2019 Willi Schaefer Graacher Himmelreich Riesling GL- Germany, Mosel Saar Ruwer (08/06/2021)
A curiosity. Meant to be GG but didn’t ferment dry enough. Has a rich nose, tropical and like a rioe spatlese. It’s quite big and rich on the attack but finishes crisp and dry.
2020 Willi Schaefer Graacher Domprobst Riesling Kabinett- Germany, Mosel Saar Ruwer (08/06/2021)
Opened with the GH, a lot of similarities, herbal, citrus, a hint of orange peel bitterness. Where it differs is perhaps a grander, more statuesque form, no greater intensity and also no tropicality, but has a firmness missing in the GH.
2020 Willi Schaefer Graacher Himmelreich Riesling Kabinett- Germany, Mosel Saar Ruwer (08/06/2021)
Light, grassy, lemon peel, pithy. A really piercing cherry note, this is classical pure and entirely without any tropical notes. Great.
The 2019 Schaefers were very flamboyant early on. Unusually so.
But flamboyance gets old.
I’m only a dozen (max) bottles into 2020s so have no fully formed thoughts. But there’s a greener fruit component than the 2019s had which is quite attractive, in a different way.
2020 Willi Schaefer Graacher Riesling feinherb- Germany, Mosel Saar Ruwer (09/06/2021)
Not a wine in very familiar with, this is all slatey lime, zest and a deep earthy essence. Grippy and long. This has just a flush of supple fruit upfront but comes across as quite a dry and serious feinherb.
2020 Willi Schaefer Graacher Riesling trocken- Germany, Mosel Saar Ruwer (09/06/2021)
Another I don’t come across often. Quite like the Feinherb, but just a bit drier. This is light, crisp, nothing like the GL or GGs. Grassy, herbal, yellow fruit but savoury.
2020 Willi Schaefer Graacher Himmelreich Riesling Spätlese #8- Germany, Mosel Saar Ruwer (11/06/2021)
Really fresh cut grass. The same herbal note I’ve observed across 2020s from here. Apricot and peaches - both with crunch, some blackcurrant leaf. A much lighter styled Spatlese, crisp fruit, a rare case of a Kabi posing as a Spatlese not the opposite.
2020 Willi Schaefer Graacher Domprobst Riesling Spätlese #10- Germany, Mosel Saar Ruwer (12/06/2021)
Alongside the 05 and GH. They are very good. This is superb. This has great depth, a wall of firm stoney density, statuesque, driven by amazingly pure white cherry juice,
2020 Willi Schaefer Graacher Domprobst Riesling Spätlese #5- Germany, Mosel Saar Ruwer (12/06/2021)
After the lighter styled GH this is more typical. Lovely sherbet fruit, white grape juice, bursting with sunshine and flowers. Vibrant, slippery and exuberant.
I had the 2008 GD Auslese Auction on Sunday and it was really wonderful. I love how these wines age and I’m glad the 2020 are showing so much potential.
I have only managed to get that wine twice in my 20+ years of drinking Schaefer. Only one bottle left - the 1999, and it’s the only remaining bottle of that vintage in CellarTracker.
I have never had the Kabinett, but the Spatlese version compared to the Prum version is much in line with the general differences between the two estates. The Schaefer version is just as nuanced but more obviously so in youth- meaning the elements are more distinct and textured where Prum is more seamless ala Egon Muller. The quality is similar, but I associate Schaefer so strongly with Graacher Domprobst just as I associate Prum so strongly with Wehlener Sonnenuhr- and perhaps on that basis I may give a slight edge to Prum. In other words, the W-S from Schaefer is quite different from the rest of his wines.
To David’s point, historically I have purchased most of my Schaefer locally- going to NYC sources for the W-S on occasion just as one has to do for the Beerenauslese when it is made. But 2019 was the first vintage where W-S was on the Skurnik list provided in Texas- so perhaps that is a sign the wine is getting distributed more widely in the US going forward? I am not sure if Skurnik has offered it in other markets before and just omitted Texas, or if 2019 is the first time they are officially bringing it into the US market.
