Mosel Sub-Regions: Saar (Steep Slate Riesling - Egon Müller Scharzhofberg, Van Volxem)

Moselwein e.V. says wine law divides the Mosel growing region into six Bereiche, the Saar among them, and that viticulture on the Saar runs between Serrig and Konz. The vineyards often lie on the south slopes of side valleys, and the soil is predominantly dark Devonian slate, with diabase, a rock of volcanic origin, in some sites (Moselwein e.V.). Van Volxem describes the Saar's rather small wine area as confined mainly to south-facing steep slate slopes in side valleys. The VDP says it is somewhat cooler on the Saar and Ruwer than on the Mosel: the vineyards are higher on average, and because many sites lie in side valleys, the influence of the rivers is less. Jancis Robinson places the Saar valley high upstream, just east of the Luxembourg border. Egon Müller describes a microclimate shaped by the area's northwestern location, where south-facing slopes are still necessary for the grapes to ripen.

• Moselwein e.V. (Saar page, undated, fetched 2026): 793 hectares of vines, 83 percent Riesling; the area has grown again in recent years through the recultivation of old steep sites
• The VDP's Vineyard.Online lists VDP.GROSSE LAGE sites in Wiltingen, Kanzem, Saarburg, Ockfen, Ayl, Wawern, Serrig, Oberemmel and Schoden
• The VDP describes the Scharzhofberger as lying in a wind-exposed side valley east of Wiltingen, with slopes facing south and southeast (slightly southwest in the west), 30 to 60 percent gradient, 190 to 310 metres, and a stone content of 70 percent
• Zilliken says that even in an age of global warming, with an increasing number of grand Saar vintages, the Saar keeps one of the longest fruit sets compared with southern regions

Riesling dominates: on its grape-variety page (undated, fetched 2026) Moselwein e.V. puts Riesling's share at around 83 percent in the Saar Bereich, well above the 62 percent it gives for Mosel, Saar and Ruwer as a whole. Moselwein e.V. says Saar Rieslings are marked by finesse and minerality, are considered especially age-worthy and often still surprise with their freshness after decades. Jancis Robinson writes that many Saar and Ruwer wines reach barely 8 or 9% alcohol yet are capable of ageing extremely well, and she points to their intensely fruity acidity and mineral-layered extract. Van Volxem's range includes Grosses Gewächs (GG) wines alongside Kabinett, Spätlese, Auslese and Trockenbeerenauslese from VDP.GROSSE LAGE sites. Egon Müller makes only Riesling, from Kabinett through Beerenauslese, Trockenbeerenauslese and Eiswein, and Decanter (2017) reported that the dry wines the estate made from 1980 to 1997 were halted.

• Kabinett: Egon Müller says its Kabinett wines usually carry only 7 to 10 percent alcohol and are analytically always fruit-sweet, though they can taste surprisingly dry
• Spätlese and Auslese: Egon Müller uses Spätlese for wines from emphatically ripe or overripe grapes, and says its Auslese can be sweet to very sweet but always has a balancing acidity
• Grosses Gewächs: Van Volxem lists GG wines from Scharzhofberger, Gottesfuß (Alte Reben), Volz, Bockstein, Goldberg and Altenberg
• BA, TBA and Eiswein: Egon Müller lists Scharzhofberg Beerenauslese and Trockenbeerenauslese from vintages including 1971, 1976, 1990, 2003 and 2015; the VDP says a 2003 Scharzhofberg TBA from Egon Müller fetched 14,566 euros at the VDP.Mosel auction in 2015, which it calls the highest price ever achieved for a bottle of wine

Egon Müller's Scharzhof in Wiltingen traces its present form to Jean-Jacques Koch, who acquired the Scharzhof in 1797; Koch's daughter Elisabeth married Felix Müller, and Egon Müller IV runs the estate today (estate site). Decanter (2017) put the Scharzhof holding in the Scharzhofberg at 8.5 hectares and named Kesselstatt, van Volxem and von Hövel among the other proprietors. The estate says its yields never exceed 60 hectoliters per hectare and are most of the time as low as 30. Van Volxem, in the historic centre of Wiltingen, traces its vineyards to Roman plantings in the 3rd century; the Jesuit order ran it as a monastery estate from the 17th century, and after secularisation it passed to the brewer Gustav van Volxem, who had come from Brussels. Roman Niewodniczanski took over the estate in 2000 and has since added top sites including Bockstein, Geisberg, Goldberg and Altenberg (estate site). Forstmeister Geltz-Zilliken in Saarburg traces its winegrowing tradition back to 1742; Royal Prussian Forest Superintendent Ferdinand Geltz (1851-1925) laid the groundwork for the estate, and the estate has labelled itself Forstmeister Geltz-Zilliken since Marianne, who inherited part of the property, married Fritz Zilliken in 1947 (estate site).

