2016 Riesling Graacher Domprobst Auslese A.P. #15

Willi and Christoph Schaefer’s reluctance to enlarge their not-quite-10-acre estate beyond what they can literally handle themselves no doubt justified itself when it came to the constant vigilance and intervention that they found necessary in 2016 to stave off peronospora. About hail, they could of course do nothing, and Graach was hit in both spring and late summer, trimming yields but causing no further mayhem, since the foliage recovered from the May drubbing and any berries hit in August quickly dried up amid that month’s torrid conditions. Diminutive acreage nearly always pays dividends when it comes to precision pricking by an experienced, deeply committed, family dominated crew, but in 2016, a harvest that lasted only from the middle to the end of October was conducted, in Christoph Schafer’s words, “entirely without haste.” The combination less precocious flowering than in so many recent years with a chilly October kept must weights on the whole modest, he observed - which did not, however, preclude the estate’s rendering four Auslesen. “But it’s fundamentally a Kabinett and Spätlese vintage,” insisted Schaefer, with this year’s total volume of Spätlese being about equal to that of Kabinett. Acids were not as high as in 2015, but as Schaefer reminds me, at around 10 grams the 2015s were unusually high, and the 8 grams plus that is the estate’s 2016 norm has proven both efficacious and harmonious. Indeed, “harmony” and “charm” are two apt overall descriptors for this latest Schaefer collection, which also challenges the profundity of 2015. (For considerable detail about this estate and its evolution, consult the introduction to my accounts of their 2014s and 2015s.)

Willi and Christoph Schaefer’s reluctance to enlarge their not-quite-10-acre estate beyond what they can literally handle themselves no doubt justified itself when it came to the constant vigilance and intervention that they found necessary in 2016 to stave off peronospora. About hail, they could of course do nothing, and Graach was hit in both spring and late summer, trimming yields but causing no further mayhem, since the foliage recovered from the May drubbing and any berries hit in August quickly dried up amid that month’s torrid conditions. Diminutive acreage nearly always pays dividends when it comes to precision pricking by an experienced, deeply committed, family dominated crew, but in 2016, a harvest that lasted only from the middle to the end of October was conducted, in Christoph Schafer’s words, “entirely without haste.” The combination less precocious flowering than in so many recent years with a chilly October kept must weights on the whole modest, he observed - which did not, however, preclude the estate’s rendering four Auslesen. “But it’s fundamentally a Kabinett and Spätlese vintage,” insisted Schaefer, with this year’s total volume of Spätlese being about equal to that of Kabinett. Acids were not as high as in 2015, but as Schaefer reminds me, at around 10 grams the 2015s were unusually high, and the 8 grams plus that is the estate’s 2016 norm has proven both efficacious and harmonious. Indeed, “harmony” and “charm” are two apt overall descriptors for this latest Schaefer collection, which also challenges the profundity of 2015. (For considerable detail about this estate and its evolution, consult the introduction to my accounts of their 2014s and 2015s.)

Willi and Christoph Schaefer’s reluctance to enlarge their not-quite-10-acre estate beyond what they can literally handle themselves no doubt justified itself when it came to the constant vigilance and intervention that they found necessary in 2016 to stave off peronospora. About hail, they could of course do nothing, and Graach was hit in both spring and late summer, trimming yields but causing no further mayhem, since the foliage recovered from the May drubbing and any berries hit in August quickly dried up amid that month’s torrid conditions. Diminutive acreage nearly always pays dividends when it comes to precision pricking by an experienced, deeply committed, family dominated crew, but in 2016, a harvest that lasted only from the middle to the end of October was conducted, in Christoph Schafer’s words, “entirely without haste.” The combination less precocious flowering than in so many recent years with a chilly October kept must weights on the whole modest, he observed - which did not, however, preclude the estate’s rendering four Auslesen. “But it’s fundamentally a Kabinett and Spätlese vintage,” insisted Schaefer, with this year’s total volume of Spätlese being about equal to that of Kabinett. Acids were not as high as in 2015, but as Schaefer reminds me, at around 10 grams the 2015s were unusually high, and the 8 grams plus that is the estate’s 2016 norm has proven both efficacious and harmonious. Indeed, “harmony” and “charm” are two apt overall descriptors for this latest Schaefer collection, which also challenges the profundity of 2015. (For considerable detail about this estate and its evolution, consult the introduction to my accounts of their 2014s and 2015s.)