Wehlener Sonnenuhr Riesling Spatlese
⏳ Drinking Window
2023 - 2045
🍽️ Food & Wine Pairings
Spicy Asian cuisine such as Thai green curry, roasted pork belly with an apple glaze, or classic blue cheeses.
✨ Technical Specifications
Markus Molitor’s Wehlener Sonnenuhr Riesling Spätlese is a masterclass in Mosel terroir, sourced from one of the world's most famous steep-slope vineyards. The Wehlener Sonnenuhr, or 'Sundial of Wehlen,' gets its name from the historical sundial erected in 1842 by Jodocus Prüm to guide vineyard workers. This vineyard features extremely steep slopes of weathered blue Devonian slate, which absorbs the daytime sun and radiates heat back to the vines at night. Molitor, renowned for his uncompromising quality and meticulous hand-harvesting, crafts this 100% Riesling using ambient yeasts and slow, cool fermentations in large oak fuder. The resulting wine is a breathtaking expression of tension, showcasing ripe stone fruit, white flowers, and an unmistakable, laser-like slate minerality balanced by vibrant, electric acidity.
🍾 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.