Winery Egon Muller

If there is a permanently reigning king among Germany's winegrowers, then his name is definitely Egon Müller. His Scharzhof winery has been one of the best wineries in the world for over a century and one of the flagships of the German wine landscape. Müller-Scharzhof is the only German member of the legendary "Primum Familiae Vini", an international association of twelve outstanding wineries. The prices of Müller wines have always been well above the average of other winegrowers. But there are reasons for this, as a look at the tradition and quality of the winery shows.

A story steeped in tradition

The history of the estate goes back to the late 18th century. At that time, the Saarland still belonged to France. In the course of the revolutionary reorganization of the French state and the associated dissolution of many church institutions, the great-great-great-grandfather of the current owner was able to purchase vineyards in the municipality of Wiltingen in 1797, which were previously owned by the monastery of St. Maria und ad Martyres. Since then, the area at the foot of the Scharzhofberg has been family-owned and managed by Egon Müller in the fourth generation. Already Egon I., the son of the founder, brought the winery to international fame. In 1900 a wine from the Scharzhof was awarded the Grand Prize at the World Exhibition in Paris. Another success milestone was winning the Grand Prix at the 1904 World Exhibition in St. Louis, USA, with a 1900 Scharzhofberger Fuder no. 25. Six years later, a Scharzhof wine was also successful at the World Exhibition in Brussels.

A tradition that has always run through the history of the family winery is that the first-born sons of the family bear the name Egon. Egon II died tragically in a tractor accident in the vineyard in the early 1940s. However, his widow managed to successfully bring the estate through the difficult period of the Second World War. In 1945, their son took over the management of the family winery and consistently geared the winemaking towards the production of high-quality wines. Due to the success of this orientation, he was able to acquire additional plots on the Scharzhofberg and, by taking over a nearby winery, additional locations in the Wiltinger Kupp and the Braunen Kupp. Today, Egon IV successfully continues the consistent production of top wines.

First-class locations and cultivation areas

Since the end of the 18th century, the family has been growing wine on the Schwarzhofberg, an almost 30-hectare southern slope between the towns of Wiltingen and Oberemmel in Saarland, which is considered one of the best vineyards in the world for the cultivation of Riesling vines. The special feature of the cultivation area on the Saar is that there are still more than three hectares of ungrafted vines that are over 100 years old. The vines planted between 1890 and 1900 deliver the best wines of the family winery, such as the auction cabinet Scharzhofberger Kabinett Alte Reben, with a great deal of work. In addition to the Scharzhofberg, the star winemaker manages other top locations in the Saar wine region. He sells wines from the Wiltinger Braune Kupp site under the name of his second winery, Le Gallais. In addition, the winery uses grapes from excellent locations such as Oberemmeler Rosenberg, Saarburger Rausch and Wawener Jesuitengarten for its Schwarzhof estate wine.

A small but fine production

With a cultivation area of ​​approx. 16 hectares and an annual production of only around 80,000 bottles per year, Gut Scharzhof is one of the smaller wineries in Germany. The reasons for the high quality of the wines, which has not been surpassed for decades, are the unique weathered gray and red slate soils and the slow maturing periods of the wines. The family has always not selected the vineyards based on the highest yield, but solely on the basis of quality criteria. No other winery in Germany has stood for the highest quality and international reputation for such a long time as Egon Müller. Wine lovers from all over the world have been "arguing" for decades about the few bottles of the Saar estate. No wonder the wines from the Scharzhof fetch top prices year after year. The family winery does not sell from the farm and only a small number of wine dealers can look forward to the honor of being able to sell Müller wines.

The secret of the success of the Müller wines

The secret of the success of the Scharzhof Rieslings was aptly summed up by the father of today's winemaker: "The quality of the wine is created 100 percent in the vineyard." Accordingly, work in the vineyard has the highest priority. The vineyards of the family winery are cultivated according to traditional methods as far as possible. This also requires the high average age of the vines on the estate, which often only deliver an average yield of 30 to 40 hectoliters per hectare. This corresponds to less than half the normal yields of other top wineries. In addition, the grapes of the winery are selected extremely carefully in several reading rounds in order to perfectly work out the different predicate levels of the Müller wines. This makes Egon Müller one of the few wineries that produces different predicate levels with different degrees of sweetness from a single grape variety (Riesling), from Kabinett to Auslese to Eiswein.