About Markus Molitor

Markus Molitor was just 20 years old in 1984 when he took control of his father’s winery, becoming the family’s eighth generation to pursue this calling. Even at such a young age he had a clear vision of what he wanted to accomplish. His ultimate goal was to produce Rieslings from Germany’s famed Mosel region in the family tradition with a strong dedication to making quality-driven, terroir-specific wines that would be unmistakably characteristic of this unique area.

Markus’ guidelines have never changed — an uncompromising devotion to quality in the vineyard and cellar, together with an absolute respect for nature. His intent is that each vineyard and vintage should express itself in the taste of every single wine, of which he produces more than 80 different bottlings in each vintage. 80% of the production is Riesling across the full range of dry, off-dry and sweet, with the remaining 20% Pinot Blanc and Pinot Noir.

Markus began with just 1.5 hectares of vineyards in 1984. Over the past 35 years his holdings have slowly grown to 120 hectares, making Markus Molitor now the largest privately-owned and family-run winery in the Mosel region. 75% of his vineyards are located across 25 different Grand Cru sites along the Middle Mosel river, and 25% are located in the Sarre river region.

Organic and sustainable viticulture practices are used in all of Markus Molitor’s vineyards. They are located on steep slopes (up to 75% grade) and many of them are planted with old vines, some more than 100 years old. Due to the steepness and age of the vineyards, almost all of the work must be done by hand by a dedicated team of laborers. Harvesting is done manually, and bunches are selected grape by grape to ensure the utmost quality and incredible precision in the wines.

The resulting wines have become some of the best-reviewed and most-collectible wines in the world.  Rave reviews from critical and 100-point scores are not uncommon; nearly half of all Wine Advocate 100-point scores for German wines were given to those made by Markus Molitor.