2010 Zeltinger Sonnenuhr Auslese (1 Star)

Molitor’s “three-star” 2010 Zeltinger Sonnenuhr Riesling Auslese behaves almost more like the T.B.A. that it legally could claim to be than like an Auslese. Sweet essence of gardenia and heliotrope present a heady aromatic display, while white raisin and apple jelly dominate a viscous, creamy, glycerin-slicked yet uncannily buoyant palate on which sugar and acid are clearly at a complete stand-off. Even if not dynamically complex (for now, at least) this is remarkable wine by any name, and finishes with haunting, soothing yet stimulating persistence. I suspect it will remain fresh for at least four decades. “I’d never seen acidity like that of 2010,” relates Markus Molitor, but then issues a litany of the things that never get done or added to musts or wine at his estate, concluding, “I de-acidified three or four casks, but otherwise all of the amelioration of acidity came via malo-lactic transformation.” Molitor had been bottling day and night in the two weeks prior to my mid-September visit, but before that, virtually his entire production had still been on its fine lees. Given the proximity of tasting to bottling, I could practically have added a plus sign conjoined with a question mark to each of my ratings, but have instead done so only in instances where I additionally call attention to particular signs that suggest possible short-term improvement. Molitor hypothesizes that given the low pH of so many 2010s, off-aromas or tightness on the palate such as can result from sulfuring at bottling were accentuated. Yield penury meant that virtually the entire 2010 crop rather than merely the top bottlings ran through a basket press. The total number of bottlings is still staggeringly large, although considerably smaller than usual, particularly when it comes to those that are finished dry (but, as usual at this address, never labeled “trocken,” not even those that stay under the legal threshold of 9 grams residual sugar). “The Zeltinger Sonnenuhr has only left me in the lurch twice in 25 years,” jokes Molitor, but says that in 2010 – just as in otherwise very different 2006 – his policy of letting vines in Bernkastel and Zeltingen take care of themselves while he harvests the rest of his vast acreage resulted in massive amounts of botrytis and shriveling taking place as it were behind his back. Consequently, three 2010 B.A.s and ten T.B.A.s (“and not in just ‘designer’ quantities, notes Molitor) were centered on those villages. At the time of my visit, most of those wines had not yet been bottled; some hadn’t finished fermenting; and of those Molitor poured for me, not all were really ready to be described and rated without doing them injustice and misleading readers. Not-yet-ready as well was an aromatically perturbed, sharply acidic pair from Bernkastel: a “three-star” Lay Auslese and an Eiswein. “Two days before we got the necessary frost, wild boar broke into the (Wehlener) Klosterberg and ate away everything,” laments Molitor, “but in (Bernkasteler) Badstube we had enough for a tiny delicacy. I was so preoccupied with the Mosel,” he continues, “that I needed to delay harvest in the Saar even by my late standards, and fortunately the vines there did me the favor of remaining healthier than in nearly any of my Middle Mosel sites” (thought this didn’t preclude the capture of two superb nobly sweet Saar Auslesen). I had my first proper chance this year to taste Markus Molitor’s Pinot Blancs and was not surprised given his exceptional standards to find them fascinatingly delicious. I also tasted a significant range of Molitor’s impressive Pinot Noirs, on which however I shall report at a later time as part of an extensive coverage of this grape’s top German and Swiss practitioners. (For more information about Molitor’s unique approaches to vinification, labeling, and marketing, readers are encouraged to consult earlier reports I have published, in particular in issue 192. To what I have written before about labeling I should add that the A.P. #s here – which, following my usual convention, I only indicated in instances of two otherwise eponymous wines – normally accrue each year to a wine of the same official description and origins.) Importer: Schmitt Soehne, Millersville, MD; tel. 410 729 4083