Erdener Treppchen Riesling Auslese GK
⏳ Drinking Window
2024 - 2050
🍽️ Food & Wine Pairings
Rich blue cheeses, classic foie gras or savory terrines, and fruit-based desserts such as peach tart or apple tarte tatin.
✨ Technical Specifications
Crafted by the legendary Markus Molitor, this monumental Riesling hails from the famous Erdener Treppchen vineyard in the Mosel valley. Named the 'little staircase' after the stone steps carved into the dizzying, near-vertical red slate cliffs to aid vineyard workers, this site benefits from an intense, sun-drenched microclimate. The Goldkapsel (Gold Capsule) designation signifies an Auslese of extraordinary selection, heavily influenced by noble rot (botrytis). Molitor's philosophy of minimal intervention, spontaneous fermentation with wild yeasts in traditional neutral oak Fuder casks, and meticulous hand-harvesting yields a wine of profound complexity. It seamlessly balances luscious, honeyed sweetness and exotic stone fruit with the vibrant, iron-rich mineral tension characteristic of Erden's unique red 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.