Wilhelm Weil, who learned the winemaking craft from the ground up, set the course for the winery's future in 1987 with decisive decisions. With farsighted investments in the cellar and vineyard and the introduction of the Tiffany blue label, he, the great-grandson of the founder, brought worldwide attention to Weil Riesling.
On the winery's 90 hectares of vineyard area, only Riesling is grown. The consistent cultivation of the king of grape varieties, as well as working in the vineyard according to the standards of ecologically certified viticulture – with purely organic fertilization, cover cropping every other row, and the avoidance of herbicides – aim, as they have since the winery's founding, at the sustainable production of the most valuable wines.
The quality and distinctive identity of a wine originate in the vineyard. The vineyards of the Robert Weil winery, located on high slopes in the foothill zone of the Taunus ridge, are among the best in the Rheingau. The vines, planted at a density of 5,000 to 6,000 stocks per hectare, are sometimes more than 50 years old.
Harvest rarely begins before October and lasts at least eight weeks. During this period of intensive selective handpicking with up to seventeen passes through the vineyards, our goal is to harvest all Riesling Prädikats from the best grapes up to Trockenbeerenauslese. A goal that has been achieved year after year in a unique, uninterrupted sequence worldwide since the 1989 vintage.
Gentle handling of the harvest is the top priority at the Robert Weil winery: Using vibration grape carts for transport, the grapes are brought to the presses according to the vertical principle. After gentle pressing, the musts flow by gravity into the receiving tank storage, where they are pre-clarified by natural sedimentation.
The planned style of a wine determines the choice of container: full-bodied, dry wines are fermented and aged in large wooden barrels, where they develop complex structures through micro-oxygenation, while lighter, fruit-forward, and noble sweet Rieslings are fermented in stainless steel tanks to best highlight their finesse and elegance.
