Bernkasteler Graben Riesling Auslese 2*
⏳ Drinking Window
2024 - 2050
🍽️ Food & Wine Pairings
Classic blue cheeses such as Roquefort, rich duck liver pâté or foie gras, and moderately spiced Thai or Sichuan dishes.
✨ Technical Specifications
Markus Molitor, often referred to as the 'Riesling Wizard,' has spent decades defining the pinnacle of Mosel winemaking. The Bernkasteler Graben vineyard sits on a steep, south-southwest-facing slope immediately adjacent to the world-famous Bernkasteler Doctor. Here, the weathered blue Devonian slate soils absorb the daytime sun, radiating warmth back to the vines through the cool Mosel nights. This Auslese 2* (Two Stars) represents an extraordinary selection of highly ripe, partially botrytized Riesling grapes, meticulously harvested by hand in multiple passes. Fermented naturally with indigenous yeasts in traditional, large oak Fuder casks, the wine beautifully balances intense, concentrated stone fruit flavors with a vibrant, electric slate minerality and a legendary, laser-like acidity that is the hallmark of Molitor's uncompromising style.
🍾 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.