Alte Reben
⏳ Drinking Window
2021 - 2028
🍽️ Food & Wine Pairings
Pan-seared freshwater trout with lemon-butter sauce, roasted pork belly with crackling, and moderately spicy Thai or Sichuan cuisine.
✨ Technical Specifications
Markus Molitor's 'Alte Reben' (Old Vines) White represents a masterclass in Mosel Riesling, sourced from extremely steep, slate-rich vineyards where some vines exceed 80 to 100 years of age, many remaining ungrafted. Molitor, who took over his family's estate in 1984 at just 20 years old, has become a legendary figure in the region, famous for his uncompromising quality and physical dedication to the dizzying slopes of the Mosel Valley. The wine is crafted from 100% Riesling grapes, meticulously harvested by hand in multiple passes to ensure perfect ripeness. In the cellar, the juice undergoes spontaneous fermentation with native yeasts and is aged in traditional, large oak casks (Fuder), preserving the intense, smoky minerality of the Devonian slate soils and the deep, concentrated stone fruit character that only ancient, deep-rooted vines can yield.
🍾 About the Producer
Founded upon an eighth-generation family viticultural heritage, Weingut Markus Molitor was transformed in 1984 when twenty-year-old Markus Molitor took over the estate at Haus Klosterberg with the dedicated mission of restoring Mosel Riesling to its historic world-class stature. Situated in Bernkastel-Kues in Germany's legendary Mosel region, the winery meticulously cultivates precipitous slate vineyards across renowned grand cru sites such as Zeltinger Sonnenuhr, Wehlener Sonnenuhr, and Erdener Treppchen. Molitor practices low yields, ultra-selective late hand-harvesting, and gentle spontaneous fermentation in ancient, deep vaulted cellars with minimal intervention. The estate is globally celebrated for its site-expressive Rieslings—distinguished by white, green, and gold capsules indicating dry, off-dry, and botrytized sweet styles—as well as remarkably complex, structured Pinot Noir.
🍇 Grape Varieties
100% Riesling