Without a doubt, Weingut Egon Müller-Scharzhof has been one of the best wineries in the world for over a century, making it undeniably THE flagship of the German wine landscape. It is the only German member of "Primum Familiae Vini," an association of 12 legendary wineries, and thus stands alongside such illustrious names as Mouton Rothschild, Vega-Sicilia, Sassicaia, and Haut-Brion. The winery, called Scharzhof, is located not far from Wiltingen at the foot of the world-renowned Scharzhofberg, from which it takes its name, in a side valley of the Saar. In this former monastery, the world's best sweet wines from the Riesling grape variety are produced, which have earned the winery its legendary reputation. Since the 18th century, the Müller family has been cultivating vines on the Scharzhofberg, a south-facing slope of over 27 hectares located between Wiltingen and Oberemmel, which is considered one of the best Riesling vineyards in the world. However, the original Scharzhofberg was significantly smaller, and today the winery still owns over 8 hectares in the core of the Scharzhofberg, making it the largest shareholder, ahead of Reichsgraf von Kesselstatt, the Bischöfliche Weingüter, von Hövel, and Van Volxem. To this day, the winery cultivates more than 3 hectares of ungrafted, over 100-year-old vines (planted between 1890-1900) here, which year after year produce the winery's best wines, such as the Scharzhofberger Kabinett Alte Reben Versteigerung, on highly weathered blue Devonian slate soils with the greatest effort. In addition to Scharzhofberg, Egon Müller owns other excellent sites on the Saar. Under his second winery, Le Gallais, he markets wines from the Wiltinger Braune Kupp site, and for his estate wine Scharzhof, he uses grapes from no less distinguished sites such as Saarburger Rausch, Wawerner Jesuitengarten, Oberemmeler Rosenberg, and, depending on the vintage, more or less from Scharzhofberger. Mr. Müller sees our slate soils and the extended, slow ripening periods as the main reasons for the quality of his wines. His family did not select the vineyards because they yielded the highest must weights, but rather because they produced and continue to produce very elegant wines! To understand today's worldwide reputation, a look at history is worthwhile:

For over 200 years, the Müller family has been cultivating wine at the foot of the Scharzhofberg for five generations. Jean-Jacques Koch, Egon Müller's great-great-great-grandfather, was able to purchase the former Trier monastery estate of St. Martin from the French Republic in 1797 during the French Revolution. His son, Egon Müller I, was the first to bring the winery to international fame, and for four generations, it has been a tradition for the firstborn male descendant to bear the name Egon. Today, the legendary winery is managed by Egon Müller IV. His son, Egon Müller V, is now of legal age and is increasingly involved in the business alongside his own Scharzhofberg honey production. Under the direction of Egon I (1852-1936), son of Felix Müller and Elisabeth Koch, the wines from Scharzhofberg first caused a stir at the beginning of the 20th century when they won first prize at the World Exhibitions in Paris (1900), St. Louis (1904), and Brussels (1910). His son, Egon Müller II (1887-1941), unfortunately passed away too early in a tragic tractor accident in the vineyard, so his widow had to lead the business alone through the Second World War – successfully! Because in 1945, Egon Müller III took over the reins, immediately initiated the pioneering quality policy of the house, and uncompromisingly aligned the business with the production of high-class wines – a wise decision, as it turned out, which helped the winery to new prosperity. This enabled him to purchase two plots (1985 & 1997) in Scharzhofberg and the Kanzem winery Le Gallais with excellent sites in Wiltinger Kupp and Braunen Kupp.
But what is the legendary reputation of the Egon Müller-Scharzhof winery based on?

The legendary VDP auctions in Trier played a crucial role. In 1896, Egon Müller I achieved the insane price of 10,500 Goldmark for a Fuder (a traditional 1,000-liter oak barrel) of the 1895 Scharzhofberger finest Auslese. From today's perspective, this corresponds to a purchasing power of more than €130,000! In subsequent years, he also achieved excellent results of around 10,000 Goldmark per Fuder at the annual auction, before a Fuder of 1911 Scharzhofberger was auctioned in 1913 for the unprecedented price of 10,600 Goldmark. To put the prices of that time into perspective: Back then, it was possible to cover the entire annual costs of the winery with just one Fuder of wine! These noble growths were served at European royal courts and in the finest restaurants around the world. Under the direction of Egon Müller II and subsequently his widow, the winery could no longer match the auction results from around 1900 due to the consequences of the Second World War, until Egon Müller III, from the late 80s/early 90s, was again able to regularly achieve enormously high prices at the annual VDP auction in Trier. His son, the current owner Egon Müller IV (born 1959), has ensured since taking over the business in 1997 that the wines from Scharzhof regain their old international renown. This was soon reflected in the results of the Trier wine auction, where he achieved one world record after another. The 131st Prädikatswein auction of the Großer Ring in Trier in 2015 remains unforgettable, where his Egon Müller Scharzhofberger Riesling Trockenbeerenauslese 2003 set the current world record for the most expensive freshly released wine in the world at €12,000 (net). Including the auction fee of 5% and 19% VAT, that makes almost €15,000 gross per 0.75l bottle! A total of 22 0.75l bottles were auctioned at a price of €12,000 each, and 36 half (0.375l) bottles at a price of €5,500 per bottle. This means 30l of this exceptional wine generated a net revenue of €462,000, thus connecting again with the legendary prices of 1900 achieved by his great-great-great-grandfather Egon Müller I. This impressively demonstrates the international reputation that Saar wines enjoy today.

