2016 Zeltinger Sonnenuhr Spatlese WK
Estimated value
Buying options
Tasting notes
The 2016 Riesling Zeltinger Sonnenuhr Spätlese (Golden Capsule) has deep, clear and flinty bouquet of perfectly ripe and healthy fruits. Lush, round and elegant on the palate, this is a very delicate and harmonious Spätlese from Molitor's most important grand cru. Its finish is salty-piquant, very precise and tickling, showing stimulating grip and mineral tension. Keep it for another 5 to 10 years. Tasted March 2018.
Critic scores
Average Score
Mosel Fine Wines
Mosel Fine Wines
More reviews and scores
This is still quite reduced at this early stage, and only timidly reveals some yellow peach, cassis, brown sugar wrapped into dried flowers, almond cream and smoke after airing. The wine combines creamy fruity presence with an airy and delicate texture on the quite rich palate. The finish is slightly sweet at this early stage, but the presence of a most refined touch of ripe acidity in the finish makes us yearn to try this rich Spätlese at maturity, when the sweetness-acidity balance will have been reached. Oct 2017, www.moselfinewines.com, Drink: 2026-2046
This offers a superbly deep, complex and refined nose including dried flowers, whipped almond cream, a touch of smoke, vineyard peach, cassis and grapefruit. While fully present everything about this splendid nose is subtle and refined. The wine is superbly playful with a creamy and light texture and great complexity and finesse on the palate. The finish is breathtakingly long and pure, even if still slightly reduced at this early stage. But make no mistake, this is a great airy and dry Riesling in the making. Oct 2017, www.moselfinewines.com, Drink: 2023-2036
The 2016 Riesling Zeltinger Sonnenuhr Riesling Spatlese (White Capsule) opens with beautifully ripe and elegant fruit intertwined with reductive and flinty notes with crunchy slate aromas. Silky, lush and seamless on the palate, this is a highly finessed and elegant Spatlese with stimulating balance and super fine tannin structure. It is the most elegant, balanced and perhaps also the most classic Mosel Spatlese in the dry style. The finish is clear, fresh and very salty—a crystalline and persistent Sonnenuhr of great class. Mar 2018, www.robertparker.com
About the producer
Markus Molitor is now among the largest privately owned wine estates in the Mosel and also one of the best. With a focus on single-vineyard expressions, the estate produces between 80 and 90 different wines each vintage.