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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Vinous
The 2024 Riesling Graacher Himmelreich Auslese contains almost no botrytized fruit. Only the slightest note of zesty lemon breaks through on the shy nose. More air reveals a hint of mint sorbet. The palate, however, adds an intriguing sweetness that is so akin to the wonderfully zesty notions of green tangerine peel. The next wave of flavor pushes into greengage and juicy white peach notes, always tempered by vivid citrus. The 2024 has gorgeous linearity and such a tingling, sherbet-like insistence. It is simply wonderful and so utterly balanced. (Sweet)
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James Suckling
In spite of the generous ripeness, the dominant aromas and flavors are Amalfi lemons, yellow grapefruit and pomelo with some fresh herbal notes. Very bright and racy, the finish much drier than you might expect for this frankly sweet category. Long, energetic, herbal finish with fascinating grapefruit bitterness and salty minerality.
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
The 2024 Graacher Himmelreich Auslese is pure and flinty on the intense and stony nose that reveals herbal and saline notes along with blackcurrant and dark plum skin aromas. Lush and precise on the palate, this is a concentrated yet refined and elegant, mouth-filling and textured Auslese based on ripe and partly overripe grapes. AP 7.5% stated alcohol. Natural cork.
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Wine Spectator
Lush, fleshy notes of apricot, green mango and passion fruit, mouthfilling and rich, are cut with steely mineral and cool river stone elements. Fennel, celery and fresh herbs detail the juicy palate. Stays pristine and beautifully pure and bristles with energy.
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.