After seeing rave reviews from the WA, when we were in The region 2 yrs ago we decided to pay a visit. We tasted many wines including pinots, which were actually really good. But I was there to try their Riesling. Really good, but was not blown away by any. Too young? Again getting rave reviews from WA for the 2015s. Thoughts and opinions on Molitor?
Around 0.05% of my German cellar is Molitor. I’m not a big fan, they aren’t bad by any means but they don’t excite me.
Pricing has been a problem, a little more than other producers and I’ve not yet tasted a wine from them that suggests it’s worth that extra. We seem very much in agreement.
Tasted a number of these on our visit two years ago. Overall, of high quality and carefully made. But not quite at the summit of subtlety and elegance (compared to, say, Willi Schaefer). So I haven’t pursued them.
What vintages were you tasting?
Tasted 12/13s IIRC. I don’t take formal notes, too much effort for me. Pinots were beautiful. I recall tasting a couple of 100pters rieslings, I was told.
A few Spatburgunder I have had have been good. Rieslings have been good but given how easy it is to find excellent Riesling at 1/3-1/4 the price I have zero interest. The stuff is priced higher than Egon Muller. Buy three bottles of Selbach-Odter instead.
Huh? I know that Molitor Spätburgunder can be pricey but in my experience the Kabinett and Spätlese Rieslings are not expensive at all. According to CT my various bottles in those categories have cost between 11 and 15 euros. As for the OP’s question stylistically they are not my favorite as they tend to be quite ripe and concentrated for their respective prädikat levels but well made wines nevertheless.
Been buying for twenty years. The 2001 Auslese I had recently was still great. The prices went nuts after a good year of reviews in WA a few years ago and they’re no longer things I search out, but if I find a deal, I’ll still pick them up. They’re very clean, which some people have said they don’t like, but they’re good wines.
Markus Molitor is for sure one of the most important and best winemaker in Germany. But his wines pose several obstacles:
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the number of different wines. He uses all the Prädikats possible in Germany, all the sweetnes levels, he has vines in 17 single vineyards, auction wines and regular ones, a star system, and 3 varietals. Not to forget the vintages. There are around 60 different labels each year and the wines are really all different. It’s a wine univers of it’s own. And I’m afraid, no one exept the master himself reallly knows them all.
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high sulfur (and sugar, when sweet) levels makes ist difficult to enjoy when young.
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not all wines are really good.
Quite literally got an offer two days ago for the Molitor GK*** auslesen at $105/bottle. Yes it’s their GK and *** but the price is ridiculous to me. Certainly there are many other good wines in this category but the price jump is related to WA99 ratings which I trust about zero.
Their Kabinett and Spatlese were very reasonably priced in the context of the 2015 vintage even before the massive praise from the WA who recently rated their Zeltinger Sonnenuhr Gold Cap (96-97 Spatlese, 94 Kabinett) and Wehlener Sonnenuhr Gold Cap (96 Spatlese, 94 Kabinett) as two of the best within their respective pradikat for the vintage. The Spatlese can still be found ±$30 and the Kabinett can be found for ±$22.
Yep. And that’s what I was used to paying. Then some places raised the prices to crazy levels. So you can see real differences in pricing from one place to another. And that just adds to the problem Charlie mentioned - there are so many bottlings. Finally, he’s had several different importers over the past dozen years or so and the wines found themselves into clearance bins here and there, further confusing things. I remember walking into the Wine Warehouse in NYC years ago and lo and behold, they happen to have some 2001s, so I bought them. It wasn’t summer, so I wasn’t so worried about the lack of AC in the store and the bottles hadn’t been there long. A couple years later, there were some 2004 Spats. Wine Warehouse was sort of like an Odd Lots for wine, buying clearances, etc.
Envoyer offered '15s yesterday at prices too attractive to pass up.
You can get GC Auslesen from Prum for that price or less. Count me as a pass.
Just got an offer for the 2015 Auslesen GK** for 49.99.
That is a lot for an Auslese indeed (although still a lot cheaper than Egon Müller’s!) but if Molitor’s Kabinetten and Spätlesen are anything to go by then this should be well into Beerenauslese territory in terms of ripeness and concentration. In any case the prices for Molitor’s lesser wines do not seem to have moved much during this decade in their homeland.
When we visited, they said he has ca 60ha. That’s a lot of vines!
I like the Molitor Rieslings. Yes, best to give them a few years, and yes, probably not at Donnhoff / Prum / Muller levels. I like the range and variety it provides. The capsule and labelling system is a bit complex, but you can get the hang of it. And I like being surprised anyway 
On the Mosel, Markus Molitor is considered a first-class estate, with an amazing portfolio of top sites. A number of estate owners/winemakers look up to Molitor. Despite being one of the flagship properties in the region and receiving high-point scores from critics, the wines still don’t have a big reputation in the States.
Molitor now farms 102 ha on the Mosel and Saar. He recently took over the 22-ha State Domain in Serrig, to go along with new holdings in Ockfener Geisberg, Ockfener Bockstein, Saarburger Rausch, Saarburger Fuchs, Ürziger Würzgarten, and Erdener Treppchen.
(Van Volxem plays a major role in the replanting of Ockfener Geisberg and Saarburger Fuchs.)