Winemaker Notes
Aromas of peach and cassis notes on the nose. Harmonic interplay of acidity and residual sugar, with mineral character on the palate.
Professional Ratings
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Vinous
The 2024 Riesling Zeltinger Sonnenuhr Spätlese offers wet stone and dried herbs on the nose, almost like deadnettle crushed on slate, with the tenderest smokiness. The palate then adds a gorgeous streak of ripe Reine Claude plum with a juiciness that softens the stone. It becomes agile, sinuous and animated. What lovely character, subtlety, elegance and astonishing saltiness this has that seemingly swallows most of the sweetness. Its subtle, stony length is remarkable. (Medium)
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James Suckling
The apricot aromas make this Spatlese stand out from the pack in the 2024 vintage. But there’s nothing opulent about this wine in spite of the generous juiciness on the medium-bodied palate. In fact, it is sleek, focused and very crisp in the long, complete finish.
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
The 2024 Zeltinger Sonnenuhr Spätlese has a very delicate nose that is characterized by subtle notes of weathered slate and herbs. The wine is light, elegant and subtly spicy, resting on a mineral-rich foundation that fully integrates its fruit and thus makes it appear less fruity. It's an exquisite, very refined and sophisticated Spätlese of remarkable delicacy and with a lingering saltiness.7.5% stated alcohol. Natural cork.
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Wine Spectator
Plush apple and star fruit notes show crystalline purity and crispness despite this whites full-bodied richness. Savory tones of fennel frond and celery are underscored by singed mandarin orange peel and smoky mineral elements. Refreshing and elegant. Drink now through 2040.
Riesling possesses a remarkable ability to reflect the character of wherever it is grown while still maintaining its identity. A regal variety of incredible purity and precision, this versatile grape can be just as enjoyable dry or sweet, young or old, still or sparkling and can age longer than nearly any other white variety. Somm Secret—Given how difficult it is to discern the level of sweetness in a Riesling from the label, here are some clues to find the dry ones. First, look for the world “trocken.” (“Halbtrocken” or “feinherb” mean off-dry.) Also a higher abv usually indicates a drier Riesling.
Following the Mosel River as it slithers and weaves dramatically through the Eifel Mountains in Germany’s far west, the Mosel wine region is considered by many as the source of the world’s finest and longest-lived Rieslings.
Mosel’s unique and unsurpassed combination of geography, geology and climate all combine together to make this true. Many of the Mosel’s best vineyard sites are on the steep south or southwest facing slopes, where vines receive up to ten times more sunlight, a very desirable condition in this cold climate region. Given how many twists and turns the Mosel River makes, it is not had to find a vineyard with this exposure. In fact, the Mosel’s breathtakingly steep slopes of rocky, slate-based soils straddle the riverbanks along its entire length. These rocky slate soils, as well as the river, retain and reflect heat back to the vineyards, a phenomenon that aids in the complete ripening of its grapes.
Riesling is by far the most important and prestigious grape of the Mosel, grown on approximately 60% of the region’s vineyard land—typically on the desirable sites that provide the best combination of sunlight, soil type and altitude. The best Mosel Rieslings—dry or sweet—express marked acidity, low alcohol, great purity and intensity with aromas and flavors of wet slate, citrus and stone fruit. With age, the wine’s color will become more golden and pleasing aromas of honey, dried apricot and sometimes petrol develop.
Other varieties planted in the Mosel include Müller-Thurgau, Spätburgunder (Pinot Noir) and Weissburgunder (Pinot Blanc), all performing quite well here.