With each new release, the Willi Schaefer legend deepens. Magical Rieslings have been made here for decades, yet third-generation winemaker Christoph Schaefer has brought even greater expressiveness and dimension to the wines. And he has done so while hewing closely to the ways of his predecessors.

As John Gilman has written, Schaefer is at “the very pinnacle of great estates on the Mosel, with many of the most sophisticated connoisseurs of German wines now pursuing the wines … with the same passion as they do the wines of Egon Müller."

And at the absolute top of the Schaefer hierarchy is their profound Beerenauslese, made only a few times a decade in quantities that can only be described as miniscule.

Schaefer's Beerenauslese stand apart from others of the genre for their elegance and finesse, despite their richness.

Gilman: “97 rating ... There has not been a Beerenauslese in the Schaefer cellars since the beautiful 2015 version, and this 2018 is a marvelous follow-up to that great wine. The bouquet here is beautiful complex and gently tropical in profile, wafting from the glass in a blend of mirabelle, mango, fresh pineapple, honey, violets, orange zest and a lovely bass-note of slate. On the palate the wine is pure, full-bodied, zesty and laser-like in its focus, with a bottomless core, great elegance and lift, a creamy attack and a very long, absolutely electric finish. This is stunning.”