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A milestone in the history of the Rheingau Riesling dry! 98/100 Points

Stephan Reinhardt (Robert M. Parker The Wine Advocate, April 2021)

The complete article >>

Quote: "Produced for the first time since 1921, Weil's 2018 Riesling Monte Vacano offers a very clear, pure, fresh, refined and flinty quartzite bouquet with an intense, perfectly ripe lemon and white peach aroma that represents the coolish and crystalline soul of this special selection from a particular phyllite section within the Grosse Lage Gräfenberg. With the historical cadastral name Lay, it is located at the transition from the Gräfenberg to the Turmberg and adds a unique, absolutely fabulous Riesling to the Weil range. On the palate, this is full-bodied, intense, dense, highly elegant and seamlessly textured; thus, it's an incredibly fine and balanced dry Rheingau classic with great purity and a sustainable and energetic finish. The wine is enormously dense and intense yet also finessed and perfectly balanced due to its delicate yet structuring tannins and this ripe, fine and elegant 2018 acidity. The finish is clear, crystalline and salty, with this typical slate salivation on the finish. This is a bone-dry Riesling and this is what makes it so perfectly balanced and lean as well as tensioned and exciting. This is one of the finest young Rheingau Rieslings I have ever tasted, and I am very sure it is a classic that will still be spoken about in decades. Aged on the lees for for 22 months (with no addition of sulfur) the Monte Vacano is something completely different from the Gräfenberg Grand Cru: not as powerful, rich and mighty but unrivaled in its purity, finesse and elegance. Any price is well deserved. 1,650 liters have been produced, which made 1,200 bottles and 300 magnums (auction price: 520 euros net). A 12-liter Balthasar bottle has been auctioned recently for 18,000 euros net. Tasted twice, once in August 2020 and again in March 2021. When the founder of the domain, Dr. Robert Weil, began to buy vineyards in the Kiedrich mountain in 1875, he was able to acquire this special parcel thanks to the dowry of his wife, from the family of the Nobles of Vacano. From then on, the Riesling from this parcel bore the name Monte Vacano and remained a "family affair" exclusively reserved for the Weil and Vacano families. In the 1920s, this tradition fell dormant but has now been resumed with the 2018 vintage, which sets a milestone in the history of dry Rheingau Riesling.

For years, Wilhelm Weil has been producing one of the finest dry Rieslings in Germany, the Kiedrich Gräfenberg Grosses Gewächs. However, following an old family tradition that was discontinued 100 years ago but is now a popular trend, Weil decided to top the finest wine of the domain with a rare Über wine from a very special plot and with a very special quality. The resulting wine is the Monte Vacano (1,200 bottles for the general market, plus another 300 which are kept at the domain). Sourced from a phyllite plot named Lay that connects the Gräfenberg with the Turmberg and aged in a large oak cask for nearly two years, the Monte Vacano is a fascinatingly pure, fresh and elegant as well as finessed and tensioned dry Rheingau classic that can age for decades. Compared with the Monte Vacano, the 2018 GG from the Gräfenberg is a completely different wine: richer, more powerful and compact, provided with tight tannins and stimulating phenolic grip. The GG is a wine that should be aged for several years; the Monte Vacano, however, does fascinate my palate. I'll report on the 2019 Monte Vacano in late summer or early autumn."