Urziger Wurzgarten Riesling Spatlese (White Capsule)
⏳ wine.drinking_window
While approachable in its youth with decanting, this dry Spatlese is built for longevity and typically reaches its peak complexity between 5 and 20 years from the vintage date.
🍽️ wine.food_pairings
Pairs beautifully with roasted pork belly, spicy Thai or Sichuan cuisine, and rich seafood dishes such as pan-seared scallops with ginger.
✨ wine.spec_sheet
Markus Molitor’s Urziger Wurzgarten Riesling Spatlese (White Capsule) is a masterclass in Mosel tension, showcasing the legendary 'spice garden' vineyard of Urzig. Unlike the blue slate found throughout most of the Middle Mosel, the Wurzgarten is defined by its striking red volcanic soil and iron-rich slate, which imparts a distinctly exotic, wild-berry, and spicy character to the Riesling grape. Molitor’s unique color-coded capsule system designates this 'White Capsule' bottling as a dry style, despite the late-harvest richness implied by the Spatlese classification. Harvested from extremely steep, often ungrafted old vines, the grapes undergo spontaneous fermentation with wild yeasts in large, neutral oak casks. This traditional, low-intervention approach preserves the vibrant acidity and intense mineral core of the terroir, resulting in a dry Riesling of extraordinary depth, texture, and aromatic complexity.
🍾 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.