Critic ratings
robert_parker
2021
Rating:
96
–96
The 2021 Graacher Himmelreich Riesling Kabinett shows stunning reduction on the clear, intense and well-concentrated, super precise and also complex nose that reveals discreet herbal aromas. What a beauty! Lush and light on the palate, this is a pristine, textured and incredibly fine Himmelreich with a long, saline and perfectly round finish. This is a beautiful, classic Kabinett that deserves the highest praise. Picked below 80° Oechsle, this 2021 Himmelreich proves that sensory ripeness doesn’t need a refractometer to show complexity and style. 7.5% stated alcohol. Natural cork. Tasted at the domaine in July 2022.
robert_parker
2020
Rating:
93
–93
The 2020 Graacher Himmelreich Riesling Kabinett is a Schaefer classic that opens with a brilliantly clear and still reductive bouquet of crushed slate and perfectly ripe Riesling fruit. The attack on the palate is vibrantly fresh, but there is also lush fruit and generosity as well as this hedonistic lightness and brightness that makes you quaff this Kabinett masterpiece until the bottle's end. This is a highly stimulating, cool and grippy wet Riesling with so much Jugendstil. 7.5% alcohol. Natural cork. Tasted in September 2021.
robert_parker
2019
Rating:
90
–90
The 2019 Graacher Himmelreich Riesling Kabinett is very clear and elegant on the nose that offers ripe fruit and slatey tones. On the palate, this is a light but mouth-filling, mineral and stimulatingly salty Kabinett with remarkable balance and just the perfect amount of residual sugar. This is a seductive and stimulating classic made from fully ripe grapes. 8% alcohol.
robert_parker
2016
Rating:
91
–91
The 2016 Graacher Himmelreich Riesling Kabinett displays a stony and floral bouquet with ripe white fruit aromas. Round, lush and sweet, with a refreshing and grippy minerality, this is a charming Riesling with mouthwatering salinity and precision in the very salty, titillating finish.
robert_parker
2015
Rating:
91
–91
The 2015 Graacher Himmelreich Riesling Kabinett is very clear, fresh, fine and stony on the nose, but also pretty intense. Lush and juicy on the palate, this is a mouthful of Riesling that is balanced by its salty-mineral background and the filigreed acidity. The finish is long, complex and very well structured—and indicating a very good aging potential or 15 or more years. It has 7.5% alcohol and 55 grams of residual sugar.
robert_parker
2013
Rating:
91
–91
Very clear and slightly flinty as well as floral on the nose, the 2013 Graacher Himmelreich Riesling Kabinett is a light and medium-bodied, very juicy, intense and lovely sweet Riesling provided with a piquant acidity and a lingering salinity. Very pure, straight and fresh, the wine finishes with ripe apple and lemon aromas (confit de citron) in the aftertaste.
robert_parker
2012
Rating:
90
–90
Spring flavors of slate, herbs, flowers and spicy Riesling berries open the 2012 Graacher Himmelreich Riesling Kabinett and take it to a very elegant and light, palate that displays plenty of finesse and a delicate and juicy fruitiness structured by salty minerals and a nervy acidity. Bottled with 8% alcohol plus 50 grams residual sugar, the vintage’s mineral character and acidity absorbed the sweetness well. Delicious.
robert_parker
2014
Rating:
91
–91
The 2014 Graacher Himmelreich Riesling Kabinett shows lovely, elegant and refined fruit with very delicate slate flavor. This Kabinett is beautifully intense and fruity but also elegant, delicate and full of finesse. The finish is complex and piquant, and reveals a lingering salinity and pure minerality that is a perfect expression of the stony character of the Himmelreich. A beautiful Kabinett bottled with 'moderate,' rather medium-sweet 40 grams of residual sugar, which stresses the structure and complexity of this excellent Kabinett.
robert_parker
2017
Rating:
91
–91
The 2017 Graacher Himmelreich Riesling Kabinett offers an intense and yeasty bouquet of ripe and fleshy Riesling intertwined with delicate slate aromas. The 2017 was aged on its lees until the end of April due to the high acidity level. The wine reveals an elegant, lush and sensual palate with a lovely texture and a fresh, crisp and mineral-vital finish with mineral structure, lingering salinity and finesse. This is an energetic Himmelreich that drinks perfectly with food rather than without. It's too serious as an aperitif. Tasted in March 2019.
robert_parker
2010
Rating:
90
–90
Schaefers’ 2010 Graacher Himmelreich Riesling Kabinett builds on an infectiously juicy apple and pineapple matrix, its sense of density contributing to a profusely sappy finish. Brown spices and crushed stone add predictable – but not for that reason less delightful – accents while mouthwatering salinity and piquancy of citrus rind add to this Riesling’s overall sense of invigoration. It’s remarkable the sense of stuffing that can accrue to a wine of only 7.5% alcohol, not to mention the extent to which it can hide its sugar thanks to both that density and its high acid. Expect it to be well worth following for two decades.
