Location and Classification
Sonnenlay is an officially registered single vineyard in the cadastral area of Mülheim on the Mosel, in the municipality of Mülheim on the Mosel. It belongs to the Bernkastel area in the winegrowing region Mosel and lies south of the village on a former Mosel meander hill.
Relief and Soils
The west-southwest-facing site shows documented slope gradients of around 50 to 65 percent; individual areas are considered extremely steep. The hill is associated with an earlier course of the Mosel, described as a dry riverbed created during the last Ice Age.
The soils consist of weathered, stony slate clay shale with a slate content of about 45 to 55 percent. They contain numerous stones as well as sand, pebbles and loam from an earlier course of the Mosel. The west-southwest-facing orientation is open to winds from the northern Eifel and is associated with a cooler microclimate.
Vines and Wine Style
For parcels of the Mülheim Sonnenlay, vines aged around 35 to 45 years are stated. Riesling is documented from the site. For the local association emblem, for quality wines from the Mülheim Sonnenlay, Riesling, Kerner and Müller-Thurgau are permitted.
The wines are described as having slate-influenced minerality, fresh fruit and a fresh, herbaceous-spiced or mint-like aromatic profile. From grapes from the site, a Riesling Sekt brut is also produced as a single-vineyard Sekt from traditional bottle fermentation.
History and Legal Framework
Municipal records document wine from Mülheimer Sonnenlay on board the Graf Zeppelin during its first world flight on 7 August 1929. The connection to the Zeppelin wine is attributed to the 1920s and 1930s.
In the wine-growing sites directory, Sonnenlay is assigned to the Mosel, the Bernkastel area and the single large site Kurfürstlay. For the cadastral area of Mülheim, the 2024 harvest publication records a total of 46.5 hectares of planted vineyard area. According to the municipal ordinance dated 1 October 1986, the association emblem of the Graf-Zeppelin-Vereinigung is restricted to wines from Mülheimer Sonnenlay and may only be used with the permission of the municipality.
