Zeltinger Sonnenuhr Riesling Auslese 3* Weisskapsel
⏳ Drinking Window
2025 - 2060
🍽️ Food & Wine Pairings
Pan-seared sea scallops with citrus-butter sauce, roasted duck or goose, and aged alpine cheeses like Comté.
✨ Technical Specifications
Markus Molitor, often referred to as the 'Riesling Wizard,' is legendary for his uncompromising pursuit of quality in the Mosel valley. The Zeltinger Sonnenuhr (Sundial) vineyard, named after the historic sundial erected in 1620, features extremely steep, south-facing slopes composed of finely weathered blue Devonian slate. This Auslese 3-Star (***) Weisskapsel represents the absolute pinnacle of Molitor's dry-styled Rieslings. In Molitor’s unique color-coded capsule system, the white capsule ('Weisskapsel') denotes a dry taste profile, a remarkable feat for an Auslese-level harvest. The grapes are meticulously hand-selected, often undergoing multiple passes through the vineyard to capture perfectly ripe berries. Fermented spontaneously with native yeasts in traditional large oak fuder casks, this wine marries the opulent, concentrated stone fruit and smoky complexity of slate with a laser-like, dry, mineral-driven structure.
🍾 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.