2010 Markus Molitor Zeltinger Sonnenuhr Riesling Auslese *** (Golden Capsule)- Germany, Mosel Saar Ruwer
At the estate. Bottle opened October 12, 2013, only in the fridge since then. Full and fresh nose, slight honey, a hint of spice; superbly balanced, acid very much present - but not disturbing in any sense, white chocolate, very long. What a success! 95-97p (96 pts.)
2010 Markus Molitor Zeltinger Sonnenuhr Riesling Trockenbeerenauslese (Golden capsule)*- Germany, Mosel Saar Ruwer
Bottled 6 months ago. Somewhat muted nose, a hint of green; acid attack, very sweet of course, candy, endless length. At the moment the acidity is a bit too violent, but the acidity may be overtaken by the fruit what this evolves. Difficult to rate. 95-99? (95 pts.)
2009 Markus Molitor Brauneberger Mandelgraben Pinot Noir- Germany, Mosel Saar Ruwer
Good PN nose, actually some complexity, some depth; good acid, moderate length, slightly complex, however a burned note - not in a cooked sense, rustic (90 pts.)
I picked up a few relatively inexpensive 2011 Markus Molitors and thought they were weak. Zeltinger Sonnenuhr AP #19 and another lower end one that was around $15. Dull, lacking acidity and frankly lacking any interest whatsoever.
John, I have not tasted any of the 2011s, but Molitor has a reputation for being very successful in that year (and even more so 2010). So, I guess you just started in the wrong end of the line. A.P. 19 would mean something below Spätlese, or just a QbA?
One of my favorite producers. Available off and on in the US. Generally very clean winemaking and they seem to last nicely - I still have some from 2001. Drank a 2007 Spatlese last week and it was just fine.
So true, I think 2011 produced a lot of really disappointing non-dry Rieslings and a lot of pretty disappointing dry Rieslings.
Also I am not a huge Molitor fan. Here and there, I find a Molitor Riesling that I really like, but on a whole they’re very often too soft for my taste.
Well, the 2010 (and to some extent the 2012) are certainly not soft or dull, the acidity is sky high but balanced with fruit and sugar. The acidity in say the Zeltingen SU*** was about 15 g/l in 2010, as opposed to 5+ in 2011, and 7-8 in 2012.
Surprised at the lack of love for Markus Molitor here. I’ve always found them to be an excellent Riesling producer and soft and dull are not two adjectives I would ever use to describe the wines of theirs I have tried.
I think 2011 was a bad year for German Riesling in general as well and have posted previously on how the 2008 Hoffman-Simon Riesling Spatlese was pretty much a perfectly balanced Spatlese with blazing acidity that sold out of the LCBO in just 2 days here in Ontario and the 2011 tasted like a sweet lemon gumdrop which shocked the hell out of me. So it’s probably not really fair to judge a German Riesling producer on their 2011 vintage alone.
I’ve drunk only one 2011 so far (which was fine), but the wines I was a little underwhelmed of were mostly from 2001, 2002 and 2004 (roughly 15 different bottles - trocken, feinherb and restsüß). Don’t get me wrong. These are certainly excellently made wines and they age very, very well, it’s just that for my taste they lack that extra bit of tension and length that I find at my favorite Mittelmosel producers such as Prüm, Schloss Lieser, Christoffel jr. or Willi Schaefer.