Erdener Treppchen Riesling Kabinett
⏳ Drinking Window
2020 - 2032
🍽️ Food & Wine Pairings
Spicy Thai or Vietnamese dishes, fresh sushi and sashimi, and classic roasted pork belly.
✨ Technical Specifications
Markus Molitor's Erdener Treppchen Riesling Kabinett is a masterclass in steep-slope viticulture from the heart of the Mosel. The vineyard name, meaning 'little staircase of Erden,' refers to the historic stone steps carved directly into the sheer red slate cliffs to help workers navigate the dizzying incline. Unlike the blue slate common in much of the Mosel, the iron-rich red slate of Erdener Treppchen imparts a distinctively spicy, muscular minerality to the 100% Riesling grapes grown here. Molitor, renowned for his meticulous selection and hands-off cellar philosophy, ferments this Kabinett using ambient yeasts in traditional large oak 'Fuder' casks. The resulting wine is a vibrant dance of tension and elegance, balancing electric acidity with delicate stone fruit, herbal complexity, and a saline, mineral-driven finish that reflects this legendary terroir.
🍾 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.