• Egon Müller: Riesling only, from its own vineyards (estate site); the estate's site lists Egon Müller Scharzhof among the twelve family members of Primum Familiae Vini
• Van Volxem: ungrafted Riesling vines about 130 years old in the Wiltinger Gottesfuß and an average vine age of about 35 years (estate site); in a VDP interview Roman Niewodniczanski says yields average about 40 hl/ha and no cultivated yeasts are used
• Forstmeister Geltz-Zilliken: 11 hectares in the Saarburger Rausch on Devonian slate and diabase, plus the Ockfener Bockstein; wines are vinified start to finish in wooden barrels in a three-storey cellar at around 11 degrees Celsius (estate site)
• The VDP lists Reichsgraf von Kesselstatt and Stiftungsweingut Vereinigte Hospitien, alongside Egon Müller and Van Volxem, among the VDP estates working the Scharzhofberger; Jancis Robinson's Mosel best-value list includes von Hövel, von Othegraven and Schloss Saarstein alongside Egon Müller, Van Volxem and Zilliken

Mosel is listed as a bestimmtes Anbaugebiet for quality and Prädikat wines in § 3 of Germany's Weingesetz, and Moselwein e.V. says wine law divides it into six Bereiche, of which the Saar is one. Decanter reported that the region's name changed from Mosel-Saar-Ruwer to Mosel, official on 1 August and applying to all wines from the 2007 vintage. The VDP's Vineyard.Online lists VDP.GROSSE LAGE sites across the Saar, including the Scharzhofberger in Wiltingen, Rausch in Saarburg, Bockstein and Geisberg in Ockfen, Kupp in Ayl and Altenberg in Kanzem. The VDP notes that Scharzhofberg labels name only the site, Scharzhofberg or Scharzhofberger, and not the village. Under § 20 of the Weingesetz, a German wine may carry one of the Prädikate Kabinett, Spätlese, Auslese, Beerenauslese, Trockenbeerenauslese or Eiswein only once the Prädikat has been awarded with an official test number.

• Decanter reported that Mosel-Saar-Ruwer became Mosel, applying from the 2007 vintage, after the growers' organisation won approval on 9 August 2006
• Scharzhofberg wines are labelled with the site name alone, without the village name Wiltingen (VDP)
• The VDP's Vineyard.Online lists eight VDP.GROSSE LAGE entries for Wiltingen: Braune Kupp, Braunfels, Gottesfuss, Hölle, Kupp, Scharzhofberger, Scharzhofberger Pergentsknopp and Volz
• The VDP says the Grosser Ring was founded in 1908 on the initiative of Trier's Lord Mayor Albert von Bruchhausen; Zilliken says Ferdinand Geltz was a co-founder of the "Vereins der Naturweinversteigerer Großer Ring"

The VDP says the Scharzhofberg was donated to the St. Marien monastery in the year 700 and was then worked by the monastery; in 1797 it was auctioned in the course of Napoleonic secularisation, and in 1896 a parcel of 0.3 hectares cost 90,000 gold marks. Egon Müller's own history says Jean-Jacques Koch acquired the Scharzhof in 1797 from the post-revolutionary French Republic, after the church, which had held the Scharzhofberg for many centuries, was expropriated. Van Volxem traces its estate to a Roman villa complex whose fragments are still visible on the grounds, with vineyards laid out by the Romans in the 3rd century. According to Van Volxem, Saar wines fetched top prices at the Trier auctions by the end of the 19th century, on average clearly higher than those of the Mosel, and although the Saar accounted for only 10 percent of the Mosel area's volume, almost half of the best Mosel wines auctioned in Trier came from Saar estates. Egon Müller says the wines of the Scharzhofberg and the Müller family were celebrated at the Paris Exposition Universelle et Internationale in 1900.

