Mosel-Saar-Ruwer 2026: Tasting at Willi Schaefer
Graach, Mittelmosel
Tasted Tuesday, June 30, 2026 by Vinjahideen with 27 views
Introduction
Hosted by the great hospitable and insightful duo, Andrea and Christoph
Domprobst is just behind the winery and 70 degrees steep; harvest done entirely by hand; not organically certified given rain washes out the copper, requiring a new round of drone sprays; 4w long harvest, grapes picked opportunistically; Graach has a forest behind it and so there is good water base, makes dry years good for Graach but wet years can cause rot; therefore Graach can beat Wehlen in dry years but the opposite in wet years; Wehlen faces more south and so is hotter and drier vs Graach; Domprobst is tougher, powerful, more masculine given the red clay that stresses the vines, Himmelreich is ethereal and delicate, but both are in blue-grey slate;
With climate change extreme heat shuts the leaves stomata so halts maturity/concentration of the fruit, meaning more Kabinett/Spatlese: there were no Auslese in 2021, 2022 but for auctions; in such dryness and heat, vines switch to survival mode and so less sugar in grapes as well as more grape phenols, making some unusable; wet summers create fungal issues and makes the leaves less useful for maturation; 2023 was ideal as 34 degree heat in summer, just hot enough for ripeness but insufficient to stop maturity in higher and lower plots (typically 2 degrees lower temperature vs higher plots up to 200m higher); with climate change, each year is unpredictable and different; 2025 was wet so there was some rot, but harvested 2w earlier and so a lot of crop was saved;
18 15y-old barrels of about 1 litre each, every two years two new barrels added, using sulphur to water them down, making them more neutral; wood comes Ruwer, Maximin Grunhaus made by a Nahe cooperage; whole cluster pressing (Riesling has delicate stems), spontaneously fermented entirely in oak with steel as backup (used otherwise for filtration); suphur used to stop fermentation; lees aged, then filtration; 20-35,000 bottles, can be as low as 17,000; 70pc exported to 30 countries; 1 trocken made, rest feinherb+;
Wines are light, cool and not nearly as heavy or ripe/explosive as Prum; similarly classically sweet however fruit generally feels paler (particularly recent Himmelreich), less ripe or tropical; the result is a markedly more delicate style; I find Domprobst and Himmelreich very difficult to tell apart in youth and beyond Kabinett; would say "average" mineral expression vs pradikat peers for recent Kabinett-Spatlese; am however convinced that age is greatly rewarded above many given the phenolic and primary explosions of 12' and 73';
2012 Willi Schaefer Graacher Domprobst Riesling Spätlese 95 Points
Germany, Mosel Saar Ruwer
Nose is exceptionally fruitty: peaches, apricot; molasses; guessed 2015, turns out 2012 was as ripe for the estate; ripe acids but low-side; light, cordial-like, herbaceous;
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1973 Willi Schaefer Graacher Himmelreich Riesling Spätlese 97 Points
Germany, Mosel Saar Ruwer
Special treat from Andrea/Christoph straight from the archive
Dried apricot is the distinct note, with good aged vanilla, caramel and mint on nose; herbal wrapping on the finish; concentrated dried apricot again on palette; undetectable acid, has a preserved, un-fresh quality; made by Christoph's father, was one of the better 70s vintages; guessed late 90s Auslese, not knowing the pradikat; syrupy but somehow light in texture;
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