The 2018 Scharzhofberger Auslese (AP #8) is coolish, clear, intense and concentrated on the flinty and even rocky nose with its crunchy notes of broken slate and lemon juice. On the palate, this is a generous, highly elegant and refined, beautifully balanced and salty-crystalline Auslese with concentrated but detailed, elegant fruit, finely grained minerals and a long, complex finish. An impressive, great vin de terroir. Tasted in June 2019. Drink date: 2020-2070. Score - 97. (Stephan Reinhardt, robertparker.com, Aug. 30, 2019)
The warmer vineyard plantings of Le Gallais and Wiltinger Braune Kupp offer some of the best wind protection in all the Saar along with deeper, loamier soils compared to the slate soils of Scharzhofberger. Grapes will ripen quicker and offer less tang than its Scharzhofberg counterparts.
The Scharzhofberg plantings owned by the Müller family are unique even to this singular hill of 28 hectares. The 8.5 hectares owned by the Müllers is exposed to a unique microclimate that is unusually cool and has slightly less temperature fluctuation than neighboring plantings. Consistently great wines year after year.
The soil of Scharzhofberg is renowned for being composed of mineral-rich red and grey slate and ferruginous clay, providing a slow supply of nutrients to the vines. This makes for an extremely slow ripening of the grapes, resulting in wines of intense concentration.
The two parcels that supply the grapes for this wine are lesser known than Müller's famed Scharzhofberger plantings. Wines from these parcels offer a fruitier, more approachable style for youthful drinking.
The vines of Müller's Scharzhofberg plantings are impressively old, with some vines dating back to the early 19th century. The cool climate and unusual lack of nutrients in the soil impeded the spread of phylloxera, meaning some of these vines are the oldest in central Europe.