But what are the reasons that move wine lovers around the world to pay these enormous prices?

1. Outstanding Wine Quality for Over 100 Years

A decisive factor for outstanding quality is consistency. For practically over 100 years, Egon Müller's wine collection has been a contender for the collection of the year, year after year. During this time, there have been average vintages and numerous poor ones, but while other once world-famous wineries did not survive some crises, excellent wines were produced at Scharzhof even in difficult vintages. Egon Müller IV describes 1987 as the last truly bad vintage, yet even his '87 wines, now over 30 years old, reveal themselves to be elegantly mineral Rieslings.

2. Scarcity

One of the most important factors for the outstanding quality of Egon Müller wines is the extremely low yields. As a result, only around 100,000 bottles are produced annually at Scharzhof, often significantly less in many years – far too little to meet the enormous worldwide demand.

3. Longevity

The legendary reputation of Scharzhofberger wines is also largely due to their enormous longevity. Hardly any other wine in the world matures as excellently as the wines from Scharzhofberg, and Egon Müller's Rieslings are the crowning glory. The aging potential of his wines should therefore be expressed in decades rather than years! In their youth, his Scharzhofberg wines often appear very closed and require many years of cellar aging to fully develop their quality. Thus, even for the supposedly simple estate wine Scharzhof, an aging period of at least 10 years is recommended; Kabinett wines often need 20 years to truly shine; Spätlese wines fully open up after 30 years; and Auslese wines amaze with 50 years and more of aging due to their brilliance and mineral freshness! The Goldkapsel and auction wines, Beerenauslesen, Trockenbeerenauslesen, and Eisweine are true monuments of winemaking and practically have no expiration date. With proper storage, they can easily outlast a lifetime.

But what is the secret behind the inimitable aging ability of Egon Müller's Rieslings?

The main reason for the quality of Egon Müller’s Rieslings lies in his philosophy, which solidified over a century and was aptly summarized by Egon Müller III: “The quality of the wine is 100 percent created in the vineyard. In the cellar, it’s not possible to achieve even 101 percent. But it is a great achievement to bring the full potential of the grapes into the bottle.” Accordingly, work in the vineyard enjoys the highest priority, as the Müllers are convinced that the aromas for a great wine are entirely formed in the ripening grapes in the vineyard. For this reason, he cultivates the vines, some of which are over 100 years old, largely using traditional methods, which is primarily due to the high average age of his vines and distinguishes him from other producers. For example, he refrains from green harvesting for yield reduction, because his old vines naturally bear only a few highly aromatic berries. The average yield is often only 30-40 hl/ha, which is not even half of the normal hectare yields of other top wineries. In autumn, the grapes are carefully selected in several picking rounds to perfectly bring out the different Prädikat levels. Thus, Egon Müller produces a variety of Prädikat levels in different sweetness grades, from fruity Kabinett to noble sweet Trockenbeerenauslese and, if the weather permits, also Ice Wine, from only a single grape variety – Riesling. For his noble sweet wines, the influence of the noble rot fungus Botrytis cinerea is crucial, because the berries affected by it shrivel on the vine under ideal weather conditions, giving Egon Müller’s sweet wines their complex, aromatic depth and oily texture. Therefore, Egon Müller generally refrains from the last spraying against Botrytis to encourage the settlement of the noble rot fungus. In general, he tries to keep his plant protection management as moderate as possible, adapted to the vintage.

Fundamentally, all grapes are gently pressed using an old basket press and fermented in the old vaulted cellar in traditional fuder barrels at moderate temperatures of around 15 degrees with natural yeasts. Nothing has changed in this regard since the beginnings under Egon Müller I. The winery still relies on traditional fuder barrels because Egon Müller values the minimal oxygen permeability of the oak. Through micro-oxygenation, the relatively high acidity of his Rieslings integrates more harmoniously into the wines, making them less steely and brittle than if they were matured in stainless steel.

Another constant also runs through the winery's history: only off-dry Rieslings have ever been produced. Although there were attempts with dry wines in the 1980s after the glycol scandal, Egon Müller IV quickly came to the conviction that off-dry wines ideally reflect the terroir of the Scharzhofberg, and it would therefore be senseless for him to produce dry wines.

Anyone expecting his wines to taste sickly sweet will be proven wrong with the first sip. His wines possess an incomparable finesse and balance, where the subservient residual sweetness perfectly fits as a puzzle piece into the framework of pronounced salty slate minerality, laser-sharp acidity, and brilliant fruit and herbal aromas. A typical Scharzhofberger from Egon Müller exhibits distinct notes of ripe citrus fruits (grapefruit, lemon), yellow stone fruit (mirabelle plums), exotic fruits (passion fruit, maracuja, cassis), as well as minty nuances and the typical pronounced salty/smoky slate minerality. The higher the Prädikat, the more the influence of botrytis comes into play, and the aroma profile of these noble sweet masterpieces shifts towards the finest dried fruit aromas (raisins, fig, dates) as well as noble honey, tobacco, and spice aromas.