“You had to keep delaying harvest,” says Christoph Schaefer, “but when it did come time, a significant share of the crop needed to be picked pretty quickly,” due to pressure from botrytis. Of course, when two experienced grower-owners have only ten – albeit extremely morsellated – acres to tend, 2010 challenges are a bit more manageable. “It was really important this year,” Schaefer junior continues, “to let the small amount of fruit that was still green hang, because such bunches were retarded in ripeness; high in malic acid; and would have been very noticeable in a blend.” “Even if you have only 10 or 20% of those sour grapes in the picking, you’ll never get that sour note out of the wine” adds Willi Schaefer, who is a champion in other contexts of including fresh green-gold grapes in one’s material, but suspects that failure to recognize the aforementioned danger was the cause of many a disappointing 2010. Notwithstanding – but also not contradicting – that opinion, as I noted in my introduction to this vintage, many Mosel growers observed not only higher concentration of total acidity in precisely their botrytized fruit but also the locking-in of more malic, and as my tasting notes demonstrate, the acids in some of the Schaefers’ most botrytized batches bordered on the obstreperous. “Only after fermentation – in which a significant (but variable) amount of acidity is lost anyway – can you really tell the structure of your wine,” insists Christoph Schaefer, “so what de-acidifying we did – largely in Q.b.A. and Kabinett – was as a correction to wine.” Willi Schaefer is keen to remind us that what tastes balanced is partly an imponderable function of terroir. “You’ll see that ten grams of finished acidity tastes well-integrated and -buffered in wine from one parcel, while a wine with approximately the same gross analysis from another parcel tastes sour. When I see bunches looking and tasting a certain way, and I know where they’re growing, then the analysis doesn’t interest me; I know the wine is going to turn out right.” You can taste that sort of confidence in a 2010 performance from Schaefers of unusual qualitative consistency, even if there will be differences of opinion as to the potential greatness of certain wines that are extreme in ways which would only in this vintage fail to elicit a gasp. “You can’t really say that earlier or later pickings were more successful this year,” adds Schaefer senior, but as at so many top Middle Mosel addresses this year, Spatlese and Auslese predominate, an outcome of which nobody even dreamt at the end of 2010’s rainy September. Only the heaviest lees were separated in January and the rest left in the wines until bottling, which (with the exception of this year’s tiny, sole trocken batch) took place a month later than usual in June.
Importer: Terry Theise Estate Selections, imported by Michael Skurnik Wines, Inc., Syosset, NY; tel. (516) 677-9300
robert_parker
2011
Rating:
92
–92
The Schaefer 2011 Graacher Himmelreich Riesling Kabinett is strikingly delicate and flowery, with lemon, grapefruit and apple wreathed in honeysuckle and mingled with nut oils. Polished both texturally and in terms of its impeccable balance – at 9% alcohol and therefore only modest residual sugar – this is also a little masterpiece of understatement, its sense of mineral and floral finishing impingements quite intricate but asking that you take time to commune with it. That you could do anytime over the next 20 or so years.
“What there was of botrytis was fantastic,” says Christoph Schaefer, “nicely dried and beautiful, but there wasn’t much – nothing compared with 2010 (when it comes to quantities of botrytis wine). But all of the other fruit was wonderfully ripened to Kabinett or Spatlese and what we got over and beyond that came through selecting. With the good October weather we could organize our time and pick without urgency.” “We tried picking earlier but weren’t happy with the results,” adds Willi Schaefer. “We had to wait until the middle to end of October to get optimal flavors. The old vines always have the quality in them and we don’t need to worry. They have their rhythm, and whether they get a bit more or a bit less botrytis we just have to wait and see. It’s really interesting in retrospect,” he continues, “to compare 2011 and 2010. According to the analyses, you’d think ‘there’s a world of difference between these two,’ but in 2010 the acidity is well-buffered whereas in 2011 the wines taste higher in acidity than they are, so the difference is not so enormous.” Certainly there are few 2011 Mosel Rieslings, though, that better illustrate this vintage’s potential to delivery levity and refreshment along with ripeness than do those of Weingut Willi Schaefer. “More Schaefer than 2011” was how Christophe Schaefer pithily but profoundly characterized his A.P. #10, and arguably that applies to all of this vintage’s most successful Schaefer offerings. Bottling was, as usual, in April and May, but while the wines were for the most part left on their fine lees until then – both Schaefers supporting the notion that this was beneficial in 2011, albeit for reasons other than those that applied in 2010 – some of them were racked to tank over the winter as it was felt that more exchange of oxygen in cask was not what most infant 2011s needed.
