Grapefruit and apple piquantly marked by their peel and pit lend Molitor’s compact, palpably dense dry 2009 Graacher Domprobst Riesling Spatlese a bittersweet cast, further enhanced by toasted nut notes in a gripping finish transparent to wet stone, alkaline, and saline notes. Compared with the corresponding Treppchen, this tilts slightly toward the lean and austere side, but there is so much energy and striking sense of things mineral that it is impossible not to be impressed, and I suspect this will be worth following for at least 6-8 years. Markus Molitor – for more details on whose vast acreage, mind-boggling multiplicity of bottlings, and highly distinctive methods and style consult my reports in issues 167 and 185 – faced an especially daunting conditions in vinifying his 2009 collection, inasmuch as the wholesale renovation of his cellars under the Wehlener Klosterberg ran into some engineering complications and consequent delays. The results show no signs of having suffered. “Where yields were high in 2009 there was the danger of stress, which you taste as un-ripeness, but where yields were low” which naturally includes his vineyards, “the vines stood up to the dry August and September and then you could harvest some terrific things past the middle of October. I’m extremely enthusiastic about the vintage, because the wines have this inner reductive potential. They have 100 (and more) Oechsle, 6.8 or 7 acid (i.e. not terribly high), but then they have pH values almost as low as we’ve ever encountered, lower than I could ever imagine” for wines this ripe and relatively low in total acidity. As a result, Molitor predicts unusual keeping powers for his 2009s (his wines have impressive track records in that regard anyway) and he thinks these wines’ chemistry caused the to tighten up more than usual after bottlings, which for all but the highest Oechsle among them took place only the week before I tasted in September. (The exceptions had then not yet been bottled.) In addition to the wines reviewed in this report, two further “three-star” Auslesen, a B.A. and two T.B.A.s – all of these representing wines featuring the two Sonnenuhr Einzellagen – were still fermenting and thus inaccessible. For explanation of the color-coding of Molitor’s labels to reflect their style, see my report in issue 187. In keeping with my usual convention, only where two wines here share the same site-designation and Pradikat have I included reference to A.P. #s, and although Molitor does not employ the terms “trocken,” “halbtrocken,” or “feinherb” on his labels, such instances of otherwise eponymous wines normally only arise here where one of them is dry-tasting and other off-dry or unabashedly sweet. Despite the few wines listed in the U.S. but Molitor’s importer (and thus paired with prices in my report), both of them have sought to assure me that a wider range is available to merchants who ask, and I find it hard to believe even in the present economic climate that a larger number of these distinctively delicious, and in many instances under-priced wines is not available stateside. As usual chez Molitor, with the exception of the lightest wines and an auction cuvee, none of the 2009s reviewed here will have gone on the market until December and some will not be released for another year or more.Importer: Schmitt Soehne, Millersville, MD; tel. 410 729 4083

Molitor’s dry 2008 Graacher Domprobst Riesling Spatlese is more struck by its sulfuring as well as more thickly shrouded in fermentative residues than its siblings, and even after a good shaking it labored under those handicaps. But what emerges is too impressive to overlook. Aromas of hedge flowers, fresh apple, and nut oils lead to – what a surprise given the wine’s recalcitrant aromas! – a palate impression of utmost clarity, with floral, saline and stony mineral, as well as nut oil nuances shimmering through a delicate pool of melon, apple, and lemon that defies the wine’s 11.5% alcohol in its sense of near feather-lightness. As with the corresponding Kabinett, this is predominantly treble in tonal range and shows strong acid retention, but here there is an energetic wealth of activity which I suspect will be worth following for the better part of a decade, enhanced of course once (assuming) the wine’s aromas have cleared themselves up. The vastness of Markus Molitor’s ambition and energy – as well as of his still-expanding estate – continue to be a cause for wonder. (Consult issues 167 and 185 for further details.) In time for the 2010 harvest, he plans to have moved into completely renovated cellar and receiving facilities, and in the meantime, I can hardly imagine the effort that must have been involved in transferring literally lock, stock, and barrel(s) to the warehouse district on the other side of the Mosel where he and I tasted his 2008 collection. You could say that collection is an abbreviated or stylistically restricted one only in the sense that there are not the dozen or more T.B.A.s that have become a feature of so many recent Molitor vintages, and that have resulted in glass demijohns two and three years deep awaiting bottling. (There were two 2008 Eisweine, one B.A., and one T.B.A. still fermenting when I visited in September.) “This vintage,” says Molitor, “was about, waiting, waiting, waiting … we didn’t really get started until November 10, completely crazy.” Crazy indeed, when one has more than 100 acres to harvest, and no other German grower I know finished as late this year as Molitor (at the end of November). He considers 2008 especially well suited to dry-tasting wines, and the bottled results certainly back him up. “Everybody says in really ripe vintages ‘ooh, great year for trocken!’ but then the wines have too little extract and too much alcohol. I normally bottle 60% dry wines, but in 2003, for example, it was only 7%.” The Molitor label has been redesigned (beautifully, to my eye) but the degree of dryness continues to be signified by a color coding, “trocken,” and “feinherb” being signified now by white and pale green bottle capsules respectively, but not appearing in print on the labels; while unabashedly sweet wines now all (!) receive a gold capsule. Where a dry- and an off-dry-tasting wine here share the same site-designation and Pradikat, one is distinguished from the other in my description by referencing the A.P. #. Bottling is routinely late here, so some wines were still in barrel or tank when I last tasted in September. Only a very small subset of wines is listed in the U.S. (and thus paired with prices in my report), but the importer insists that arrangements are made with those distributors or other customers who are interested in offering any particular wine, and it would be a wise merchant who took them up on this.Importer: Schmitt Soehne, Millersville, MD; tel. 410 729 4083