Egon Muller in a row of vines at the estate, framed with Dynamic Cellars wave design

Egon Müller

Egon Müller is the family estate of the Scharzhof at Wiltingen, on the Saar, in the Mosel wine region of Germany. The same family has held it since 1797 and grows only Riesling, above all on the Scharzhofberg, the steep slope above the house. This page gathers the estate's Rieslings in our cellar.

Skip to results list
8 items

Filter

The Scharzhof and the family

Jean-Jacques Koch bought the Scharzhof in 1797 from the French Republic, after the church lost the lands it had held on the Scharzhofberg for centuries. His daughter Elisabeth married Felix Müller, and the estate has passed down their line ever since. Egon Müller I and his wife Therese set out to make the name known abroad, and the wines were shown at the Paris World Fair of 1900. Egon Müller III came home from captivity in 1945 to vineyards run down by the war. In 1954 he bought the neighbouring Le Gallais estate: half of its 2.5 hectares in the Wiltinger Kupp and braune Kupp, with the other half leased. His son Egon Müller IV worked beside him from 1985 and took charge of the Scharzhof in 1991.

The Scharzhofberg

The Scharzhofberg is a south-facing slope of 28 hectares between Wiltingen and Oberemmel, planted only with Riesling. The gradient runs from 30 to 60 percent, on weathered slate with a very high share of stone. The estate counts it among the coolest Riesling sites of the region, where ripening is never a given. Egon Müller farms about eight hectares of it, including some three hectares of ungrafted vines planted in the 19th century. Several other estates own parcels on the hill, so the vineyard name alone does not identify this producer. The Wiltinger braune Kupp is the opposite: one of the warmest sites of the Saar, on slate rich in iron, which gives it its name and a fuller, spicier wine.

In the vineyard and the cellar

The estate follows a principle of Egon Müller III: the quality of a wine comes entirely from the vineyard. Yields never exceed 60 hectolitres per hectare and are often close to 30. The soil is ploughed up to six times a year, without chemical fertiliser, herbicide or insecticide. Botrytis is left alone, because noble rot gives the Auslese and the rarer sweet wines. All grapes are picked by hand and pressed gently. The juice settles for a day, then goes into 1,000-litre oak casks, the Fuder, or steel tanks. Fermentation usually starts on its own and often stops in the cool cellar before the wine is dry, which leaves its natural sweetness. In a good year nothing is added but sulphur. Bottling comes early, and the best casks are bottled apart.

Reading the label

A German Prädikat names the ripeness of the grapes at harvest, from Kabinett through Spätlese and Auslese to Beerenauslese and Trockenbeerenauslese. Eiswein is a Prädikat of its own, made from grapes frozen on the vine. The estate grades its wines by the state of the fruit rather than by the legal must weight. Kabinett comes from grapes that are ripe but not overripe, and usually has 7 to 10 percent alcohol. Spätlese is picked later from very ripe grapes, Auslese from grapes touched by noble rot, and Beerenauslese and Trockenbeerenauslese berry by berry. The Eiswein grapes are picked at the first hard frost, at about minus seven degrees, and pressed while still frozen. Goldkapsel, a gold capsule, is not a legal term: it marks a selection the producer rates higher within the same Prädikat, usually richer. Versteigerung means auction. Auction wines carry a sticker and are sold only at the yearly auction of the Grosser Ring, the VDP of the Mosel, held in Trier each autumn, where buyers bid through accredited brokers. After the sale, most reach the market only when a buyer resells them. The label reads Scharzhofberger, without the village name, while the other site appears as Wiltinger braune Kupp, often with the name Le Gallais.

Keeping and serving

These Rieslings are made to last. The estate says its Kabinett ages well for ten years or more, and that its Spätlese gains with time a complexity rarely found elsewhere. It describes its Auslese as wines that often outlast a human life, and expects its Beerenauslese and Trockenbeerenauslese to age for a century. Young Kabinett and Spätlese can seem closed at the first sip, while Auslese is more open from the start. With its low alcohol, Kabinett is a good partner at table, even at lunch. Even the richest wines keep enough acidity to stay in balance.

The range

At the base sits the Scharzhof, a Riesling from the estate's plots at Saarburg, Oberemmel and Wiltingen, with grapes from the two top sites in some years. Above it, only the Prädikat wines carry a site name: Scharzhofberger and Wiltinger braune Kupp, from Kabinett to Auslese, with Beerenauslese and Trockenbeerenauslese from the Scharzhofberg, and Eiswein, when the year allows. Everything comes from the estate's own vines. Egon Müller IV has also made Riesling in Slovakia, at Château Belá, and in the Adelaide Hills of Australia under the Kanta name. The bottles above are the Egon Müller wines in our cellar. For other sweet wines shaped by noble rot, see Sauternes; for more dry and sweet whites, our white wines and world wines. Older bottles appear among our collector wines and old and rare vintages.