The visit of Weingut Markus Molitor was a tasting only visit. While we were visiting Weingut Markus Molitor there were two other groups in the building, tasting in 3 different rooms.
One of them was a group headed by another German winemaking giant, Armin Diel of Schlossgut Diel. His group included the up-and-coming Moritz Haidle, Weingut Karl Haidle, who has just started to export to the US through Schatzi-Wines.
Markus Molitor and Katharina Okfen hosted us. Markus Molitor had to share his time with us and the other two groups.
Haus Klosterberg
Built at the end of the 19th century as a winery, and acquired in 1984 by Markus Molitor, the estate has been restored to its former glory by extensive renovations between 2009 and 2012. With great affection for detail, using historical and modern materials, the estate with its new Vinothek is an architectural highlight among the wineries on the Mosel and has won several awards including the "Architekturpreis Wein 2013".
Weingut Markus Molitor
Weingut Molitor is one of Germany's greatest wine producers. Markus Molitor took over the winery in 1984, at only 20 years of age. He represents the eighth generation of his centuries-old Mosel winemaking family. The estate is centered in the historic town of Bernkastel, with 37 hectares of spectacular vineyards spread across 15 classic sites from Bernkastel and Graach to Wehlen and Zeltingen. This is viticulture at its most extreme, with very old ungrafted vines (many 100 years old or more) planted on slopes as steep as 80% inclination. Needless to say all farming is by hand—it could not possibly be any other way. Interestingly, although the vast majority of vines are riesling, there are also small plantings (about 4 hectares) of pinot noir and pinot blanc—actually an ancient tradition in the Mosel, banned in 1930 but recently revived. The precious slate soil of the astonishingly steep West facing vineyards produces wines of great structure and depth, full of minerality, aromatic complexity, and fruity acidity.
Winemaking is staunchly traditional, with spontaneous fermentation initiated by ambient natural yeasts, no enzymes, and no fining—"a winemaking style of 100 years ago". The wines are primarily fermented and matured in big old oak casks, with a small portion fermented in stainless steel. Exquisitely old-fashioned late harvest wines are a specialty: often the trockenbeerenauslesen ferment for five years or more, with sugars of up to 780 g/L!
Stuart Pigott - Herr 300 Points: Markus Molitor
(wine-searcher by Stuart Pigott, Thursday, 16-Apr-2015)
The Mosel winemaker with the magic touch has been derided by colleagues, but he's having the last laugh.
If Mosel winemaker Markus Molitor lacked self-confidence he would never have been able to turn Weingut Markus Molitor from one of hundreds of unknown family-owned wineries in this region into a cult producer. That task has required total commitment in the past 30 years because, back in the late 20th century, the Mosel and the Riesling grape were not nearly as cool as they are today. He bucked both those trends.
However, when Molitor talks about the global response to the 100-point scores The Wine Advocate gave three of his Riesling Ausleses from the Ürziger Würzgarten, Wehlener Sonnenuhr and Zeltinger Sonnenuhr vineyard sites this February, he still seems a little overwhelmed, just as his staff must have been following publication. "We need a call center to handle all the interest", he told Wine Searcher.
Molitor is what the Germans call an "Original", meaning someone who stands out from the crowd, yet is inconceivable outside the context of their home region. During the 1990s, while other Mosel winemakers were trying to outdo each other by making Rieslings that were sleeker and more elegant, he went full throttle for power, spice and minerals. He was never apologetic about that, which may be the reason some tensions remain between him and his Mosel colleagues to this day.
Back then his top Auslese, printed with ** or *** on the label, were already densely concentrated sweet wines with great freshness. Some critics derided him for being out of step with fashion, but those wines earned him his first major accolade. The 1999 edition of the Gault & Millau Wine Guide to Germany named him Rising Star of the Year and since then he hasn't looked back, much less put his feet up. Some observers call him a workaholic, others driven.
When it comes to his dry and "Feinherb" (medium-dry) Rieslings, these wines are also made in a powerful mold, with fuller body and less prominent acidity than many dry Rieslings. Fermentations take place in deep cellars and can last many months. Molitor's guiding principle there is that "the yeast is to the wine like mother's milk to a baby". This could rightly be described as old-fashioned Mosel winemaking, but you need to add Molitor's obsession with detail and willingness to always go the extra mile before this adequately describes his methods. He's a complex character who can be touchy if he feels someone isn't taking him seriously; then he can be very abrupt. Even this article may not please him.
Sommeliers around the world have not only taken notice, some of them seem to understand very well how the man and his wines tick. "Markus Molitor's success is neither a secret nor surprising," said Christopher Miller MS, the former chief sommelier of Spago Beverley Hills, LA. "His philosophy reads like a "wish/to-do list" of any serious winemaker in the world: organic vineyard practices, low yields, old vines, the best vineyard sites, native yeasts... What sets him stylistically – and perhaps qualitatively – apart is his deft use of extended yeast contact. That imbues his wines with a certain structural pithiness, adding an incomparable texture while retaining their vibrancy and purity. That balance is a fine line that only the most gifted can traverse."
Seeing red in the Mosel
Riesling represents more than 90 percent of Molitor's 65 hectares (160 acres) of vineyard, but he also makes a little Pinot Noir - or Spätburgunder, as it is called in Germany. He planted new Pinot Noir vines in the Mosel, which is often regarded by experts as one of the world's archetypal cool-climate wine regions; in the late-20th century most of them regarded the idea of serious red-wine production there as a bad joke. However, climate change resulted in the region warming considerably since then, and Molitor spotted an opportunity to make red wine. Many colleagues laughed at him but he dismissed them as backward looking and plowed on.
