Winemaker Notes
Graacher Himmelreich directly borders the southern edge of the Wehlener Sonnenuhr vineyard. The wines from this site often rival the quality of those from its more famous neighbor, especially in hot, dry years. Graacher wines attract with their racy acidity, a pronounced minerality (that reminds of crushed rock) and slightly different fruit aromas and flavors (more citrus). Often, the wines become accessible slightly earlier than the Wehlener Sonnenuhr and are deliciously mouth-watering when young. The vineyard has a south-west exposure and it is a little less steep with deeper soils that act as excellent water reservoirs.
Professional Ratings
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James Suckling
This youthful Mosel riesling Auslese has a vibrancy and precision that is often missing in these wines, blanketed by thick botrytis richness. I love the mint and chamomile freshness that pulls you into this juicy and concentrated wine and also make it very filigreed on the medium-bodied palate. Incredible precision and subtlety in the super-long finish.
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
The 2023 Graacher Himmelreich Auslese is very clear and precise on the elegant and delicate nose that reveals mango and other tropical as well as ripe peach aromas. Savory and crystalline on the palate, this Himmelreich Auslese is highly stimulating in all its finessed juiciness, grip and salivating salinity. The finish is long, playful and irresistible. 8% stated alcohol. Natural cork.
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Vinous
The 2023 Riesling Graacher Himmelreich Auslese, made virtually without botrytis from fully ripe grapes, offers a shy tone of stone and yeast. The palate features Mirabelle jelly with lovely overtones of lemon balm and fern, wonderfully cut by freshness with a pithy, zesty edge of lime and mainly pale lemon. The finish resembles lemon and yellow plum sorbet, exquisitely fresh and palate-cleansing, yet with exquisite sweetness. Incredibly fine, slender and so balanced.
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Wine Spectator
Petrol and crushed slate lay the foundation for unctuous notes of green apple and meadow blossoms. Bitter mineral elements add contrast, and the silky palate shows depth while coursing with finely beaded acidity. A pristine, pure style, with real delicacy.
Riesling possesses a remarkable ability to reflect the character of wherever it is grown while still maintaining its identity. A regal variety of incredible purity and precision, this versatile grape can be just as enjoyable dry or sweet, young or old, still or sparkling and can age longer than nearly any other white variety. Somm Secret—Given how difficult it is to discern the level of sweetness in a Riesling from the label, here are some clues to find the dry ones. First, look for the world “trocken.” (“Halbtrocken” or “feinherb” mean off-dry.) Also a higher abv usually indicates a drier Riesling.
Following the Mosel River as it slithers and weaves dramatically through the Eifel Mountains in Germany’s far west, the Mosel wine region is considered by many as the source of the world’s finest and longest-lived Rieslings.
Mosel’s unique and unsurpassed combination of geography, geology and climate all combine together to make this true. Many of the Mosel’s best vineyard sites are on the steep south or southwest facing slopes, where vines receive up to ten times more sunlight, a very desirable condition in this cold climate region. Given how many twists and turns the Mosel River makes, it is not had to find a vineyard with this exposure. In fact, the Mosel’s breathtakingly steep slopes of rocky, slate-based soils straddle the riverbanks along its entire length. These rocky slate soils, as well as the river, retain and reflect heat back to the vineyards, a phenomenon that aids in the complete ripening of its grapes.
Riesling is by far the most important and prestigious grape of the Mosel, grown on approximately 60% of the region’s vineyard land—typically on the desirable sites that provide the best combination of sunlight, soil type and altitude. The best Mosel Rieslings—dry or sweet—express marked acidity, low alcohol, great purity and intensity with aromas and flavors of wet slate, citrus and stone fruit. With age, the wine’s color will become more golden and pleasing aromas of honey, dried apricot and sometimes petrol develop.
Other varieties planted in the Mosel include Müller-Thurgau, Spätburgunder (Pinot Noir) and Weissburgunder (Pinot Blanc), all performing quite well here.