Weingut Leo Schwab, Riesling Auslese, Wehlener Sonnenuhr

You might have read the offer on the 1982 Moselschild I wrote nearly a month ago; to refresh your memory, this is from the same batch from my German broker: “She opened a dusty box of green glass bottles, their chalk-marked codes scrawled decades earlier in the cellar—some still bare without labels, others with fragile ones long since destroyed by humidity. These bottles had never seen the light of day outside the old, dark cellar until just a few months ago, which explains the wine’s uncanny freshness and pale color that almost defies logic.” From those same impeccably stored caches comes another remarkable discovery—an epic 1989 Leo Schwab Auslese from Wehlener Sonnenuhr. A different cellar and a different village than the 1982s, but unmistakably shaped by the same deep-cold, pitch-dark, perfectly still conditions where wine ages at a glacial pace. And it happens to come from a vintage the Mosel’s old guard still speak of with uncomplicated conviction: 1989, a benchmark year of near-perfect conditions, luminous fruit, and balance so precise it borders on inevitable. Pull the cork and everything aligns—the wine is bright, pure, and startlingly well-preserved, a reminder that when Riesling is given the right conditions, time becomes more suggestion than rule. At $59, it’s the kind of discovery that makes you stop for a moment and take stock. Deals like this don’t come often—and maybe won’t again. I have no idea how many of these treasures are still sleeping in cold German cellars, but each one that surfaces feels like it slipped through a crack in time.

The Mosel provides the backdrop: slate slopes climbing sharply from a winding river, villages folded into its bends, vineyards so steep they test your ankles just to look at them. Downstream from the towns of Graach and Wehlen sits Bernkastel-Kues, a place where centuries feel close—timbered houses, narrow lanes, and the deliberate pace of a valley shaped by Riesling for generations. This is home to Weingut Leo Schwab, a family with roots reaching back to 1624, farming the Middle Mosel with a quiet, unadorned approach that has defined the region for centuries. Their wines were never made for global attention; they were made for neighbors, for local tables, for the cellar. That humility—and the unbroken chain of tradition behind it—is partly why bottles like this survive in such pristine condition.

Wehlener Sonnenuhr is one of the Mosel’s crown-jewel vineyards—a steep, south-facing amphitheater of fractured blue slate that acts like a natural solar dish above the river, capturing warmth and light in a valley where every ray matters. The famous white sundial built into the cliff in 1842 is more than a landmark; it signals a site that ripens Riesling with remarkable consistency and finesse. The combination of pure blue slate, extreme gradients near 70%, and constant airflow yields fruit of pristine clarity: white peach, lime, delicate florals, and that shimmering, crystalline minerality that defines the Middle Mosel. Even at Auslese ripeness, Sonnenuhr wines stay weightless and precise, aging for decades as their sweetness slowly melts into acidity and slate-driven purity—exactly the seamless balance this 1989 captures so beautifully.

In the glass, the 1989 Wehlener Sonnenuhr shines pale gold with a faint green edge—astonishingly youthful. Aromatics are classic Sonnenuhr: white peach, lime zest, jasmine, apricot skin, and a clear mineral thread of crushed slate. With a bit of air, a soft honeycomb note appears—not heavy, just an elegant nod to time. On the palate, the wine is feather-light yet quietly intense, showing cool orchard fruit, citrus oil, and a saline mineral snap that defines the frame. After 35 years, the sweetness has nearly melted away—the wine drinks almost dry, with a subtle, refined kiss of sugar, like biting into a slightly underripe peach. The acidity remains vivid and propulsive, carrying the wine with lift and precision into a long finish of citrus, stone, and slate.

This wine should not be paired with anything sweet. It shines with roast duck, pork belly, sushi, ginger-scallion crab, Korean BBQ, Peking duck, or even cold fried chicken—anything savory, salty, or rich that lets this mature Mosel Riesling stretch out fully and honestly. Some wines simply please. A few surprise you. But bottles like this—quietly kept, perfectly preserved—remind you exactly why the Mosel holds a place among the greatest wine regions on earth.