2020 Willi Schaefer Spatlese Riesling 5 Domprobst

Collectors call Weingut Willi Schaefer the holy grail of German Riesling: a four-hectare family estate, tiny by choice, whose wines are so coveted that other German winemakers line up for allocations. Christoph Schaefer refuses to expand, "with four hectares, we can control everything", ferments on wild yeasts in ancient casks, and chases one thing: wines of impossible lightness and total transparency.

His crown jewel is the Domprobst, "the cathedral provost," a dizzyingly steep wall of blue Devonian slate above Graach that gives the darkest, most mineral Rieslings in the village. In top years he bottles two Spätlesen from it, labeled only by number, and devotees track them like secret editions: #10 is the racy one; #5 is the opulent one. James Suckling gave this 2020 a 97, marveling that a modern Spätlese could be this classic: stunningly ripe stone fruit and flowers, a rich, almost buttery mid-palate, a long, succulent, vivid finish.

And if "Spätlese" makes you brace for something heavy or cloying, don't. This is the tightrope act Schaefer is famous for: all that richness rides on featherlight 7.5% alcohol and razor slate acidity. Delicately sweet, endlessly refreshing, glorious tonight, effortless in the cellar for thirty years.

Schaefer never has enough for anyone. When your allocation appears, you take it.