Urziger Wurzgarten Riesling Spatlese
⏳ wine.drinking_window
Typically best enjoyed from 5 to 25 years after the vintage, as the vibrant acidity and residual sugars harmonize into a complex, petrol-and-spice-laden masterpiece.
🍽️ wine.food_pairings
Spicy Thai or Vietnamese cuisine, slow-roasted pork belly with a sweet soy glaze, and aged blue cheeses or fruit-based tarts.
✨ wine.spec_sheet
Markus Molitor's Urziger Wurzgarten Riesling Spatlese is a breathtaking expression of one of the Mosel's most dramatic and legendary vineyards. The Wurzgarten (spice garden) is famous for its steep, amphitheater-like slopes and its unique, iron-rich red volcanic clay and slate soils, which stand in stark contrast to the blue slate found elsewhere in the region. According to local lore, the vineyard earned its name from the wild herbs and spices that naturally grow among the vines, imparting a distinct, exotic, and highly spicy signature to the grapes. Molitor coaxes incredible complexity from these old, ungrafted vines through extremely late harvesting, meticulous hand-sorting, and spontaneous fermentation in traditional large oak Fuder casks. The resulting Spatlese is a masterclass in tension, balancing luscious tropical fruit notes of mango and papaya with a fiery, mineral-driven acidity and a lingering, herbal-spicy finish.
🍾 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.