Weingut Robert Weil was founded in 1875 in the small town of Kiedrich in the heart of the Rheingau. The Rheingau is one of Germany’s most highly regarded regions for Riesling and is located on the Taunus Mountain Range just a short drive southwest of Hamburg. The state-of-the-art winery is flawless; not one item is out of place or detail overlook and the wines reflect this attention to detail. There is a plethora of temperature-controlled fermentation vessels for the winemaker to use from large traditional Rheingau “Stück” casks of 1,200 liters to “Doppelstück” casks of 2,400 and 4,800-liters cask all the way down to tiny, waist-high stainless tanks for the smallest lots of late-harvest wines, known as Trockenbeerenauslese (TBA). For this particular wine, whole clusters are gently pressed into large traditional casks where micro-oxidation assists in creating more complexity to the final wine. All of the wines are all fermented with natural yeasts, including this example, which is fermented dry, or “Trocken.” Germany regulates that Trocken wines contain less than nine g/hl of residual sugar; the small amount of sugar softens the incredibly high and refreshing natural acidity in the Riesling varietal.

Robert Weil’s three most prized sites are today’s Turmberg vineyard, the famous Klosterberg and most expensive, flagship Gräfenberg, all of which are located in the village of Kiedrich. Our offer today hails from the Turmberg vineyard and brings with it a history as rich as the dry, succulent nectar itself. In 1160, the archbishops of Mainz built the fortified castle, Burg Scharfenstein, on a steep 780-foot precipice, which was intended to protect the Rheingau on its eastern flank as well as the crucial trade route that traversed the important stops in Eltville, Limburg and Cologne. The surrounding vines were planted in 1109 and the vineyard takes its name, Turmburg, which translates to, “tower hill,” from the central tower that still survives from the former castle. As a matter of fact, the castle’s tower and its two six-spoke wheels are continually represented in the Kiedrich village’s seal and coat of arms. Since the government wine laws of 1971 and its vineyard registration, numerous historic vineyards, including Turmberg, were incorporated into large sites. Luckily, the Turmberg parcel was re-designated an individual vineyard in 1995 with sole ownership of the 3.8 hectares remaining in the hands of Weingut Robert Weil. This celebrated vineyard is nestled on the steep slopes of a slate crag. Its stony soils are comprised of phyllite with a touch of loess and loam. (Note you can see the Tower in the video with the Turmberg vineyard below)