Weingut Willi Schaefer

Weingut Willi Schaefer is a small family-run winery that produces Riesling exclusively because this grape variety thrives on their weathered Devonian slate soil. The winemaking history of the Schaefer Family dates back to at least 1121, when they were first mentioned in official deed documents. The estate has remained in family hands for that entire time, with an unquenchable passion for Riesling passing from on generation to the next.

Christoph Schaefer took the estate’s reins in 2002, drawing on his father Willi’s deep trove of experience. In the summer of 2015, Willi stepped down and turned over the estate in full to his son Christoph and daughter-in-law Andrea. The estate’s holdings comprise 4 hectare of small parcels dispersed among the steep prized vineyard slopes of the Graacher Domprobst and Graacher Himmelreich, as well as on the Whlener Sonnenuhr.

Weingut Willi Schaefer is renowned for its elegant, distinctive and transparent Rieslings with artfully integrated sweetness and incredible longevity. To achieve this, the Schaefers are dedicated to a meticulous hand harvest, careful maturation in traditional Fuder barrels and an artist’s instincts. Despite extremely limited quantities, the estate enjoys stellar international reputation. The vineyard plots are located on steep slate slopes and consist of up to 100-year-old, ungrafted vines. German VDP member since 1993 with an annual bottle production of 30,000–35,000