Bernkasteler Badstube Riesling Auslese 2* Green Capsule
⏳ Drinking Window
2024 - 2045
🍽️ Food & Wine Pairings
Spicy Thai or Sichuan cuisine, roasted duck with fruit-based glazes, and artisanal washed-rind or blue cheeses.
✨ Technical Specifications
Markus Molitor, who took over his family's estate in 1984 at the age of twenty, has become a legendary figure in the Mosel, famous for his uncompromising pursuit of quality and his unique capsule-coding system. The Bernkasteler Badstube Riesling Auslese 2* Green Capsule represents a masterclass in the off-dry (feinherb) style, denoted by the green capsule. Grown on the steep, weathered Devonian slate slopes of the Middle Mosel, the 100% Riesling grapes are meticulously hand-harvested, often in multiple passes. The 'two-star' designation signifies an exceptional selection of highly ripe, partially botrytized grapes. Fermented with ambient yeasts in large, neutral oak casks (Fuder), this wine beautifully marries intense, exotic stone fruit sweetness with a striking, mineral-driven acidity that reflects the dramatic, vertical terroir of the region.
🍾 About the Producer
Founded in 1984 when twenty-year-old Markus Molitor assumed control of his family's winemaking legacy, Weingut Markus Molitor has evolved into an undisputed titan of the Mosel. Based at Haus Klosterberg, Molitor manages over 100 hectares encompassing premier steep-slope crus along both the Middle Mosel and Saar, including Wehlener Sonnenuhr, Ürziger Würzgarten, Erdener Prälat, and Scharzhofberg. Viticulture is strictly manual on precipitous gradients of weathered Devonian blue, red, and grey slate. Molitor pursues an uncompromising philosophy centered on sustainable farming, late selective harvesting, native yeast fermentation, and prolonged aging on fine lees in traditional wooden Fuders carved into subterranean slate cellars. Renowned for its singular capsule coding system—white indicating dry, green denoting feinherb (off-dry), and gold designating noble sweet expressions, often tiered with asterisks—the estate crafts crystalline, hyper-mineral Rieslings of monumental depth and aging potential, alongside site-expressive Pinot Noir and Weissburgunder.