Robert Weil Monte Vacano Riesling Trocken 2021

Based in the town of Kiedrich, Weil’s wines are fuelled by three epic, high-altitude, south-facing vineyards in Klosterberg, Turmberg and most famously, Gräfenberg, all situated in the foothills of the Taunus Mountains. From these historic sites, Wilhelm Weil, a pioneer of ‘earth to glass’ wine growing, guides Rheingau Riesling to its most seamless, precise expression and, in doing so, produces some of the world’s most inspirational examples of the grape. While Wilhelm Weil’s meticulous, everything by hand, berry by berry, approach, is a key factor in understanding the remarkable precision of these wines, it is, as always, the vineyards that dictate the ultimate quality and personality of the wines produced. These steep, stony, mineral-rich vineyards are managed in order to maximise their terroir expression. Herbicides are never used, and as the aim here is to encourage life in the soil, only organic manure is applied, and cover crops are grown to add to the organic matter. Grapes are harvested by hand with as many as 17 passes through the vineyard, ensuring only the most pristine and perfectly ripe grapes make it into each wine. In the winery, all fruit receives a pre-ferment maceration, typically between 6-24 hours (or a lengthy 72 hours for the Erstes Gewächs). There is a very gentle pressing of whole berries, the musts are allowed to start fermenting naturally and spend varying times on lees subject to the cuvée. The resulting wines are exhilaratingly pure and ultra-precise Rieslings, each intense in both fruit and mineral punch.