2022 Robert Weil Kiedrich Gräfenberg Riesling Spätlese, Rheingau

I love the way the tropical fruit extravagance of this wine is married to a dangerously refreshing acidity that lifts this remarkable Spatlese up into the upper stratosphere. Staggering ripeness, delicacy and purity right through the totally uplifting finish that makes you charge back for more!

96 points Stuart Pigott jamessuckling.com

The 2022 Riesling Kiedricher Gräfenberg Spätlese shows restrained greengage and Reine Claude plum. The vivid aroma of these stone fruits is delineated on the palate, boosted by residual sweetness like sorbet made from the fruit, melting on the palate and releasing its aroma moment by moment, reaching a peak of creamy peach ice cream, always tempered by vivid freshness and a tangy citrus edge. Just so elegant, so zesty, so beautiful, so balanced. Squeaky clean, elegant, striking and delicious.

95 points Anne Krebiehl MW vinous.com

The 2022 Kiedrich Gräfenberg Riesling Spätlese is clear, fine, fresh and iodine-inflected on the nose that is precise and complex, even with more phyllite (and tea) notes than the rich (but dry) GG. However, the palate is really rich in terms of texture, but it is firmly structured and nicely drying on the saline, savory, oh-so-tensioned finish. This is a superb Spätlese with great aging potential. 9% stated alcohol.

94+ points Stephan Reinhardt robertparker.com

Alcohol: 9.0 % | Acidity: 9.3 g/L | Residual sugar: 68.8 g/L

Think about everything you love in this grower’s Spätlese, and then add some more. A wine of sublime purity and chiselled tension, the ‘22 offers up a kaleidoscopic array of flavour—try all kinds of citrus, quince, sweet yellow florals, woody herbs and slatey notes—perfectly balanced by thrilling, daisy-fresh acidity and mineral precision. Weil’s picking army, which numbers up to 70 strong, has worked its magic again, gifting a beguiling, pure, tangy wonder that seems to dissolve in the mouth. The 9% alcohol comes in very handy: It’s impossible to stop drinking. Blue velvet.

“Where would the Rheingau’s tradition of high-end Riesling dessert wines be today if it weren’t for Wilhelm Weil’s modern masterpieces in the style?” 

Stuart Pigott, Best White Wine on Earth: The Riesling Story

Weil is widely considered one of the true greats of the sweeter Prädikat styles. One of the keys to this estate’s success with these wines is that the mountainous, rocky setting of the Kiedricher Berg vineyards allows for a perfect balance between natural sweetness, mouth-watering freshness and pungent, intense minerality.

These wines are staggeringly beautiful. They are all don’t-miss wines. As is so often the case, Weil’s 2022 Gräfenberg Spätlese exhibits textbook balletic poise between the wine’s natural sweetness and laser-like acidity. The grapes for Weil’s Auslesen were harvested without any botrytis influence. It is the kind of iridescent wine that has helped shape Rheingau’s legend for the past two centuries. What little botrytis did arrive in 2022 came in late October, giving the estate the opportunity to craft homoeopathic doses of BA and TBA. If your budget stretches this far, you will be rewarded with two of Germany’s more celebrated wines.