Since 2001 Willi Schaefer's son Christoph, and Christoph's wife Andrea have been assisting with running the winery.[2][4][5]
Vineyards and wine
Vineyards above the town of Graach.
Willi Schaefer works with 3 hectares of Riesling vineyards, including vines in Graacher Himmelreich, Graacher Domprobst and Wehlener Sonnenuhr.[3] Wine writers Stephen Brook and Stephan Reinhardt are of the opinion that the best wines from this estate are usually produced from the Graacher Domprobst parcels.[4][5][7] The oldest vines are around 60 years of age and 60-70% of the vines are ungrafted, resulting in low yields.[5]
The wines ferment and are matured for around six months on lees in old 1000 litre foudres before bottling.[4][8][7]
Around 2000 to 3000 cases of wine are produced each year. Only a very small number are made in a Trocken or off-dry style and Schaefer avoids the presence of too much botrytis influence in his sweet wines where permissible.[4][7]