In early December 2025, I decided to flesh out my notes, most of which were first published on pages 67–74 of Mosel Wine in 2022. (Nearly all of these “added notes” are extended footnotes.) I posted more annotations in the comments section.
Before I publish them on my site in a week or so, I heard that Egon Müller is tending the vines for von Hövel in Scharzhofberg and Oberemmeler Hütte. I suspected this might happen. Yesterday, on my way from Ockfen to Niedermennig via Scharzhof, I noticed that the vines were all pruned in Scharzhofberg.
Nik Weis assumed the lease on Kanzemer Hörecker last year. I don’t know what will happen to the other vineyards that were farmed by von Hövel.
Van Volxem and Margarethenhof acquired the vineyards from Dr. Wagner. Van Volxem also gained the vineyards in Wiltingen from Vols, whereas Peter Lauer and Philipps assumed the lease on the prime parcels in Ayler Kupp from Vols.
Speaking of Peter Lauer, no one has mentioned yet that Florian Lauer changed jobs. This impression is very much the result of the local newspaper headline about him. It circulated on Instagram two weeks ago. (I had nothing to do with the story getting out on that medium.) The headline in the local paper read: “The fact that the owner of a VDP winery is switching industries is sure to raise eyebrows. But this has nothing to do with the wine industry crisis. Here’s what’s behind the move to the municipal association.” There was no shock here at Florian changing jobs. The new job is a limited project, which takes some of his time but also allows him to be at the estate on a daily basis for some hours. He’s doing both because of his interest in the subject. He formed a limited partnership, or Kommanditgesellschaft (KG) in German, with Max Kirsch and Max Zellerhoff, his vineyard manager and cellar master, respectively. The Lauer family still has complete ownership of the winery. They have no financial difficulties. despite the wine crisis. Florian just wanted to “empower” both Maxes, who have had a real part in shaping the reputation and quality of the wines over the years. He also wanted to give them a piece of the pie—i.e., the profits. In other words, they are leasing the winery from Florian. He could have just hired workers instead, but it was important to him to have people with a sense of ownership and passion. His name is still on the label, and it is beyond important to him that the quality remains what it has been and even continues to grow and get even better. He will be there to help lead this forward and upward. In the end, little has changed. It’s the same team that has lead the winery over the last decade, and he’s still a part of it.
Under my “Added Notes on Some Important Saar and Ruwer Vineyards,” I left some initial comments in the WordPress comment box. One addresses the article in the Trierischer Volksfreund about Florian Lauer changing jobs and the response by Stephen Bitterolf that you linked to above.
Coincidentally I was at a Vom Boden tasting tonight with Stephan Bitterolf and he reinforced the message. - same team, but ownership now divided between 3 instead of just Florian. We’ll see how that affects the final product.
As someone pointed out, it’s odd that Stephen didn’t care to read the Volksfreund article but then says, “What the article misses…” If Stephen read it, the article does mention that Florian is a part owner and still involved with the winery. I get the feeling that Stephen’s annoyed by the article’s headline, so he tried to play it down.
You’re welcome, Howard. It’s hard to say. The winery had various winemakers since 2010 and doubled in size, to 22 ha, in 2014. I suspect that the quality was uneven and sales slumped.
According to my source, Egon Müller has taken over von Hövel’s 2.85 ha in Scharzhofberg and 5.8 ha in Oberemmeler Hütte. If true, this would mean that Egon Müller has gone from 8.5 to 11.35 ha in Scharzhofberg and from 16 to 24.65 ha in total. I don’t know the status of von Hövel’s vineyards in Oberemmeler Raul or Rosenberg. Most of the vineyards that von Hövel leased from Schmitt-Reuter in Niedermennig and Krettnach look abandoned. I heard that a grower took over a few parcels in Oberemmel, plus one in Wiltingen.
That’s a great question, Howard. Assuming that Egon Müller did indeed take over those vineyards, I would think that he would sell the grapes from von Hövel’s parcels in Scharzhofberg under the Egon Müller label as either Scharzhofberger or Scharzhof depending on the quality, whereas the grapes from Hütte present a different situation. I would think that he would be interested in labeling wines from this site separately. It didn’t occur to me that he could do something similar with von Hövel as he did with Le Gallais—i.e., he keeps the name of the estate associated with the respective monopole site. On the other hand, he has a sizable vineyard in Rausch (in the former Antoniusbrunnen) and never bottled a separate wine from this site. The grapes go into the Scharzhof bottling.