Einstern * Pinot Noir
⏳ Drinking Window
2021 - 2027
🍽️ Food & Wine Pairings
Roasted duck breast, wild mushroom risotto, or pan-seared salmon.
✨ Technical Specifications
Markus Molitor, a visionary of the Mosel, has played a pivotal role in resurrecting the region's historic red wine heritage. Though the Mosel is globally synonymous with Riesling, Cistercian monks originally cultivated Pinot Noir (Spatburgunder) here during the Middle Ages. Following a mid-20th-century ban on red grapes in the region, Molitor became a pioneer in reclaiming these steep, slate-rich slopes for Pinot Noir. The 'Einstern' (One Star) Pinot Noir represents a meticulous selection of grapes from these dramatic, cool-climate vineyards. Fermented with ambient yeasts and aged in French oak barriques, this wine beautifully marries the delicate, red-berried elegance of Pinot Noir with the intense, smoky minerality unique to Mosel's devonian slate soils.
🍾 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.