The Riesling Pope Egon Müller works his magic not only in the legendary Scharzhofberg vineyard. In addition to his international ventures in Slovakia (Château Belá) and Australia (Kanta Riesling), he also produces Rieslings from the Wiltinger Braune Kupp vineyard here on the Saar, which he sells under the Le Gallais label, apart from his legendary Scharzhofberg wines. This is by no means a second wine, as is often mistakenly assumed! The Le Gallais winery, just like the Scharzhof winery, has its full justification, and the wines from Braune Kupp are produced with the same care and dedication as those from the Scharzhofberg vineyard. However, to clearly differentiate the two vineyards, the wines from Braune Kupp are marketed under the Le Gallais winery label.

After Egon Müller III, father of the current proprietor Egon Müller IV, initiated the winery's groundbreaking quality policy after the Second World War, he was given the opportunity in 1954 to acquire a stake in the Le Gallais winery in Kanzem and lease 2.5 hectares of the best Riesling vines in the Wiltinger Braune Kupp vineyard. The winery then belonged to the Le Gallais family, a wealthy family from Brittany who were among the founders of Arbed steelworks (Saarstahl AG) in Saarland. In 1992, Egon Müller IV was able to purchase an additional 2 hectares of this top vineyard, making the vineyard his sole property today. The approximately 4.5-hectare monopole vineyard Wiltinger Braune Kupp, with its perfect south-facing orientation and its namesake red-brown, iron-rich slate weathered soil, is one of the best sites on the Saar. Here, in the middle of the Wiltingen Saar loop, between Kanzem and Wiltingen, the Riesling grapes can ripen perfectly in the protected, warm microclimate even in less sunny years, whereby higher ripeness levels are achieved here almost every year than in Scharzhofberg. The wines are aged in the cellar at Scharzhof. The wines from Scharzhofberg and Braune Kupp are treated identically both in the vineyard and in the cellar – traditional cultivation methods, low yields, manual labor, gentle pressing in the basket press, spontaneous fermentation at moderate temperatures in classic, old Fuder barrels, as well as controlled inaction in the cellar, are the recipe for world-class Rieslings.

Due to the higher average must weights, the Le Gallais wines are significantly more opulent and full-bodied with charming exotic fruit aromas. This makes them, on balance, much more approachable in their youth compared to the initially more reserved and sometimes still closed Scharzhofberger wines. Therefore, they already offer great drinking pleasure shortly after bottling, yet also have nearly as high aging potential as the Scharzhofberger wines. For example, a Le Gallais Wiltinger Braune Kupp finest Auslese 1964 remains one of the most impressive wines we have ever tasted.