“So you will have your second Christmas tomorrow!… Excuse me?… You know, it’s like you write your Christmas list, send it through, cross your fingers and if you get what you wished for, or even anything at all, it’s like Christmas came again!” Our waiter in Bernkastel couldn’t have summed it up any better; allocations of wines from Willi Schaefer are cherished with reverence by the fortunate few.

Christoph Schaefer, the proud and doting father of 2 young gents, is clearly a happy chap, particularly in light of the results of the 2009 vintage. Whilst smaller than they would have liked, on our arrival at the cellar in May, the crop was already walking itself out the door to the expectant fanatics. “A really good season, so a really good vintage was expected;” a succinct summary, which is also reflected in the range of wines produced this vintage. Global warming would probably dictate that this is now the norm, yet for tradition’s sake, flowering was earlier than normal, but not as early as in 2007. A very good summer with timely and respectable outbursts of rain, had led to grapes with a wonderful acid structure at the beginning of October. A little rain fell in the middle of the month, thus the rigorous and selective harvest began on the 16th October, at which point only the ripest grapes were selected, in order to reduce the risk of having unwanted green notes in the wines. However, the rain ceased soon after and would not return for another 3 weeks; with sunny days and cool nights, the grapes were allowed to ripen gracefully and retained their fantastic acidity as a result. Grapes for Auslese and BA were harvested towards the end of October and with the threat of rain in early November the push was on. The rain finally arrived on the 2nd November, at which point two parcels remained. The decision was taken to sacrifice them to the winter frosts, which resulted in the grapes for the Eiswein being harvested in the middle of December.

Overall, 2009 is a vintage of charming fruit, which imparts an immediate approachability, but with a solid backbone of sublime, ripe acidity and a structure that will support a long and intriguing evolution.
For Christoph, this is without a doubt a fantastic vintage for Spätlese.

“What of father Willi?” you ask. Well, besides overseeing operations from his new abode in the commune perched above the Himmelreich, he was heard outside in the garden, instructing his grandchildren on what we presumed, given our German is close to null, were their first lessons on pruning.

In an attempt to give the wines of Willi Schaefer a voice that deserves to be heard above the raucous blurb surrounding the 2009 Bordeaux campaign this offer was delayed, yet in the wake of the recent humiliation by our old foe, perhaps nobody wants to hear about the Germans…

As always our allocations are small, but there is limited availability remaining, so if you are interested please contact us without delay.

Benjamin Ireson