Mother Nature writes the most suspenseful stories, although we could happily do without. End of Mai we experienced the earliest-ever flowering, and the clusters developed magnificently. Rain and sun always came at the right time and in June the vegetation was two weeks ahead compared to average years.

The summer was not too warm; alternating between sunny and cloudy with little rain and so provided excellent conditions for the development of fine, elegant fruit flavours and clear minerality. The grapes were so beautiful – just perfect, the crop seemed very good and we were looking forward to the harvest.

On 26th of August 2011 our anticipation was destroyed. Ten kilometers up and down the Mosel from Graach, we had a hailstorm with hailstones as big as tennis balls. Within fifteen minutes all cars parking outside, many roofs, windows and frontages were damaged. And we feared huge damages in the vineyards, too. About 15% of the grapes were lying on the ground. But at least this was followed by good weather for the affected grapes still hanging on the vine. First we had rain, which washed the sugar out of the damaged grapes. Then it was cool and dry and those grapes dried out and did not affect the healthy grapes. Thank God we got off fairly lightly – at least concerning the vineyards, in the end the hail had only been a natural green selection.

We started harvesting 1st of October 2011. With very summery days and cool nights, it was fabulous, and the grapes profited from the sunshine, as did we.

The grapes were selected very carefully with a lot of handwork. Wonderful botrytised grapes and shrivelled berries were selected. Grapes which had not reached their physiological ripeness level by then, remained on the vines and enjoyed the good weather until they were good enough later on.

Due to these outstanding conditions we can be very pleased about this vintage. The acidities are rather low but obvious and the fruit and minerality are pronounced. The young wines are promising and are showing elegant characters paired with perfect ripeness. We are very happy!

Weingut Willi Schaefer, Graach an der Mosel, im Februar 2012