$110.00
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Region: Rheingau, Germany
Grape: Riesling
First Glance: perfumed, mineral, structured, long-lived
Robert Weil is without a doubt one of the most iconic producers in the Rheingau region, and is now in the hands of 4th generation Wilhelm Weil, who continues the family legacy stretching back to 1867 when the family first bought vineyards on the Kiedricher Berg, adjacent the Rhine River. Today the family owns 90 hectares entirely comprised of premium Riesling vineyards on the steep hillsides surrounding the picturesque estate, and continues making wines of incredible drive, purity and longevity.
Stylistically the Rheingau wines, whether sweet or dry, sit at the lighter and more lifted end of the spectrum for German Riesling. They share many similarities with the pure-fruited and ethereal style of the Mosel, but with a little more supple fruit and rounded acidity than its Moselle cousins.
The Turmberg (Tower Hill) vineyard is named for the old Tower which still overlooks the site, originally part of a fortress complex built in the mid 1100's. The vineyard is characterised by Phyllite bedrock (a layered, schist derived rock), with top soils of loess and loam, giving the wine a bit more volume and approachability. The site neighbours the famous Grafenberg vineyard, and could be released as a GG (Grosses Gewächs - the German Grand Cru classification), but for the Weils, the reverence for its more iconic sibling compels them to reserve that moniker for the Grafenberg bottling only. Vinified in traditional 2500L doppelstuckfass casks for 10 months, allowing the wine to breathe and unfold its layers of complexity.
The Best Cellars View:
Labelling technicalities aside, The Turmberg is a grand wine in its own right, and displays and incredible interplay of racy acid, layered fruit and gripping minerality, as well as just a hint of an underlying savoury complexity, which will no doubt unfold over the next decade or more. This is what top German Riesling is all about: Power with grace, intensity coupled with weightlessness.
While the new vintage is yet to be reviewed, the 2020 review will provide a reference of the quality on offer:
(2020 vintage) - 96 points, The Wine Advocate
Full-bodied, refined and elegant on the palate, this is lush, intense and expressive, seriously structured, very long, complex and tensioned. Incredibly dense and compact
