Mülheimer Sonnenlay vineyard

The winegrowers of Mülheim on the Mosel were able to make this proud boast about their Riesling from the Mülheimer Sonnenlay vineyard during the ´twenties and ´thirties.

From this, Mülheim gained its reputation as Zeppelinwein. Today wines from Mülheim are still mar-keted with the Art Deco Zeppelin label, a reminder of the days when the Zeppelin crossed the Atlantic and passengers relaxed in its luxurious restaurant sipping this delicious Riesling.

The hill was surrounded by a great curve of the Mosel until 250,000 years ago, when at the end of an ice age the river changed its course. It now lies in a north-east to south-west direction in the former river valley, completely cut off from the course the Mosel.

Subsequently both sides of this hill were planted with vines. However, only the south-western facing slope produces premium wine and is allowed to be called by the single vineyard name, Mülheimer Sonnenlay. This is the largest holding among the vineyards of Max Ferd. Richter.

The terroir of this steep vineyard is friable grey slate. As the grapes have a great deal of sunshine from late morning and to dusk, they ripen best when there is a long "In-dian summer". The name Sonnenlay expresses the preconditions for successful Ries-ling viticulture in the Mosel valley: the sunshine (Sonnen) and slate (Lay is old Ger-man for slate) are the basis for the quality of our fragrant, racy and spicy Rieslings. Since 1984 we have also produced Mülheimer Sonnenlay Vintage Riesling Brut made by the méthode champenoise.

The Riesling wines from the Mülheimer Sonnenlay vineyard have zesty, appley and peachy flavours, concentrated mineral structure and superb ageing potential. The grapes are of course all hand-picked in order to select the best qualities. The pickers go through the vineyard several times during the vintage, and, as a result, we are able to produce in most years the Mülheimer Sonnenlay Riesling Brut vintage, the QbA, the Zeppelinwein, an off-dry but rich Kabinett, a luscious Spätlese and an elegant Auslese (during the World Economic Summit in London in July 1991, the Mülheimer Son-nenlay Riesling Auslese 1976 from the cellars of Queen Elizabeth was served at the banquet at Buckingham Palace for the Presidents and Prime Ministers of the G7).

Our Mülheimer Sonnenlay Riesling Trockenbeerenauslese 1959 reached 279 degrees Oechsle, one of the highest levels of natural sugar and concentration in the history of the wines of the Mosel!