98+ Point Dry Riesling from Markus Molitor's Top Site - Old Vines, Ridiculous Elegance

 Markus Molitor
 - A Genius Sprung Forth from the Head of Zeus
 - Making Elite, Top Scoring Wines from 3 Distinct Regions
 - 140 -200 Bottlings Each Year
 - Revered Among German Winemakers
 - A Legend in His Own Time
 - Took Over a Tiny Winery at Age 20...
 - And Turned It into a Dominant Force in German Winemaking
 - Wines from All of the Great Mosel Vineyards
 - Top 5 Producer in Germany for Dry Riesling, Sweet Riesling, Off-Dry Riesling, Pinot Noir, Pinot Blanc

The Style
 - Brilliant Almost Supra-Realistic Precision
 - Brisset, Roulot, Roumier, Keller
 - As Elite and Refined as Any Wines on Earth
 - So Powerful, Yet So Graceful

2018 Markus Molitor Zeltinger Sonnenuhr Auslese *** (White Cap)
 - 98+ from Stingy Stephen Reinhardt (Wine Advocate)
 - Compare Keller 97 Points Absterde 97 Points (Vinous) at $350-$575
 - His Signature Vineyard
 - Old Vines
 - You Just Laugh at How Absurdly Great They Are
 - Effortlessly Transcendent

2019 Will Be Allocated - 2018 Purchases Will Be Used to Determine 2019 Allocations

"The 2018 Riesling Zeltinger Sonnenuhr Auslese *** (White Capsule) is beautifully clear, pure, fine and complex on the intense yet delicate and flinty bouquet that represents very fine slate soils and elegant, perfectly ripe and refined but concentrated (stone) fruit. Rich and intense yet fine and crystalline on the palate, this is a full-bodied, juicy and elegant Sonnenuhr Auslese with mouthfeel, elegance and finesse paired with power and concentration. The finish is pure, crystalline and precise as well as persistently salty and with a long, fresh and aromatic aftertaste. This 2018 is an impressive, sustainable ZSU that I highly recommend to cellar for at least a decade, or better, two. Tasted at the domain twice in September 2020." 98+ Stephan Reinhardt

I'm just going to start off with a bombastic statement and go from there. There are a handful of winemakers on earth that can make wines at this level of quality.  The K guy from the Rheinhessen is viewed by many as the benchmark producer. The wines at Molitor are better values, much better actually and they are just as refined. He gets better scores as well. 

I think that Molitor is, to a certain extent, a victim of his own genius.  He makes so many high scoring wines (more than any producer on earth) that its hard to focus on any one wine as being the apogee of his style.  He makes a lot of wines and has 2 separate classidication axes (see side box).  

But what you need to focus on today is

1) This is a dry (white capsule) wine.

2) It's 3 stars (the top).

3) It's his most iconic vineyard.

Oh, and it got 98+ points.  

Markus Molitor's Classification Systems

The Capsule System

There are Green (off-dry), White (dry) and Gold (sweet). I know this is the most confusing thing you've ever seen in a wine classification system, so I empathize with you. 

The Star System
There are one, two and three star wines. 
They mean fine, finer and finest. They are a pre 1971 German wine law classification. The words fein,
feiner and feinste were how they ranked wines. And it means village, 1er cru and Grand Cru. Just like Burgundy. Only difference is they make all of these wines from the same vineyard. So the star system is the most efficient and logical system to rank wines in a hierarchy from the same vineyard. That's it. It's not hard. It's actually a thing of remarkable efficiency. A green capsule ** Riesling is an off-dry 1er cru Riesling. And so on and so on. Once you learn this easy system, it takes 10 minutes, you're speaking the language of Markus Molitor. And it's a beautiful language. 

The Wine

Today we have a Dry, Grand Cru Riesling from Markus Molitor's signature vineyard. Like Rousseau has Clos St. Jacques and Jayer had Cros Parantoux or Mugneret-Gibourg do Eczhezeaux the Zeltinger Sonnenuhr is the signature, trademark vineyard of Markus. He has an amazing old vine plot that he uses to make the 2018 Markus Molitor Zeltinger Sonnenuhr Auslese *** (White Cap) for $129.99 a bottle a 3-pack.  This will be $114 with the tariff credit.

First it got 98+points by Stephan Reinhardt, which you need to know he does not hand out 98's like Parker did for like half of Chateauneuf du Pape. They are very rare. And for dry wines even rarer. Much rarer. Also the + means it will go to maybe 100 points with age. 

One other thing one needs to know is Keller's top wine in 2018 is the Abtserde Grosses Gewachs and that goes for $350-$575. That got 97 points by David Schildknecht. I did not see any ratings from Reinhardt. So $130 for a 98+ (maybe 100?) point Reinhardt wine or $350-$575 for a 97 point Schildknecht wine. I will offer case pricing if you are interested. I'm not sure there is a better deal in grand cru Riesling I've ever sold. And the wine is transcendental. I think the *** wines at Molitor are what I would call effortlessly transcendent. They are like Kevin Durant playing basketball. He just glides through the games better than everybody and makes it look so easy and what he is doing is so hard it's just wonderful watching him play basketball. These three star Molitor Dry Rieslings are like that. You just laugh at how absurdly great they are. You can be having the worst day ever and you pour some of today's wine in your glass and it's almost the best day of the year. They start off so good. Like in 20 minutes it's utterly profound and better than anything you've ever had and it has not even opened yet. Then it opens over a few hours and it's so insane. Rollercoaster. It just gets better and better and better. And you laugh. 

So I've had a bunch of Markus Molitor wines and really now have a feel for the dry Rieslings. Because I wanted to really get everybody something super special now that I have access to the Molitor cellars, I'm going for a wine I haven't tasted. Because I'd bet my sneaker collection it's better than what I've tasted so far. My scores have been 9.7, 9.8, 9.9 and 9.7 on Delectable for the Rieslings I've tasted. The highest score Reinhardt gave is a 96 to those wines and that was the *** Juffer Sonnenuhr Auslese. I gave that a 9.9. So now that I trust the estate to deliver at a high level and I want to get you all the best wines for the Fall I went with this wine. Because I know it's better than everything I've had so far. 

The Style

When one opens a bottle of Markus Molitor's Rieslings, time stops, and you are mesmerized.   These Riesling are as elite and refined as any wines on Earth. But there is also a power there. But like the best wines in the world, with power comes grace. These are as graceful as any of the other top power/grave combos one can think of. To be honest these Rieslings remind me of the top Brisset reds. The Echezeaux and the Vosne Romanee 1er Cru "Les Rouges Dessus." The level of class and refinement in these Rieslings reminds me of those two wines. Yes I know it's Pinot Noir but that's the comparison I'm sticking with. And that's just his dry Rieslings. Which are never bone dry. There are always some scant amounts of RS that contribute to the texture and complexity.  

This winery makes wines from the greatest collection of vineyards in Germany, perhaps in the world. Markus makes wines from Wehlener Sonnenuhr, Brauneberger Juffer-Sonnenuhr, Zeltinger Himmelreich, Erdener Pralat, Wehlener Klosterberg, Ockfener Bockstein, Erdener Treppchen, Urziger Wurzgarten  and more. He's also a wizard with not so famous sites as his Zeltinger Deutscherrenberg showed as elite as the previous more famous vineyards.

2018 Markus Molitor Zeltinger Sonnenuhr Auslese ***

 (White Cap - Trocken) - $131.99 ($389.97 3-Pack)

 (*Including Tariff of $16.71) (VERY LIMITED)