2017 Dr. Pauly-Bergweiler Riesling Kabinett Graacher Himmelreich Mosel Germany 750 ml

Drinking Riesling with the Master

The size of Mr. Bergweiler’s hands didn’t seem quite real. We had spent the morning with him touring the estate vineyards from which this bear of a man crafts some of the most energetic, mineral white wines on earth, and had just gotten settled into a table at his winery in Bernkastel. Standing before him was a line-up of bottles that would make even the most jaded wine pro’s heart skip a beat: Rieslings from Wehlener Sonnenuhr, from Zeltinger Himmelreich, from Urziger Würzgarten—Germany’s equivalent of Grands Crus.

The juxtaposition was incredible: How had wine of such precision and detail been crafted by hands that looked about ready to crush the Riedel glass they were holding?

“Ah,” Mr. Bergweiler said after removing his nose from today’s 2017 Graacher Himmelreich Riesling. Leaning back in his chair and laughing heartily, a smile spreading across his face. “This one has a story. We never expected this one to make it! The frost that April was brutal, and we could’ve lost everything.”

We looked at the shimmering liquid in his glass and took a swallow. “But this is incredible!” Vanessa shouted.

That, of course, is part of the magic of the best vineyards in the world, which Graacher Himmelreich undoubtedly is: Even in the most trying conditions, their true pedigree shines through. And this particular one has outstanding pedigree—Located in the middle Mosel, between Bernkastel and Wehlen, the village of Graach sits smack in the middle of the longest, continuous stretch of great Riesling vineyards in the world. The Romans knew 2000 years ago that this was prime winegrowing land, and the vineyard name literally translates to “Kingdom of Heaven.”

The steep slope of the Grosse Lage (Grand Cru) Graacher Himmelriech faces south and southwest, towering high above the light-reflecting and temperature-moderating Mosel river. The north side of this hill chain forms a protective barrier to cold winds and chilly air from the north. With an incline of between 45% and 75%, the vines benefit from maximal exposure to the arc of the sun.

The vineyard itself is covered in up to 15 feet of deep, weathered, grey and blue Devonian slate which forces the roots to extend very deep into the earth to find water. This special slate “soil” warms quickly and early in the day, absorbing and storing solar heat which radiates back to the vines during the cool evenings, yielding perfectly ripe, intensely flavored grapes even in this cool climate.

A few weeks after our visit, Wine Enthusiast echoed Vanessa’s enthusiastic sentiments, praising the 2017 as “a sprightly, punchy Kabinett, pulsating with concentrated white grapefruit and lime flavors yet anchored by tones of steel and slate.” And then Wine & Spirits awarded it 94 points, calling it “fragrant and filigreed, [with] scents of jasmine and lime leaf leading into notes of lime, apple and mango.”

But we knew that already—we’d figured it out before our first glass was finished. The man with the massive hands had crafted an unforgettable wine from the fruit of that initially challenging vintage, extracting this intensely concentrated, impeccably balanced liquid from a crop that at one point seemed to be on the verge of tragedy.

“That’s the risk and the beauty of farming wine here,” Bergweiler replied, taking another sip from his glass. “The climate can turn extreme, but when things go right, even after a frost like that, the potential is infinite.”

By the time we left, we had a deal: Wine Access would have the US exclusive on this magical Riesling, and the winery would send it directly to us, with no other stop in between the Mosel and our customers’ cellars.

Bergweiler’s hands worked a miracle in 2017, and Wine Access members will get to be the only connoisseurs in America to experience it. Drink up.