Weingut Moselschild, “Erdener Prälat” Riesling Auslese

Today, you have the limited opportunity to experience a spectacular, 17-year-old bottling from one of the greatest jewel-box vineyards in Germany. Spotting a label with “Erdener Prälat” is a tough-enough task, but acquiring Moselschild’s is near impossible. Why? Roughly a dozen producers scrap over this sun-soaked, four-acre site, and the small quantity that Moselschild crafted was sold locally—mostly to guests that frequented their family-owned, timber-framed inn above the cellar. “Prälat” is one of the most cherished sites in all of Mosel, renowned for its incredible exposure on a hair-raising slope and its ancient (100+-year-old) vines buried in slate soils. This hallowed vineyard produces Riesling of intense opulence and tension, ones that burst with unfathomably ripe tropical/stone fruits and bracing minerality. Here’s the kicker though: As of (circa) 2010, Moselschild doesn’t make this anymore—they don’t make anything. This was a family of innkeepers that had a passion for winema