Riesling guru Egon Müller doesn't only conjure magic in the legendary Scharzhofberg vineyard. Besides his international ventures in Slovakia (Château Belá) and Australia (Kanta Riesling), he also produces Rieslings here on the Saar, apart from his legendary Scharzhofberg wines, from the Wiltinger Braune Kupp vineyard, which he markets under the Le Gallais label. This is by no means, as is often mistakenly assumed, a second wine! The Le Gallais winery, just like the Scharzhof winery, is fully legitimate, and the wines from the Braune Kupp are produced with the same care and dedication as those from the Scharzhofberg vineyard. However, to clearly distinguish between the two vineyards, the wines from the Braune Kupp are marketed under the Le Gallais winery label.



"Complexity, terroir, finesse - Rieslings in perfection from the Brown Dome!"

After Egon Müller III, father of the current owner Egon Müller IV, initiated the groundbreaking quality policy of the winery after the Second World War, the opportunity arose in 1954 to participate in the Kanzem winery Le Gallais and thus 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 one of the founders of the Arbed steelworks (Saarstahl AG) in Saarland. In 1992, Egon Müller IV was able to purchase a further 2 hectares of this top vineyard, so that the vineyard is now in his sole possession. The approximately 4.5-hectare monopole vineyard Wiltinger Braune Kupp, with its perfectly southerly orientation and its characteristic reddish-brown, iron-rich slate-weathered soil, is one of the best vineyards on the Saar. Here, in the middle of the Wiltinger Saarbogen, between Kanzem and Wiltingen, the Riesling grapes can ripen perfectly even in less sunny years thanks to the sheltered, warm microclimate, resulting in higher ripeness levels almost every year than in the Scharzhofberg. The wines are vinified in the Scharzhof cellar. The wines from Scharzhofberg and Braune Kupp are treated identically in both the vineyard and the cellar – traditional cultivation methods, low yields, hand harvesting, gentle pressing in the basket press, spontaneous fermentation at moderate temperatures in classic, old casks, and controlled non-intervention in the cellar are the recipe for world-class Rieslings.



"Egon Müller - Drinking pleasure without a long waiting time"

Due to the higher average must weights, the Le Gallais wines are significantly more opulent and full-bodied with charming exotic fruit aromas. As a result, they are considerably more accessible in their youth compared to the initially rather reserved and sometimes still closed Scharzhofberger wines. Therefore, they offer great drinking pleasure shortly after bottling, yet also possess a similarly high aging potential as the Scharzhofberger wines. A Le Gallais Wiltinger Braune Kupp finest Auslese 1964, for example, remains one of the most impressive wines we have ever tasted.