100% Riesling

Food pairings: Spicy Asian cuisine and curries, strong and blue cheeses, and fruit desserts.

Scores:

• 97 points, James Suckling
• 95 points, Vinous

Winemaking: The Schaefers pick selectively in several passes through the vineyard, ferment with natural yeasts in old Mosel fuder casks, intervene as little as possible and give the wines long ageing on the lees; the style of each wine is decided in the cellar. After a run of mostly Kabinett vintages since 2020, 2025 allowed more Spätlese. Harvest began on September 15 and, after strict selection at the vine, ended on October 6, 2025, the earliest finish in the estate's history.

Vineyards and terroir: The Graacher Himmelreich, a VDP Grosse Lage, wraps around the Domprobst above Graach. Its south- to southwest-facing slopes, with gradients of 45 to 75 percent, are sheltered from wind and frost. The weathered blue Devonian slate stores the sun's warmth, underground water veins keep the vines supplied, and clay in the soil adds power to the silky, charming style of citrus and white and yellow peach. The estate grows only Riesling, much of it on old, ungrafted vines up to 100 years old.

Family and history: The Schaefer family's roots in Graach reach back to an ancestor named in 1121, and they have grown vines here since 1590. Willibrord (1912–1995) and Martha (1924–2013) Schaefer built the estate buildings after the war, and their son Willi (1949–2024) made his first vintage in 1971. His son Christoph joined in 2002, and in 2015 Christoph and his wife Andrea, who met while studying at Geisenheim, took over. The von Meyerbach coat of arms on the label recalls the family's long history, and the estate is a member of the VDP.

In the pictures: The Graacher Himmelreich vineyard, and Andrea and Christoph Schaefer (photos: Weingut Willi Schaefer).