Willi Schaefer

Willi had run the estate and built up a great international reputation since taking over from his parents in 1971, and was joined by Christoph who began working with him in 2002. The four hectares of vines, all Riesling, ungrafted and up to 100 years old are situated mostly in Graach with a small parcel of Wehlener Sonnenuhr. They are, however, split into about 100 different parcels on the steep slopes of weathered Devonian slate. The vines are worked in as natural a way as possible with everything done by touch, feel and taste rather than data. The selective, individual picking of the plots is determined entirely by the taste of the grapes and it can take several weeks for all the plots to be harvested. Fermentation is by natural yeasts in mainly old oak 1000 litre casks with as little intervention as possible, long lees ageing and late bottling. The results are spectacular Rieslings of great purity and balance that are in huge demand.