Willi Schaefer Graacher Domprobst Riesling Spatlese 2005

Willi Schaefer farms barely four hectares in Graach, all Riesling, roughly 2,900 cases a year, from a family whose records in these vineyards reach back to 1121. Graacher Domprobst, named for the Trier cathedral official who once drew a share of its fruit, is the estate's shadowy, mineral heart: weathered Devonian slate over clay and a deep water table, always the slowest Schaefer wine to unfold. 2005 was a ripe Mosel year of high must weights that held onto its acidity, and over twenty years in bottle have brought this Spätlese to full maturity: peach and citrus now shaded by wet stone and a classic whisper of petrol, sweetness and still-lively acidity in balance through a long, fresh finish. A library release from the era of Willi Schaefer himself, a decade before son Christoph took the helm. Mature Mosel of this pedigree rarely surfaces.