Robert Weil

In the village of Kidrich, first mentioned as far back as 905, the ‘Weingut Robert Weil’ winery has been producing Riesling for four generations. It is one of the most respected estates in the Rheingau, a member of the VDP association, and is rightly regarded as a symbol of German Riesling at its finest.

History

The founder, Dr Robert Weil, was a professor of German at the Sorbonne in Paris. In 1867, he acquired his first vineyards on the Kidricher Berg, but was subsequently forced to leave France due to the impending Franco-Prussian War of 1870–71. He settled in Kiedrich, purchasing the estate of the late English baronet Sir John Sutton. From 1875 onwards, he expanded the estate by acquiring the finest plots on the Kiedricher Berg.

His Auslese Rieslings were served at European imperial and royal courts. In 1928, the Kiedricher Gräfenberg Trockenbeerenauslese appeared on the wine list of the airship LZ 127 Graf Zeppelin during its maiden voyage to New York.

Today, the estate is managed by Wilhelm Weil, a representative of the fourth generation of the family.

Vineyards, terroir and grape varieties

The estate covers 90 hectares, all of which are planted with Riesling. All the vines grow on three steep south-west facing slopes in Kiedrich: Klosterberg, Turmberg and Grafenberg, each with a gradient of up to 60% and an altitude of up to 240 metres.

The soils on all three plots are stony and coarse-grained, rich in phyllite, a metamorphic clay shale that is constantly weathering and provides the vineyards with a continuous supply of minerals.

Grafenberg is the estate’s flagship VDP.Grosse Lage wine. Turmberg, re-established in 2005 as a 3.8-hectare single-vineyard plot, falls into the VDP.Erste Lage category. No herbicides are used; only organic fertilisers are permitted. All grapes are harvested by hand.

Winemaking and wines

The range covers the entire spectrum of Riesling: from dry Grosses Gewächs through the traditional semi-dry Tradition style to the noble sweet Spätlese, Auslese, Beerenauslese and Trockenbeerenauslese. The wines are vinified in the cellar as gently as possible, and wines from individual vineyards are bottled separately to preserve their individual characteristics.

For 25 consecutive vintages, the estate has produced Prädikat wines of all levels of maturity, including Trockenbeerenauslese.