Importer: Terry Theise Estate Selections, imported by Michael Skurnik Wines, Inc., Syosset, NY; tel. (516) 677-9300
robert_parker
2005
Rating:
90
–90
The Schaefers’ 2005 Graacher Himmelreich Riesling Kabinett offers fresh apple, lemon, honeysuckle, orange and brown spice aromas, a luscious, juicy palate with glossy texture, clear fruit, considerable sweetness, and a finish dripping with ripe citrus and honeysuckle. For all of its sweetness and its sense of sheer stuffing, this displays a lovely sense of delicacy of touch on the palate and lift in the finish. This scores points for sheer generosity, although if I were buying it myself, I would leave it for 6-8 years to let the impression of sweetness somewhat subside.
Importer: Terry Theise Estate Selections, imported by Michael Skurnik Wines, Inc., Syosset, NY; tel. (516) 677-9300
robert_parker
2009
Rating:
91
–91
Pineapple, grapefruit, and cassis in the nose of Schaefers’ 2009 Graacher Himmelreich Riesling Kabinett emerge with brightness, sap, and infectious refreshment on a delicate palate, the wine’s high residual sugar more than tamed and buffered by acids and extract. Hints of spruce resin, citrus rind, salt, and a nettle- as well as pineapple-like pungency add invigoration. Expect this excellent value’s jazzy performance to stimulate and satisfy for 15-20 years.
Most of the harvest of 2009 here was accomplished during the second half of October. "We'd actually reckoned with an earlier start," remarks Christophe Schaefer, "but although the grapes looked beautiful, when we tasted them we thought, 'no we really need to – and we can – wait.'" "The grapes were very stable," adds Willi Schaefer, "and when we did get botrytis – encouraged by a bit of October rain – it dried up nicely. And when you get this sort of late botrytis, it can really concentrate already high acids." Furthermore, parcels in Graach had retained their foliage after the one-night cold snap in early October. All of this year's wines remained on their fine lees at least through March, and the Schaefers pointed out that choices about which to bottle at what Pradikat level were usually made only from cask as the wines evolved, since with the exception of late pickings notably influenced by botrytis, the character of fruit was remarkably uniform. Another feature of 2009 that the Schaefers emphasized was high skin-to-juice ratios, something I certainly thought discernable even before they mentioned this. As a result their yields ended up being even lower than they had been anticipated on the basis of eyeballing and measuring the incoming volume of grapes.
Importer: Terry Theise Estate Selections, imported by Michael Skurnik Wines, Inc., Syosset, NY; tel. (516) 677-9300
robert_parker
2001
Rating:
90
–90
Chamomile aromas dominate the nose of the 2001 Riesling Kabinett Graacher Himmelreich. Delineated, this excellent value has a light to medium-bodied character, impressive grip, and a refined character loaded with liquid minerals and verbena. Drink it between 2004 and 2010.
After tasting these resplendent vinous treasures all I could do was shake my head in bewilderment. Bravo!
Importer: Terry Theise Estate Selections, imported by Michael Skurnik Wines, Inc., Syosset, NY; tel. (516) 677-9300
robert_parker
2002
Rating:
90
–90
The liquid mineral-scented 2002 Riesling Kabinett Graacher Himmelreich is a wide, lush, rich, yet superbly focused wine filled with kiwis, limes and minerals. It has outstanding purity, depth, ripeness, harmony, and an extremely long finish. Drink it over the next 15 years.
Importer: Terry Theise Estate Selections, imported by Michael Skurnik Wines, Inc., Syosset, NY; tel. (516) 677-9300
robert_parker
2003
Rating:
90
–90
A complex and expressive wine, the 2003 Riesling Kabinett Graacher Himmelreich displays a profound nose of chalk, white flowers, spices, and limestone. Upon tasting this beauty I double-checked the bottle’s label as Kabinetts of this intensity, depth, and concentration are few and far between. Its personality bursts on the palate, expands, and releases flavors reminiscent of ripe green apples, raspberries, red currants, pears, limestone, and salty minerals that seamlessly extend into its impressively long finish. Projected maturity: now-2014. Bravo to Willi Schaefer for having crafted such beauties!
Importer: Terry Theise Estate Selections, imported by Michael Skurnik Wines, Inc., Syosset, NY; tel. (516) 677-9300
robert_parker
1996
Rating:
87
–87
This wine reveals lovely spices, herbal teas, minerals, and fresh flower aromas as well as a sharp, strident, super-focused, and steely personality. It has the requisite ripeness and density to balance its searing raciness, but those readers who tend to avoid wines with abnormally high levels of acidity should steer clear of this offering. Anticipated maturity: 2001-2005. A Terry Theise Estate Selection, Imported by Kronheim & Co., Jessup, MD; tel. (410) 724-3369. (Reviewed by P. A. Rovani)
