2018 Dr. Pauly-Bergweiler Riesling Kabinett Wehlener Sonnenuhr Mosel 750 ml

The world’s most iconic Riesling vineyard stretches up from the Mosel River on a 63-degree slope overlooking the village of Wehlen, Germany. Many of the region’s top producers have a stake in this famed hillside—Prüm, Loosen—including one of our longtime favorites, a paragon of handcrafted Mosel greatness, Dr. Pauly-Bergweiler. 

Their vivid and pristine style perfectly captures the Wehlener Sonnenuhr vineyard’s heart and soul. And nothing tops their Kabinett, with a kiss of sweetness that only just brushes the lips, intensifying the peachy richness and zippy, quince-like acidity that dance around the slate stone core.

This is a wine for Riesling obsessives to splurge on. A wine that locals and fanatics seek out when they want the best of the best for less. This is lip-smacking, off-dry perfection from one of the most respected families in the Mosel working ancient vines on triply sacred dirt. An extraordinary site in the top vineyard in the peak region for this grape. And it gets better.

In major vintages, due to prime vine positioning, the Pauly-Bergweiler wines leverage their power and aromatic intensity to separate themselves even further from the pack.

The editors at Mosel Fine Wine know a major vintage when they see one. And they wrote that the off-dry bottlings from blue-chip sites in 2018 were “worth the plunge” and “among the most subtle and refined which we have ever tasted.”

“For wine lovers around the world the Wehlener Sonnenuhr name is synonymous with great Riesling,” according to Stuart Pigott, Germany’s preeminent wine writer. “In top vintages the site yields the richest, silkiest, most seductive wines on the Mosel.”

In 2018, with long hours of sun from April to September, the steep, well-drained and highly sunned exposures produced truly exceptional wine. 

Famous for its 180-year-old sundial perched halfway to the ridge, this hillside soaks up every last lumen of southwesterly shine. Stefan Pauly tends vines in some of the slope’s most vertiginous sections, right around the sundial, where the vines are old and ungrafted, rooted to pure rock. This is a highly prized area within the vineyard, known for the intense labor required to cultivate it and the unmatched purity of the fruit as a result. 

Dr. Peter Pauly, the grandson of Mosel legend Zacharias Bergweiler, took over the Pauly-Bergweiler estate in 1959. He and his wife Helga Pauly ran things for nearly 50 years until their son Stefan took over in 2006. While they don’t carry the international marketing recognition of their immediate neighbors, they do carry those neighbors’ deep gratitude and respect, not least for the excellence of their wines.

When we last visited, a couple years ago, the spring flowers were in full bloom. Roses, cornflowers, and violets permeated every room at our hotel. Still, as we sat in the courtyard drinking this scrumptious Riesling, less than a quarter mile from the Wehlener Sonnenuhr vineyard where it was grown, not even the garden’s heady fragrance could overpower the dramatic stone fruit and honeysuckle aromas lifting from our glasses. We couldn’t get enough! 

Fortunately, Dr. Pauly was happy to oblige our thirst, filling glass after glass, each pour accompanied by a bit of vineyard color. An overturned cart and the lifelong friendship that followed. The taste of his father’s Kölsch at the end of a long, late-summer day. Dr. Pauly’s an affable man with a booming voice. And like the good doctor, his wine will charm you to no end.