Winemaker Notes
Rotlay, a South facing parcel, is the single best parcel within the Sonnenuhr vineyard. On the sides it is open and flows into the other local parcels called "Kakert" and "Lehnschaft" though there some large outcroppings of rock in the border areas, creating a unique geographic scenario, similar to a "clos" in France, with a rather unique microclimate. The slope that comprises "Rotlay" faces straight south here and the soil is very stony, covered with big chunks of "blue Devonian" slate. The slate is the compressed silt of the seabed of the giant ocean that once covered most of the earth some 450 million years ago alongside the single continent Pangea.
Professional Ratings
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
From vines up to 100 years old that were trained on single poles adjacent to the Mosel and picked at 97° Oechsle, the golden-yellow colored 2022 Zeltinger Sonnenuhr Riesling Auslese Rotlay opens with a delicate yet also intense nose of fully ripe and overripe fruits intermingled with delicate notes of crushed slate. Supple, lush and intense yet also refined and with salivating salinity on the finish, this is a rich but very delicate and balanced Auslese in the richer, sweeter botrytis style. In fact, this wine is based on a higher percentage of botrytis grapes every year, including 2022. The finish is stimulating, savory and crisp.
Rating: 95+ -
Vinous
The 2022 Riesling Zeltinger Sonnenuhr Auslese Rotlay is from the warmest part of Rotlay, on own-rooted vines on average 100 years old, with very low yields; the proximity to the river encourages botrytis. This selection contains around 30% botrytized fruit. Slatey perfume, petrichor, pepper and crushed tansy are vivid and savory on the nose. More air almost expresses itself in an ozone lift. These aromatic notions wrap themselves around peach, and on the palate, this sense of saltiness heightens sweet peach, and savory nature comes to full expression. This tingles and sprays, adds orange, kumquat peel, and pepper, and finishes triumphantly at 102g/L of residual sweetness. (Luscious)
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.