Erdener Treppchen Riesling Spatlese
⏳ wine.drinking_window
While highly expressive in its youth, this Spätlese is built for longevity and is typically best enjoyed from 5 to 25 years after the vintage release, developing profound petrol, honeyed, and wax-like complexities over decades.
🍽️ wine.food_pairings
Spicy Sichuan or Thai cuisine, roasted pork belly with apple compote, and washed-rind cheeses.
✨ wine.spec_sheet
Markus Molitor’s Erdener Treppchen Riesling Spätlese is a masterclass in Mosel tension, born from one of the region's most dramatic grand cru vineyards. The name 'Treppchen' translates to 'little staircase,' referencing the stone steps carved directly into the dizzyingly steep, red-slate cliffs by 19th-century growers to make the treacherous slopes accessible. Markus Molitor, known for his uncompromising dedication to quality and artisanal methods, coaxes extraordinary depth from these ancient, ungrafted vines. Fermented naturally with ambient yeasts in traditional large oak 'Fuder' casks, this 100% Riesling beautifully captures the unique iron-rich red slate terroir, yielding a wine that balances intense, exotic stone fruit flavors with a striking, fiery minerality and the signature electric acidity of the Mosel valley.
🍾 wine.about_producer
Taking over his family's estate in 1984 at just twenty years old, Markus Molitor set out to restore the Mosel region's historic prestige through uncompromising quality and traditional craftsmanship. Based at the historic Haus Klosterberg in Bernkastel-Kues, the winery meticulously farms steep, slate-rich vineyards across the Mosel and Saar, utilizing extremely late hand-harvesting and spontaneous fermentation in neutral oak Fuder casks. Molitor is globally renowned for his precise, mineral-driven Rieslings—distinguished by white, green, and gold capsules indicating dryness levels—as well as his structured, elegant Spätburgunder. This obsessive dedication to terroir has earned the estate numerous perfect 100-point scores, cementing its status as an icon of German winemaking.