Schiefersteil Riesling
⏳ Drinking Window
2022 - 2030
🍽️ Food & Wine Pairings
Spicy Asian cuisine such as Thai green curry, roasted pork loin with apples, or fresh pan-seared trout.
✨ Technical Specifications
Markus Molitor's "Schiefersteil" Riesling is a love letter to the dramatic, gravity-defying slate slopes of Germany's Mosel Valley. Taking over his family's estate in 1984 at the age of twenty, Molitor set out to revive the golden era of Mosel wine through uncompromising quality and traditional methods. "Schiefersteil," translating to "steep slate," is crafted from 100% Riesling grapes harvested by hand from precipitously steep vineyards. The vines dig deep into the weathered Devonian slate soils, which absorb the sun's heat during the day and radiate it back to the vines at night. In the cellar, Molitor champions minimalist intervention: the juice undergoes spontaneous fermentation with native yeasts in large, traditional oak fuder casks and stainless steel, followed by prolonged contact with the fine lees. This yields a dry, intensely mineral-driven Riesling that balances vibrant, laser-like acidity with rich stone fruit notes and a signature smoky, flinty complexity.
🍾 About the Producer
Founded upon an eighth-generation family viticultural heritage, Weingut Markus Molitor was transformed in 1984 when twenty-year-old Markus Molitor took over the estate at Haus Klosterberg with the dedicated mission of restoring Mosel Riesling to its historic world-class stature. Situated in Bernkastel-Kues in Germany's legendary Mosel region, the winery meticulously cultivates precipitous slate vineyards across renowned grand cru sites such as Zeltinger Sonnenuhr, Wehlener Sonnenuhr, and Erdener Treppchen. Molitor practices low yields, ultra-selective late hand-harvesting, and gentle spontaneous fermentation in ancient, deep vaulted cellars with minimal intervention. The estate is globally celebrated for its site-expressive Rieslings—distinguished by white, green, and gold capsules indicating dry, off-dry, and botrytized sweet styles—as well as remarkably complex, structured Pinot Noir.