2018 Willi Schaefer Graacher Domprobst Riesling Spätlese #10 Mosel Germany 750 ml

This kind of legend rarely comes at a modest price. But while the micro-production Riesling Domprobst Spätlese #10 expresses everything we crave in a gloriously off-dry white wine, it’s also ridiculously cheap for its pedigree, making it one of the best and most age-worthy wines under $50 from any region. 

Riesling devotees may already know the spiritual rewards this wine offers, but we’re on a mission to spread the word as far and wide as physically possible. Because while Willi Schaefer is one of the smallest estates in the Mosel, we can’t overstate the outsized importance of its 900-year-old tradition, nor the value their wines represent today.

Master Sommelier Sur Lucero, our in-house expert, said Weingut Willi Schaefer is “simply one of the most noble estates in Germany, making wine from what some would say is the most noble white grape in the world, on one of its very best sites.” 

And our colleagues at Mosel Fine Wines put it this way: “Weingut Willi Schaefer stands as one of the foundations of Riesling and this not only for Graach but for the Mosel as a whole.” A signature bottle from a stellar vintage made by one of the world’s greats. If this were Burgundy, Napa, or Piedmont, we’d be talking about a wine that’s quadruple the price. 

But because it’s Mosel, with this icon you get massive dividends for very little cost. We’re offering the Domprobst Spätlese #10 for as low as $36 per bottle on case purchases. And this is definitely a wine you’ll want to place in the back of the cellar. It springs to life in the glass right now, and we recommend tasting a bottle or two in the near term. But savvy members will stock enough to enjoy the #10’s beauty well beyond this decade into the next.

Vinous called it “infectiously juicy, buoyant and bright,” noting that the distinct sweetness of the spätlese (grapes picked for medium-to-high ripeness) in this case is “supportive rather than extraneous.” Wine Spectator hailed it as “harmonious” overall. And everyone who has tasted it has noted its potential to mature late into the 2030s. 

While perfectly crystalline and vibrant, the wine also reaches an ineffable Zen-like state of calm, a quality we find in only the most remarkable Mosel wines. With #10, the interplay of rigid form and ethereal lift reveals lush pear and apple as well as bright citrus flavors structured around mineral edges and a finely drawn acid, all cushioned by a slow sweetness that crescendos elegantly from the background.

The subtlety of all that tension comes from Andrea and Christoph Schaefer’s exacting standards, which start with their meticulous vineyard techniques. The estate only tends about 10 acres in total, perched on slopes that reach 75 degrees on their rise from river to ridge above the villages of Graach and Wehlen. Between those two sites, they cultivate more than 100 micro-parcels, many containing century-old vines. They treat each parcel individually, looking to optimize the idiosyncrasies of every grape in every vintage, ultimately picking and sorting by hand to achieve the perfect amount of ripeness for each cuvée. It’s truly the height of viticultural intention.  

That precision shows itself in spades in the 2018 Domprobst Spätlese #10. Iconic wine, stellar vintage, legendary producer.