Like Italy and France, Germany has more than its fair share of revered historic hillside vineyards. Few of these can match the history and majesty of the Gräfenberg in Rheingau’s Keidrich Valley. Planted in the 12th century by the monks from Kloster Erbach, it was then known as mons Rhingravii, the mountain of the Rhine Counts. By the late 19th century, Dr Robert Weil’s Gräfenberg Rieslings were superstar wines of their day. Indeed, we could consider them amongst the first ever ‘icon wines’; the legendary 1893 Auslese traded hands for sums far exceeding Bordeaux or Burgundy’s top growths.When you visit the Weil estate, it does not take long to figure out why the vineyards of Kiedrich have been referred to as the Côte d’Or of the Rhiengau. The Gräfenberg is particularly well-sited. Reaching up to 60% gradient in some places, it is among the region’s steepest vineyards, and the vines face south to west, benefiting from the evening sunshine and aerated by fall winds from the Taunus Mountains. Another asset is the metamorphic phyllite soils, which limit yields and offer the deep root systems good access to water. The growing season is long and slow; it is not uncommon for Weil to harvest noble grapes deep into December. International Fine Wines boss Robert Walters was recently fortunate to taste three eras of Weil’s dry Riesling from the Gräfenberg, and he posted a blog recounting the different generations of this vineyard and its wine. What is particularly interesting are the similarities in the growing and winemaking spanning almost a century: organically grown vines, low yields, natural fermentation and extended lees aging in old oak casks. But then, that is the point. Wilhelm Weil’s aim has long been to replicate the style and quality of those celebrated full-bodied dry wines produced in the Rheingau a century ago.The 2022 release is an outrageously impressive wine: deep yet full of driving precision, stunningly delicious yet tightly wound, with the power to keep improving for decades. I’m sure our wine-loving descendants will look back and say that we were lucky to live in an era when somebody could still purchase a wine of this quality for half the price of a 1er Cru white Burgundy! The same, however, may not be said of Weil’s newest label, Monte Vacano. Drawn from an ancient Katasterlage (lieu-dit) on the steepest and stoniest section of the Gräfenberg, Weil’s rarest and most costly dry wine is already a wine for the few. Just two 1,200-litre barrels are produced of a wine that makes many a Grand Cru Burgundy look inelegant by comparison. What goes around comes around.