• 700: the Scharzhofberg is donated to the St. Marien monastery; 1797: it is auctioned during Napoleonic secularisation (VDP)
• Van Volxem: a Jesuit monastery estate from the 17th century, then owned by the brewer Gustav van Volxem after secularisation, and by Roman Niewodniczanski from 2000 (estate site)
• Ferdinand Geltz (1851-1925), a Royal Prussian Forest Superintendent, co-founded the Grosser Ring (Zilliken), which the VDP says was founded in 1908
• Egon Müller III bought the neighbouring Le Gallais vineyard in 1954, and the estate says these acquisitions and leases completed its Scharzhofberg vineyard

In a VDP interview, Roman Niewodniczanski calls Wiltingen the most important wine-growing community on the Saar. Van Volxem's new manufactory stands high above the Saar on the Wiltinger Schlossberg; its vinothek occupies the ground floor of a tower-like building, the Monolith, with a panoramic view over the estate's sites and the Saar's old river arm (estate site), and the VDP lists wine tasting and guided tours of the cellar among its visitor offers. Moselwein e.V. points visitors to the town of Saarburg, with its castle ruin, winding lanes, half-timbered houses, a bell foundry and a 20-metre waterfall in the middle of town, and to the medieval hermitage and chapel carved into the rock near Kastel-Staadt. DWI named the area around the Saar River Loop between Wiltingen and Kanzem the Mosel region's Best Vineyard View in 2012; from Konz, the Saar-Wein-Wanderweg trail leads through the Wiltinger Gottesfuß and Wiltinger Kupp vineyards to the lookout.

• Trails per Moselwein e.V.: the Grüner Lehrpfad between Saarburg and Ayl, the geological trail between Schoden and Ockfen, the wine trail in Wiltingen and the Saar-Riesling-Wanderroute
• DWI's Saar River Loop walk: 9.1 km, about 2.5 hours, low difficulty, ending in Wiltingen, where a regional train runs hourly to Konz
• Moselwein e.V. says the Saar can also be explored by canoe or kayak, and that herons, cormorants and, with luck, beavers can be seen in the nature reserve on the Saar's old arm between Schoden and Kanzem
• Moselwein e.V. says the Saar valley suits cycling, with a cycle path along the river

Primary sources (Moselwein e.V. at weinland-mosel.de, Deutsches Weininstitut / Wines of Germany, the Weingesetz on gesetze-im-internet.de, and the VDP at vdp.de): https://www.weinland-mosel.de/de/die-region/die-teilregionen/saar, https://www.weinland-mosel.de/de/die-region/die-teilregionen, https://www.weinland-mosel.de/de/wein-sekt/rebsorten, https://www.winesofgermany.com/our-regions/winesight/235/saar-river-loop-between-wiltingen-and-kanzem, https://www.gesetze-im-internet.de/weing_1994/BJNR146710994.html, https://www.vdp.de/de/die-weine/weinbergonline/lage/4109-scharzhofberger, https://www.vdp.de/en/the-wines/the-vdpregions/mosel, https://www.vdp.de/en/the-wines/vineyardonline/region/mosel-saar-ruwer, https://www.vdp.de/en/die-winzer/mosel/vdpweingut-van-volxem. Producers' own sites, for their own facts: https://www.egon-mueller.de/en_US/history, https://www.egon-mueller.de/en_US/vineyard, https://www.egon-mueller.de/en_US/pfv, https://www.egon-mueller.de/en_US/wines, https://www.zilliken-vdp.de/en/winery/history.html, https://www.zilliken-vdp.de/en/winery/cellar.html, https://www.zilliken-vdp.de/en/vineyards/saarburger-rausch.html, https://www.zilliken-vdp.de/en/vineyards.html, https://vanvolxem.com/manufaktur/geschichte/, https://vanvolxem.com/lagen/, https://vanvolxem.com/manufaktur/, https://vanvolxem.com/historie/, https://vanvolxem.com/weine/. Secondary sources: https://www.jancisrobinson.com/learn/wine-regions/germany/mosel, https://www.decanter.com/wine-news/mosel-saar-ruwer-shortens-name-to-mosel-88185/, https://www.decanter.com/learn/wine-legend-egon-muller-scharzhof-tba-1976-352334/. Last verified 2026-09-28