Weingut Robert Weil

Around the end of the 19th century, German wines were far more famous, expensive and rare than the best Chateaux in Bordeaux. In the second half of the 20th century, saying that “ we sell a lot of German wine” became a joke among the wine merchands. The minute quantities (German have a thing with micro-vinifications ) as well as labels that make no sense, caused this commercial decline. The irony is that the superb Rieslings of Rheingau are the most fascinating wines in the world. Fabulous lemon sorbet-like wines, frequently with just 8% alcohol and aromas beyond imagination. Marvelous when young, monumental a couple of centuries later. Especially when we are speaking about Robert Weil’s wines, no.1 in Rheingau, if not, around Germany. In this case, words pale. Trying to unlock the German labels… According to the German Wine Law of 200-02, it goes like that: Every wine is classified according the grape ripeness level. From ripe to over-ripe, there is Kabinett, Spätlese, Auslese, Beerenauslese και Trockenbeerenauslese. Try to pronounce the last one after you had a couple... Moreover, every category can give wines that, depending whether the alcoholic fermentation finished or not, are dry (the Trockens) or, off-dry (the Halbtrockens). In case the wine has more than 18gr/lt residual sugar, then only the “ripeness level term” is mentioned on the label and not the term relative to the dryness of the wine. Therefore, we can have, going from drier to sweeter, Auslese Trocken, Auslese Halbtrocken and Auslese. A very important point of the last law revision for Rheingau is the classification of the top-quality vineyards, called Erstes Gewächs. On these labels, the name of a vineyard which is recognised as Erstes Gewächs can be mentioned. Note, that Robert Weil’s main vineyard classified as such is Kiedrich Gräfenberg. The rest of the wines can just mention the name of the region on the label. The most important point about this law, for the German winemakers and for those of us who are still awake, is that the word Erstes Gewächs can be on the labels of wines from the designated vineyards, they have to be close to the character of a Auslese Trocken and they are bottled in a specific type of bottle with the specific logo on the label. We believe that those wines will soon be included in the Pantheon of dry white wines.