His current Pinot Noirs are amazingly rich and tannic, considering the northerly location. They are the result not only of the improved climate, but also low yields and Burgundian-style winemaking. Since the 2005 vintage they have stood up well in direct comparison to the wines of top Pinot Noir producers farther south in Germany, like the Pfalz's Friedrich Becker, Baden's Bernhard Huber, and some red Burgundies. The one criticism of them, mostly from American somms, is that they are quite oaky.
However, Riesling is almost a religion for Molitor, and those who know him agree. "He's absolutely pedantic" said Stephan Reinhardt, The Wine Advocate's taster for Germany since May 2014. "During the harvest his pickers examine every nobly rotten berry three to five times to decide if it is right for TBA, BA or Auslese ***. That's completely crazy, but the results taste crazy good."
Reinhardt seems as fazed as Molitor by the enormous response to his three 100-point scores. In Germany, and to a lesser degree elsewhere, some Riesling enthusiasts and collectors have criticized Reinhardt's ratings. "The 2013 Auslese wines from J.J. Prüm and Willi Schaefer were at least as good as Markus Molitor's 2013 Auslese, and Reinhardt's ratings are the result of personal preference," said one collector, who wished to remain anonymous.
"I am really happy that personal taste matters; everyone's own taste," Reinhardt answered the criticism philosophically. "I am not that academic in my approach to ratings. There is no right and no wrong. During a tasting there's just the wine and me."
Despite The Wine Advocate's recent scores, Molitor is an unlikely winemaker hero. He is neither a cosmopolitan sophisticate nor an empire-building megalomaniac. He doesn't even fit in the role of unknown genius who will never leave his home town. It is the quality of his wines, not his personal brand, that have placed him in the wine world's highest league.
The Tasting
The Colour Code
The bottles are colour coded according to the taste category of the wine. The dry wines have a white cap. The off-dry wines have a grey-green colour like slate. We do not use the term "semi-dry", as "feinherb" or "off-dry" is the historical term for this style of Mosel Riesling and provides a much better description of the flavour profile of the wines. The naturally sweet and botrytis wines have a gold cap. However, the use of a gold cap for the Molitor Rieslings is not based on any quality evaluation as might be the case with other Mosel wineries who offer gold cap, long gold cap or extra-long gold cap wines.
In addition, Markus Molitor uses a star system to delineate between his ‘regular’ and ‘reserve’ bottlings from his prestigious sites.
The Wines we Tasted
Riesling weisse Kapsel - trocken
2015 Weingut Markus Molitor Riesling Schiefersteil
2015 Weingut Markus Molitor Riesling Alte Reben Mosel
2015 Weingut Markus Molitor Riesling Saarburger Rausch Spätlese
2015 Weingut Markus Molitor Riesling Zeltinger Sonnenuhr Spätlese
2015 Weingut Markus Molitor Riesling Bernkasteler Lay Auslese**
2009 Weingut Markus Molitor Riesling Bernkasteler Lay Auslese**
2010 Weingut Markus Molitor Riesling Zeltinger Sonnenuhr Auslese**
2007 Weingut Markus Molitor Riesling Zeltinger Sonnenuhr Auslese**
Riesling grüne Kapsel - feinherb
2015 Weingut Markus Molitor Riesling Alte Reben
2015 Weingut Markus Molitor Riesling Schiefersteil
2007 Weingut Markus Molitor Riesling Wehlener Klosterberg Spätlese
2003 Weingut Markus Molitor Riesling Wehlener Klosterberg Spätlese (Edition 9)
Riesling goldene Kapsel - fruchtsüss
2007 Weingut Markus Molitor Riesling Zeltinger Sonnenuhr Spätlese
2007 Weingut Markus Molitor Riesling Zeltinger Sonnenuhr Auslese**
2010 Weingut Markus Molitor Riesling Zeltinger Sonnenuhr Auslese***
Pinot Noir - Spätburgunder trocken
2010 Weingut Markus Molitor Spätburgunder Brauneberger Klostergarten**
2014 Weingut Markus Molitor Spätburgunder Brauneberger Klostergarten***
“Try the most "simple" Pinot Noir Molitor is bottling and you are already in the upper class of German Pinot Noir. His three starred Pinots are mind-blowing and can compete with prestigious Grands Crus from Burgundy. ... The three stared Brauneberger Klostergarten Pinot Noir *** appears as a true grand cru on the nose pairing intensity with a remarkable high level of finesse. It is from the same cordon parcels as the two-star Pinot, but from vines that were even more reduced than the ** wine."– Stephan Reinhardt, eRobertParker.com
The cultivation of red wine on the Mosel was prohibited by law in the 1930s. Before that, large areas of the Mosel winegrowing region were covered with Pinot Noir! It was only in the 1980’s that producers were allowed to plant red grapes again. Markus was right there when the law came off the books. He planted Pinot, his contemporaries laughed.
Bye-bye
Thanks Markus Molitor for a Great Tasting.
Postings: Germany-North Tour 2017 by ombiasy WineTours: Quintessential German Riesling and the Northernmost Pinot Noir (Posted and Forthcoming)
Germany-North Tour 2017 by ombiasy WineTours: Quintessential German Riesling and the Northernmost Pinot Noir
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Rhine River Cruise in the Mittelrhein Valley, an UNESCO World Heritage Region - Germany-North Tour 2016 by ombiasy WineTours
Vineyard Tour, Cellar Tour and Tasting at Weingut Heymann-Löwenstein in Winningen, Mosel, with Reinhard Löwenstein - Germany-North Tour 2017 by ombiasy WineTours
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Tasting at Weingut Markus Molitor in Haus Klosterberg, Mosel
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Dinner at the 2 Michelin star restaurant Schanz in Piesport, Mosel
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Lunch at Gutsausschank-Ristorante Weingut von Oetinger in Erbach, Rheingau