Robert Weil Kiedrich Gräfenberg Grosses Gewächs Riesling 2024

Robert Weil Kiedrich Gräfenberg Grosses Gewächs Riesling is the estate's flagship dry Riesling from a Rheingau grand cru.

Gräfenberg means hill of the counts, and it has carried the estate's best wines since the site was classified Weinlage 1 Klasse in 1867. The oldest vines at Kiedrich stand here, some approaching eighty years and the majority on their own roots. Wilhelm Weil could bottle two Grosses Gewächs from his holdings but chooses to release only this one, which tells you where he places it. The aim is to recreate the full-bodied dry Rieslings the Rheingau made a century ago, when the region's finest bottles were the most expensive wines in the world. Greater depths of loess and loam here add a textural dimension the other hillside sites cannot match.

Finer and more complete than its stablemates, subtly powerful, with citrus, orchard fruit, wet stone and a long, dry, mineral finish. Serve at 11 degrees in a large glass. Roast pork, pike-perch in butter, or a plate of hard alpine cheese will all suit; it will also age for decades.

*Every effort is made to ensure the current vintage is accurate; however, variations can occur. If you are after a specific vintage, please contact us prior to ordering.

Type: White Wine
Style: Full-bodied, dry
Grape Varietal: Riesling
Tastes Like: A full, dry German Riesling of grand cru standing, one of the benchmarks for the style
Alcohol Percentage: 13% (est.)
Closure: Cork
Size: 750mL
Appellation: Rheingau; VDP.Grosse Lage, Grosses Gewächs (the top step of the VDP's classification: a dry wine from a 'great site', Germany's equivalent of a grand cru)
Region: Rheingau, Germany
Terroir: Kiedrich Gräfenberg: a steep south-west-facing slope of phyllite with loess and loam, first documented in 1109
Aging: Spontaneous fermentation in 2,400-litre Doppelstück oak casks, then aged on its full lees, without sulphur, until filtration
Serving Temperature: 10-12°C

Weingut Robert Weil is the family estate at Kiedrich in the Rheingau, the stretch of Germany's Rhine west of Wiesbaden where the vineyards look south over the river. Dr Robert Weil, a professor of German at the Sorbonne in Paris, bought his first vineyards in Kiedrich in 1867 and founded the estate in 1875. Four generations of the family have run it, and the founder's great-grandson Wilhelm Weil has led it since 1987. The estate grows only Riesling, on about 90 hectares, with its classified hillside vineyards on slopes of up to 60 per cent, facing south-west and rising to 240 metres. Grapes are picked by hand in several selective passes, the full range of Prädikat levels has been harvested in every vintage since 1989, the estate is certified organic, and it has been a member of the VDP, the association of Germany's leading wine estates, since 1907.

The Gräfenberg is Weil's flagship vineyard, documented since 1109 and classified as a Grosse Lage, a great site. It is a steep, south-west-facing slope where phyllite is mixed with loess and loam, giving the wine more texture than the other Kiedrich sites, and it is the only vineyard the estate uses for a dry Grosses Gewächs. The wine ferments with wild yeasts in large Doppelstück casks and rests on its full lees until bottling. 2024 was a wet year that refilled the soils' water reserves; budburst came about ten days early, a late-April frost passed without damage, and harvest began at the end of September. The Gräfenberg was picked in mid-October.

Fish: Monkfish wrapped in bacon with Riesling sauce
Pork: Pork fillet with mushroom cream
Shellfish: Lobster or crab with butter
Poultry: Roast guinea fowl with braised leeks

Comté (30 months): Long-aged and complex, ideal with a top dry Riesling
Beaufort d'Alpage: Summer-pasture Beaufort, rich and nutty
Époisses: Pungent and creamy; the wine's acidity and depth stand up to it
Allgäuer Emmentaler (aged): Firm, nutty and savoury

Seeteufel im Speckmantel (Bacon-Wrapped Monkfish with Riesling Sauce)

Ingredients (Serves 4):

• 700g monkfish tail fillet, trimmed of membrane (or blue-eye)
• 8 thin rashers streaky bacon or speck
• 1 tbsp chopped thyme
• 2 tbsp sunflower oil
• Sauce: 2 French shallots, finely chopped
• 3/4 cup (180mL) dry Riesling
• 1/2 cup (125mL) fish stock
• 150mL pouring cream
• 30g cold butter
• Salt, white pepper and lemon juice
• Buttered leeks and boiled potatoes, to serve

Instructions:

1. Cut the monkfish into 4 portions, season with pepper and thyme and wrap each tightly in two bacon rashers.
2. Brown the parcels in the oil in an ovenproof pan on all sides, then roast at 200°C for 8-10 minutes until just cooked. Rest for 3 minutes.
3. Meanwhile, simmer the shallots in the Riesling and stock until reduced by two-thirds, add the cream and simmer for 3 minutes.
4. Whisk in the cold butter and season with salt, white pepper and a little lemon juice.
5. Slice the monkfish, spoon over the sauce and serve with buttered leeks and potatoes.

Monkfish wrapped in bacon is a favourite restaurant dish in Germany, where firm white fish and smoked bacon are a popular pairing, finished with a sauce made from the region's own wine. A Grosses Gewächs has the body for the bacon and the cream and the acidity to keep the dish fresh.