberry, edgier stone notes, orchard fruits, on the palate a quite pretty wine yet very much closed down and primary offering few details, great length and even after all the decanting the lemon-drive acid finish on this still had quite a cut to it, with time a racy orange note develops. As with the Graacher Himmelreich, the overall scale here is substantial and this should blossom into a rare beauty, even by Schaefer standards, in due course.
(****)+, 2027-2050
2017 Willi Schaefer Graacher Himmelreich Riesling Spatlese
pale yellow color, intense almost sweaty nose, grey river gravel smoothed over and settled to a near perfectly polished surface, otherwise slightly honeyed and placidly primary, on the palate very sleek, a veil of honey and acids concealing a substantial- yet refined- midpalate, slight hints of wildly tangy blood orange on the incredibly long finish. The least giving of the Spatlesen today, but that little bit of orange on the tail end was like a flash of white lightning over a calm nighttime desert plain. As with the other wines in the Schaefer stable this year- this has tremendous promise.
(****)+, 2032-2060
2017 Willi Schaefer Wehlener Sonnenuhr Riesling Spatlese
pale champagne color, soaring and ethereal nose, quite aloof but the intricate structure is showing more on this than any other 2017 Schaefer in today’s tasting, a dew drop laden web of honey and minerals, high toned white peach, on the palate again very primary and absolutely dazzling all the same- showing the roadmap of what is to come even if all the little savories and other details are still in hiding, honeysuckle notes, peach, pear, superb length with a lime-driven acid finish that is a bit more classic in style than the more rounded acid tones of the rest of the Spatlesen, splendidly succulent- it just sinks into the palate. If you are going to open one young- this is the one to test drive. Marvelous.
(*****), 2030-2050
2017 Willi Schaefer Graacher Domprobst Riesling Spatlese #10
pale yellow color, on the nose honeysuckle, pear, white peach, apple blossoms, on the palate just as primary and reserved as the rest of the range but still showing a bit more of the depth yet to come than the others, effortless in its way, rose petals, very long finish laden with soft and rounded acids. Superb potential. Side note- for anyone still in the market for these, I do not know what production levels were in this scarce vintage, but in practical terms this is the 2017 Schaefer that is the most difficult to find in the US market.
(*****), 2030-2050
2017 Willi Schaefer Graacher Domprobst Riesling Spatlese #5
pale yellow color, on the nose a broad and soft kaleidoscope of gently honeyed fruits, still very primary and undefined but a grand variety is clearly present, rose petal, sweet earth, on the palate spectacular with blaring stone notes and an array of undefined fruits forming a formidable midpalate core, very long stony finish with honey laden acids, as with the 2017 Selbach-Oster Zeltinger Sonnenuhr Riesling ‘Rotlay’ recently tasted- despite its primary presentation this shows every indication of being truly magnificent in time.
(*****), 2032-2050