Egon Muller : Riesling Scharzhofberger Auslese 2019

Characteristics and tasting advice for the Riesling Scharzhofberger Auslese 2019 by Egon Muller

Tasting

Color

The color reveals a bright pale yellow hue with slightly greenish highlights, reflecting the wine’s youth and delicacy.

Nose

The nose is crystal-clear and pure, offering refined aromas of white stone fruits, accompanied by mineral notes reminiscent of flint. Delicate floral nuances, notably elderflower and jasmine, mingle with hints of citrus and exotic fruits such as mango and papaya. With aeration, more complex aromas emerge, unveiling notes of toasted almond and pastry cream.

Palate

On the palate, the wine captivates with remarkable precision and a perfect balance between sweetness and vibrancy. The attack is both juicy and elegant, revealing flavors of white peach, apricot, and grapefruit. The saline minerality, a hallmark of slate soils, brings a crystalline tension that harmoniously balances the residual sweetness. The texture is both round and airy, with a bright freshness that carries through to a long, refined finish with citrus and gentle spice accents.

Food and wine pairings

This Mosel white wine pairs beautifully with delicate fish and seafood. It also shines alongside spicy Asian dishes, where its balance of sweetness and acidity complements flavors of ginger, lime, and chili pepper.

Serving and cellaring

It is recommended to serve these wines at a temperature between 8 and 12°C to preserve their mineral freshness and aromatic finesse. This cuvée can be enjoyed now but offers exceptional aging potential, able to evolve until around 2070 depending on the selections.

An exceptional German riesling of elegance and minerality

The estate

Founded in 1797 by Jean-Jacques Koch, Weingut Egon Muller is one of the most prestigious wine estates in the world. Located in Wiltingen in the Saar Valley, in Moselle-Sarre-Ruwer, the estate spans around 8.3 hectares in the legendary Scharzhofberg vineyard, plus an additional 10 hectares at the Le Gallais estate. Egon Muller IV, trained at the University of Geisenheim, has been leading this family property since 1991, carrying on six generations of expertise. The estate is the only German member of the prestigious Primum Familiae Vini and produces some of the world’s most sought-after and most expensive rieslings, renowned for their purity, exceptional minerality, and extraordinary aging potential.

The vineyard

This Riesling Scharzhofberger Auslese is a Mosel wine from steep, south-facing slopes planted on deep, weathered blue and gray slate soils, offering exceptional drainage and a unique ability to store daytime heat. The estate notably owns nearly 3 hectares of century-old ungrafted vines, planted around 1900, representing a rare viticultural heritage.

The vintage

The 2019 vintage is regarded as one of the most remarkable of the last decades for German wines. The year was marked by a mild winter followed by a cool spring, then an exceptionally hot and dry summer with temperatures reaching 40°C in July. September rains, after this long dry spell, encouraged the development of noble rot while preserving acidity thanks to cool nights. These contrasting weather conditions made it possible to obtain perfectly ripe, healthy grapes with remarkable concentration and an ideal balance between sugar and acidity. The 2019 vintage thus produced a complete range of wines, from refined Kabinett to complex Auslese, all characterized by outstanding aromatic purity and crystalline minerality.

Winemaking and aging

The grapes for this Riesling Scharzhofberger Auslese 2019 are harvested by hand at optimal ripeness, sometimes in several successive passes for selection cuvées. After immediate pressing without skin maceration, the musts are clarified by cold settling for around 24 hours at 15°C in stainless steel tanks. Fermentation is carried out with indigenous yeasts when conditions allow, at around 10°C, thus preserving the authentic expression of the terroir. The wines are then aged, depending on the cuvée, either in large traditional 1,000-liter foudres made of old oak or in stainless steel tanks, in the estate’s deep, cool cellars. This traditional, low-intervention approach allows the wines to develop their natural complexity while preserving the purity of the fruit and the distinctive mineral imprint of Wiltingen’s slate soils.

Grape variety

100% riesling