Starts out with enticing peach, apricot and passion fruit flavors, kept plump and juicy by the smooth texture and underlying acidity. Nicely balanced, this picks up an attractive mineral accent on the long aftertaste. Best from 2012 through 2022. 2,166 cases made. –BS

The Weil 2009 Kiedricher Grafenberg Riesling Erstes Gewachs was picked early in November, a week later than its non-Erstes Gewachs counterpart; was vinified 80% in cask (rather than around 50% as with Weils other single-vineyard dry Rieslings); and was exposed to additional lees-stirring. The sheer volume (at 13.5% alcohol), breadth, and (satiny) textural caress here surpasses the other dry wines in the present collection, but I miss the sense of primary juiciness, vivacity, interplay, and florality that accrue to its ostensibly lesser sibling. The more plastic, statuesque sense to this wine may well be whats intended, but strikes me as less winsome as well as less typical of the unique sort of elegance of which Riesling from this great site (or for that matter other top Rheingau vineyards) is capable. Fruit pit piquancy and chalk and stone mineral intimations inform a formidably persistent finish. I would anticipate at least 10-12 years of impressive performance though Weil expects his wine to far exceed my conservative prognostication. - David Schildknecht

Rich, oily and just slightly sweet, this is a broad-shouldered Riesling, redolent of honey, heating oil and wet rocks. It's powerful and concentrated without being fruity, delivering instead a mouthful of stones and spice and ending with a peppery bite.