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Egon Müller Scharzhof

Given the fame of this estate now run by the fourth consecutive Egon Müller – not to mention the notoriety of its iconic Scharzhofberg vineyard – it might be argued that neither requires any sort of introduction. But it is still possible to offer some perspective that may strike most readers as novel. Despite rendering only a single wine each year that is sourced neither from the Scharzhofberg nor the Braune Kupp, a wine labeled simply “Scharzhof Riesling,” the Müllers are landholders in four other varyingly prestigious Saar vineyards, all of which inform that one generic bottling: in order of acreage, Saarburger Rausch, Oberemmeler Rosenberg, Wiltinger Kupp and Wiltinger Braunfels. It is also worth noting – as reflected in my assessments of Müller wines over the decades – that the Scharzhof’s sibling estate of Le Gallais and its wines sourced from the steep, riverside Braune Kupp are among Germany’s most impressive, yet suffer unjust neglect no doubt due to their intimate association with the Scharzhof and Scharzhofberg. And speaking of being overshadowed, enormous credit for the continued outstanding quality here is due Egon Müller’s cellarmaster since 2000, Stefan Fobian. Wines other than the Scharzhof Riesling ferment spontaneously in traditional thousand-liter casks, and not only does this apply to those labeled “Kabinett,” but Egon Müller is also keen to emphasize that he treats that term as equivalent to the pre-1971 notion of un-chaptalized “Naturwein” and thus as referring to the mainstay of his production rather than to a specialized and especially delicate category of residually sweet Riesling, the meaning that “Kabinett” has taken on for the vast majority of his fellow Mosel winegrowers.

Among the most remarkable yet generally overlooked aspects of this venerable estate is Egon Müller’s dedication to achieving not only the best possible results from any given vintage but also results that uniquely reflect each growing season. Put that way, my claim may seem like a cliché. Or it might even seem questionable, considering that this estate owes much of its fame to selectively harvested nobly sweet wines. But when one takes a closer look at what Müller’s approach means, vintage by vintage in the glass, one realizes that few winegrowers have the willingness or the wherewithal to so rigorously apply the principles of optimizing both quality and vintage character. There can be few better examples than 2014. Sizing up that season’s potential and the forecast of rain, Müller began harvesting on October 5 and was finished a mere ten days later. “In retrospect,” says Müller, “I wish we had begun picking a day or two earlier.” It was not only one of the briefest harvests in estate history but also one of the smallest, bypassing any fruit that looked to be, let alone smelled, in the least questionable. The upshot is phenomenally extract-rich wines of an almost savage youthful concentration, brightness and penetrance achievable only by someone willing to incur enormous cost and crop loss but also to countenance vintage character (and, from year to year, concomitant vintage variation) so extreme that few growers would trust their customers to accept it. There are just nine bottlings – hardly a record low number, but probably the fewest from any great vintage for this estate. “We were lucky,” reflected Müller, “because before the October rain, almost none of our fruit harbored botrytis. After the rain, rot really broke loose. But all of the Spätlesen were harvested before that. Very roughly speaking,” he added, “the Kabinetts were picked afterward,” which in large part explains his decision this year, exceptionally, to produce only a single collective bottling each of Scharzhofberg and Braune Kupp Kabinett. What about acescence? “That was already there early on,” Müller relatesed, “but our harvesters are able to detect it and easily avoid any affected bunches.”

(I treat the Le Gallais bottlings for database purposes as a subset of Egon Müller Scharzhof wines, inserting “Le Gallais” after each relevant wine name, because this approach reflects those two entities’ common legal status; reflects Müller’s own practice of presenting Scharzhofberg and Braune Kupp wines as one group; and collects all of the notes under a common heading, which is surely how most readers would want to access them.)

From The Saar 2014: Stress for Success (Jul 2016) by David Schildknecht

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2014 Riesling Scharzhof

Release Price: $53

Color: White

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