discuss…
Year in, year out, the Scharzhofberger Kabinett is an excellent drink, but somewhat expensive compared to similar wines.
I also think the label is beautiful.
Great wines.
The auslese is quite affordable (about 100 euros in Germany) and generally great :
2005,
2004,
2003,
1999 : AP5 - AP22 - the AP28 maybe weaker.
The auslese goldkapsel 2006 wonderful (more expensive, wait).
The beerenauslese 1994 is a monument (expensive).
100 Euros is affordable?
For these styles of wines, it is, unfortunately.They often come in 375ml bottles too. On the plus side they are tasty!
Makes a really, really good Riesling from Australia under the Kanta label as well.
I love their wines across all levels from Kabinett up, but have two issues:
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They take an awful amount of time to come around and hit peak drinking (perhaps save for the Le Gallais Wiltinger wines) -a lot longer than most other makers in my mind.
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The pricing. I think the price-differential, especially on the higher pradikat levels, from other great makers, say JJ Prum, Robert Weil and Donnhoff is quite unjustifiable.
I really love them, but given the price/availability, I don’t buy as much as I wish I could. But you have to love an auction Kabinett (that’s worth it).
Like Paul said, they take a long time to come around (I’ve had the '88 spat a few times in the past few years and it’s still young). So they’re wines for someone who has cash and wants to build a serious long-term German cellar. Really wish I had more of it.
Cheers,
-Robert
I disagree about the prices being unjustifiable. They are justifiable in the way first growths are justifiable or Grand Cru. To top it, the production conditions on those steep slopes are very high. What is unjustifiable is how many of those wines are so inexpensive… And there are people on this board and others who on one side say that the market should decide and at other times complain that certain wines are overpriced. German riesling is underpriced generally, which is great for us consumers, but we should be aware of the bargain we are getting.
But back to the main point. Egon, year in year out, makes some of the very greatest wines in his area. Stylistically, some may prefer JJ Prüm or Willi Schäfer (my other two favorites), but I would say that only Prüm can match his track record. The wines have all the intensity and detail and cut that riesling can have in the Saar, yet have a gentleness to them that is pretty unique. Count me as a huge fan. I also like that, like Prüm, he believes in making Kabinett that is not “declassified” Spätlese. A recent bottle of 2002 Auction Kabinett will stand out forever as a model of the genre for me. His Auslese Goldkaps, in general, have never failed to silence me, struck with awe at the magic of that unique balance that is Saar riesling.
It is, for such great wines.
Compared for example to some expensive, overpriced, oaky, heavy white burgs.
100 euros is 10 times less expensive than some Bordeaux 2009 ! 
Do not forget the good Château Bela (produced by Egon Müller in Slovakia, Stùrovo Region, Muzla).
I did not say anything about justifiable, merely affordable. They are two very different things, and should not be trated as synonyms.
DCowell, don’t have a persecution complex… It was Paul Seah who said “The pricing. I think the price-differential, especially on the higher pradikat levels, from other great makers, say JJ Prum, Robert Weil and Donnhoff is quite unjustifiable.”
A perfectly valid point of view. I would not argue that Egon Müller’s wines are the most obvious good value wines of the Mosel or Nahe, merely that I think the quality and pleasure I derive from his wines are not out of line with the prices I see. Inevitably, you are either comparing his prices to other top Riesling producers from the Nahe and Mosel (or further afield in the case of Weil) or you are comparing them to other world class white producing regions. In the case of the former, yes, Müller is expensive. In the case of the latter, he does remarkably well. Compare his prices to Aile d’Argent, Pavillon Blanc, Haut Brion blanc, top CA chardonnay (Marcassin, Kistler, etc.), great white Burgundy, etc. He is very far from out of line.
Not a persecution issue at all - merely one of correct usage. Egon Muller’s wines are arguably the best that Germany has to offer in the category of wines with residual sugar.
That does not make them affordable.
It seems to me that one should not disregard Herr Muller’s committment to very low yields (particularly by today’s standards in Germany) when discussing the prices of his wines. They are routinely cropped well below half the yields that Dr. Manfred Prum takes out of his vineyards in the middle Mosel (perhaps even a third of the Prum yields at the present time), and if one keeps this in mind, the prices are not out of line at all. As Jeremy pointed out, just because German wines in general are really great values today does not mean that Egon Muller’s wines represent poor value in the world at large, and the quality and logevity that one receives with a bottle of Egon Muller- up and down the quality hierarchy- is always exemplary and never surpassed in the realm of German wine. Simply put, whether or not Egon Muller sits at the top of one’s own personal hierarchy of producers in Germany, no one makes finer wine that Herr Muller in the country, and he has very few contemporaries that consistently reach his lofty standards of quality.
One has to keep in mind that relative value in various regions of the wine world changes rather dramatically over time. There was a period not that long ago when German wines sold for more than most classed growths in Bordeaux, and when Pomerol was the bargain hunter’s commune on the Gironde. One should simply take advantage of this historical moment when German wine prices offer up such good value and really stock the cellar accordingly, rather than assuming it will last forever. For it is extremely likely that the inordinately low prices that even the greatest German wines command (and in this group I would certainly include Egon Muller, for how many of us would not jump on the very best producer’s bottle of Chevalier-Montrachet at 100 euros a bottle?) will rise in the not too distant future, as the pendulum in the wine world at large certainly seems poised to swing back again firmly in the direction of wines of terroir over wines of technique, and outside of Burgundy, where can one find comparably profound and singular expressions of terroir in such variety?
DCowell’s right: ‘affordable’ is defined according to one’s disposable income, and so varies with the buyer’s circumstances, not the producer’s. A wine may be terrific value for its quality and still completely unaffordable for many in the market. A rich person’s ‘affordable’ wine will often be the opposite for members of what Joe Dressner likes to call the working a middle-class.
Great points all - I was wondering whether my comment would raise some ire. Apologies if it did. I do see your point that Muller’s wines are generally fairly priced when compared with the wider world at large. My issue is the fact that they are priced higher than their peer group, when I do not really see the quality differential to justify that. Saying that though, I would be the first to agree that German wines represent some of the greatest value in the old world.
Furthermore, you must have noticed that english is not my maternal language !
The wines are great without any doubt. But his Auslese at 100 € is something of the past. The last one in this region might be the 2003. And Egon Müller was even very expensive in the 70s compared to others. I still remember the 76 Auslese at around 80 DM then, playing price wise in it’s own league making Prüms GoldCap Auslesen looking cheap. And btw I don’t think the quality difference merited a more than double price tag. He/they really played the rarity game quite well.
Rainer,
What do you mean ?
I found the 2004 excellent and the 2005 great (both bought about 100 euros, like the 2003 and the 1999).
Laurent,
the 2004 & 2005s were around 110-120 at release and from 2005 onwards more 130 € than 100 €.
Best Rainer