Weingut Markus Molitor Rieslings and Pinot Noirs

When Markus Molitor took over his father’s Weingut in 1984, there were just three hectares of vines, today he owns 120 hectares across the most storied Mosel and Saar sites. But Molitor not only heads of one of the largest Mosel estates, he also is one of the best.

Few others work with such focus and dedication – if not to say obsession. But how else could he manage all this – since he still is the winemaker and mastermind, calling every decision in vineyard and cellar. ‘Each wine is individual, each wine gets its attention,’ he says and underlines artisanship: all fruit is hand-harvested and stringently selected. The juices settle naturally, and each barrel is allowed to ferment spontaneously, ensuring individual site expression. Wines then stay on their lees in large Fuder, the traditional, round 1,000L used oak barrel (even though some newer ones are also used) for nine to 10 months.

Weingut Markus Molitor at a glance:

 Area under vine: 120ha, almost all on steep slopes across Mosel (100ha) and Saar (20ha)

Soils: Devonian and Carboniferous slate formations, Permian rhyolite

Varieties planted: Riesling 92%, Pinot Noir 4%, Pinot Blanc 4%

Meticulousness is key to the clear delineation of styles – which in this house is colour-coded by capsule: White stands for dry, green for off-dry and golden for sweet. Within these three categories you get a spectrum of Prädikate. For the dry wines, ripe grapes are Kabinett, riper grapes are Spätlese and even riper, possibly overripe grapes are Auslese. Auslese itself is graded into Auslese, Auslese two stars and three stars.

For the dry wines, there is absolutely no botrytis tolerance for anything below three-star-Auslese where there might be some botrytis. Off-dry wines go from Kabinett to Auslese while sweet wines go all the way to TBA. Next to seven ravishing Pinot Noirs and two Pinot Blancs, 30 dry Rieslings were presented, 16 off-dry Rieslings and 20 sweet Rieslings – up to Beerenauslese.

‘There are six further BAs and 16 different TBAs,’ Molitor said with a smile. Did the dryness of 2018 not prevent botrytis? ‘There was some very good botrytis,’ Molitor noted. ‘In early September we had rain. We were all worried because we remembered 2013 and 2014 when there were late rains [that caused non-noble rot] but after that we had dreamlike weather.’

He noted that unusually there simply were no hard harvest decisions where mitigating losses from non-noble rot becomes a huge logistical challenge. ‘So botrytis did come and on the first day of harvest we selected a Beerenauslese with perfect, fresh botrytis. In 2018 we had much less botrytis than in other years but since this was such a relaxed harvest, we were nonetheless able to select an abundance of nobly sweet wines.’

Scroll down to see the top 15 Markus Molitor recommendationsSee all wines tasted here

To me, the warm and dry 2018 vintage showed off the higher Prädikate in the dry wines to perfection. Kabinett which lives off inherent lightness and killer acidity was hard to pull off: acidity was rounder and there was more body. It was evident that the real, natural balance came from riper grapes: the Spätlesen and Auslesen – some reaching up to 13% – were at the perfect intersection of fruit, extract, body and freshness, i.e. ripe, harmonious acidity.

Molitor puts it well when he speaks of ‘fine, elegant Spätlesen’ and ‘Auslese which represents the perfection of the grapes.’ Both the ‘perfection’ and the meticulousness can be tasted in these astonishingly pure, expressive and site-specific wines. In the sweet range the Kabinetts worked better, here they could beguile with all their lusciousness and fruit – while the sweet Auslesen bring some wondrously glowing fruit and expression – but the dry Spätlesen and Auslesen were the absolute winners.

Riesling and Pinot Noir: Anne’s 15 top picks from Weingut Markus Molitor

See all wines tasted here