2023 Riesling Kiedricher Gräfenberg Beerenauslese

Wilhelm Weil presented a stunning 2023 vintage–hair-raising even. The dry Rieslings are utterly clear and brilliant while brimming with fruit. The off-dry and sweet wines have electric, spectacular acidity, giving them even more definition than usual, heightening every nuance of flavor and assuring longevity. Weil put all this down to his sites that benefit from altitude and a combination of water availability and drainage, affording just enough water to the vines in both wet and dry years and key in the “extremely dry spring and summer and the wet late summer and fall.” Despite high sunshine hours, Weil says, “a cool-climate character was preserved.” He adds that the Kiedricher Berg, where the Turmberg and Gräfenberg sites are, “soaked up the late rains like a sponge and gave an immense push to the vines.” Fruit picked for dry wines, Kabinett and Spätlese was healthy. “Bortytis developed late,” Weil notes. “Even Auslesen were not made with botrytized but shriveled, dried grapes. It was only for BA and TBA that minimal botrytis arrived.” This explains why these wines have such utter brilliance and clarity. The harvest began in the last days of September for Sekt base; estate wines were harvested in early October, with picking finishing in late October. Weil also showed the relatively new Monte Nostrum Riesling, an addition to the portfolio from the estate’s highest-lying parcels. This wine was first trialed in 2019 and is now part of the lineup. Magnum bottles are sold via auction; the 750ml bottles are sold via the Place de Bordeaux. The initial production of 6,000 bottles sold out within a day of release; expect annual releases of 9,000 bottles in future years.