So to the third visit. You thought it was Egon Müller? Nope this weingut is called Matthias Müller and is situated in Spay in the Mittelrhein just south of Koblenz. They grow grapes from four vineyards in the Bopparder Hamm: Mandelstein, Feuerlay, Ohlenberg and Engelstein. They make 1/3 each of trocken, halbtrocken and lieblich. 80% of the wines are sold directly to the customers from the door, the rest through nearby hotels and they have a very limited export to England. None of the wines (with the exception of the two last TN'ed which had much botrytis) cost more than US$10 a bottle.
So to the Tn's. All wines are rieslings from the 2000-vintage (Müller also made some pinot gris and kerner).
Bopparder Hamm Mandelstein hochgewächs trocken, AP 1 656 110 03 01
Very light colour. Nice and fruity nose. Some stoney minerality. Dry and acidic. Very slim and refreshing. Light.
Bopparder Hamm Feuerlay hochgewächs trocken, AP 22 01
Same light colour. More earth in the nose. More body in the mouth with a tad more residual sugar and less acidity. Very clean.
Bopparder Hamm Ohlenberg spätlese trocken, AP 19 01
Straw colour. Intence fruity nose with some slate. Powerful and even more slatey in the mouth. High and refreshing acidity. Young and quite simple fruit, but very good.
Bopparder Hamm Feuerlay spätlese trocken MM
Weingut Matthias Müller selected one cuvee each year of the trocken/halbtrocken/ lieblich that they found the best and gave it the MM special edition label. So this means that they personally feel that this wine is the best riesling trocken they made in 2000. This had a straw colour. Fruity and earthy nose. Good power and a tad of sweetness to it. Good but lower acidity than the Ohlenberg but nice and clean slatey, appley fruit. Good length. Also very good, but to me the refreshing Ohlenberg was perhaps a tad better.
<>Bopparder Hamm Ohlenberg kabinett halbtrocken, AP 18 01
Light colour. Clean and slatey nose. Slim and off-dry wine with simple and nice fruit and very refreshing acidity. Good length.
Bopparder Hamm Ohlenberg hochgewächs halbtrocken, AP 26 01
Very light colour. More sugary fruity nose. Sweeter and fuller in the mouth. Clearly chaptalized. Simpler fruit. Not much minerals. Still a refreshing glass.
Bopparder Hamm Feuerlay spätlese halbtrocken, AP 21 01
Straw colour. Intence fruity nose with hints of honey. Slimmer and better structured in the mouth than expected. Off-dry with nice acidity and length.
Bopparder Hamm Mandelstein spätlese halbtrocken, AP 15 01
Straw colour. Honeyed nose. Some earth and minerals. A bit closed. Less powerful than the Feuerlay and with a more acidic structure. Some honeyed fruit. Good mineral depth. Young, needs time. Promising.
Bopparder Hamm Mandelstein auslese halbtrocken, AP 07 01
Yellow colour. Honeyed, slight botrytis, flowery nose. Powerful and quite dry in the mouth. Concentrated fruit. Closed. Some honey and botrytis and great acidic structure. Very promising.
Bopparder Hamm Ohlenberg hochgewächs, Ap 12 01
Very light colour. Sweet flowery and fruity nose. Good body, sweet with decent acidity and clearly chaptalised. Simple and refreshing fruit. Perfect summer-wine.
Bopparder Hamm Feuerlay hochgewächs, AP 13 01
Very light colour. Quite like the Ohlenberg above, but with even more fruity nose. Good body, sweet, simple and cleanly made chaptalised riesling with decent acidity.
Bopparder Hamm Engelstein spätlese, AP 20 01
Straw colour. Mineral nose and quite different from the other einzellagen. some flowers and earth. Good body. Sweet with good acidity. Great mineral depth and complexity. Some honey and appley finish. Very good.
Bopparder Hamm Ohlenberg spätlese, AP 11 01
53,4 g/L residual sugar, 10,5 g/L acidity. Straw colour. Fruity nose and som stoney minerality. Powerul in the mouth sweet but again perfect balancing and high acidity. Very good structure. Good but a bit simple fruit. Good length.
Bopparder Hamm Feuerlay auslese, AP 06 01
76,5 g/L rs, 10,2 g/L acid. Deep straw colour. Mineral and honeyed nose. Powerful and sweet in the mouth but balancing acidity. Young flowery, appley fruit and slatey minerality.
Bopparder Hamm Engelstein auslese MM, Ap 08 01
82 g/L rs, 9,8 g/L acid. Deep straw colour. Closed, but showing it's mineral depth in the nose. Some flowers and fruit. Powerful and sweet with great acidic structure. Concentrated and young fruit with great mineral complexity. Long taste. This needs time but will be tremendous.
Bopparder Hamm Feuerlay auslese MM, AP 16 01
94,7 g/L rs, 10,8 g/L acid. According to my earlier definitions there should not be two lieblich MM cuvees, but there are. Well the story is that Matthias Müller wanted this wine as the MM-edition, but his mrs wanted the Engelstein auslese. And they could not agree so in the end they labelled both MM as a compromise. This wine has a golden colour. The nose is intence raisiny and showing much botrytis and honey. Powerful and young in the mouth. Sweeter, but again the acidity balances the sweetness. Long. Young and with great potensial. But I personal think I have to agree with the mrs. This is a great wine but the Engelstein auslese shows such complexity and mineral depth that it is the superior wine to me.
Bopparder Hamm Feuerlay Beerenauslese, AP 09 01
6,5% alc, 145 g/L rs, 12,7 g/L acid. Deep golden colour. Huge botrytized nose, raisiny and flowery. Sweet and concentrated BA with that perfect acidic structure that makes it so tremendous. Complex botrytized, raisiny fruit. Young wine with a long long taste. Really a world class beerenauslese.
The visit at Weingut Müller was for me really interesting. I have never tasted these wines before and I was very much surprisede at the high quality on the wines. All were typically stainless steel, temperature control and very cleanly made wines with emphasize on expression of the vineyard. For me wines from the Mandelstein showed high in acidity and with a good slatey minerality. The Ohlenberg was similar in structure but a bit simpler in the aromatics and did best with the lower prädikats. The Feuerlay showed more fruit, still with good minerality but a little less acidity and structure while the Engelstein was quite similar to Feuerlay in structure but gave the most complex and minerally interesting wines. I asked if these impressions were correct of the vineyards. They agreed with their own wines but said that there were large differences between the producers so it might not be true for other prodcuers. I did not go deeper into the discussion but had a feeling that it was a nice way of saying that the quality of the winemaking in the area was uneven.
Arnt Egil Nordlien
Jan-02