Urziger Wurzgarten Riesling Kabinett
⏳ Drinking Window
2020 - 2030
🍽️ Food & Wine Pairings
Spicy Thai or Sichuan cuisine, classic roasted pork with orchard fruit glazes, or traditional German onion tart.
✨ Technical Specifications
Markus Molitor's Ürziger Würzgarten Riesling Kabinett is a breathtaking expression of one of the Mosel's most dramatic and legendary vineyards. The Ürziger Würzgarten, or 'spice garden of Ürzig,' is a dizzyingly steep, red-soiled amphitheater. Unlike the blue slate dominant in the rest of the region, this vineyard is rich in iron-bearing volcanic sandstone and red slate, which imparts a uniquely exotic, fiery, and herbal spice to the 100% Riesling grapes. Molitor, a fanatic for quality, hand-harvests these steep slopes, often sourcing from ancient, ungrafted vines. The wine is fermented slowly with natural yeasts in traditional large oak casks (Fuder), preserving the delicate, light-bodied Kabinett style while capturing an incredible tension between vibrant acidity, subtle sweetness, and intense mineral depth.
🍾 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.