2008 Kiedricher Grafenberg Spatlese

Weil’s 2008 Kiedricher Grafenberg Spatlese epitomizes the notion of liquid florality, exemplified by lily, honeysuckle, sweet pea, and heliotrope, to which quince and luscious white peach are allied. The combination of creaminess with clarity and vivacity is memorably achieved. A savory, engaging sense of salinity and rich, almost confectionary undertones of nut paste team up for one of those 2008 showings that is paradoxically at once soothing and invigorating. There is an effortless and dynamic sense of length surpassing that of the Turmberg, and it is hard to imagine a much lovelier evocation of this site or indeed of residually sweet Spatlese per se. This will doubtless be worth following for 25 or more years. Lasting from mid-October to mid-November, the 2008 harvest was relatively early and short by the standards of Weingut Robert Weil, if not by those prevailing in most German Riesling-growing establishments. Wilhelm Weil thought the changing ratio of malic to tartaric acid was critical during October, and that the relative increase in tartaric – and its eventual precipitation in almost unprecedented amounts in cask – is what made possible impeccably-balanced 2008s. “I think,” he asserts, “that the 2008s combine the advantages of 2006 and 2007: the stuffing and energy of 2006 with the purity and elegance of 2007.” Importer: Loosen Brothers, Portland, OR tel. (510) 864-7255