VDP.ESTATE
MATTHIAS MÜLLER

VDP: What is your winery philosophy?

Müller Family: Rhine.Slate.Riesling.
Because it is precisely these factors - the climate directly on the Rhine, the slate steep slopes and the Riesling from the various sites in the Bopparder Hamm - that characterize our wines. It is therefore a matter of course for us that each site and plot is cultivated individually and carefully in order to harvest high quality grapes from this demanding terrain and to bring out the diversity of the sites in our Rieslings. Origin is very important to us, so we want to precisely express the differences in the natural conditions of our sites and parcels in the later wine.

VDP: For what wine style do you strive?

Müller Family: We want to bring honesty into the bottle - wines that absolutely reflect their origin. In Bopparder Hamm, all vineyards are oriented southeast to southwest, which allows an ideal ripening process of our grapes and gives our wines a pronounced fruitiness. Combined with a salty minerality and fine spiciness from the slate soil, it gives the full-bodied wine style the perfect grip on the palate. This characteristic in combination with dancing acidity results in authentic, lively and long-lasting Rieslings from the Middle Rhine.

VDP: Which of your wines would you recommend to someone who does not yet know your winery – as an introduction, so to speak?

Müller Family: The Middle Rhine Valley and especially the Bopparder Hamm are characterized by massive rock formations and steep slate slopes. Therefore, our VDP local wine Bopparder Hamm "Steilstück" Riesling dry is a true, purist Middle Rhine in taste. It comes from some of our steepest slopes with up to 70% incline. Mineral explosion in a no-frills way. This wine fully embodies its origin: Riesling from the steep slate slopes!

VDP: Of which wine are you particularly proud?

Müller Family: That's hard to say, of course, because in all our wines is our work, time, effort, passion and diligence. But of course there is one vineyard and therefore also one wine to which our heart is particularly attached: our Riesling GG from the Mandelstein site. It comes from our oldest parcel and lies directly below a wall. Here there is simply only diligence and manual labor, with machine nothing goes here. Therefore, a lot of heart and soul and hard work goes into this wine - but it is 100% worth it.

VDP: Do you have role models?

Müller Family: There are some winemakers who have achieved admirable things. In particular, we look to colleagues who have managed not only to make their winery a success, but have also acted as a driving force for the entire region and have thus helped an entire region gain more reputation and prestige internationally.

VDP: What are your next goals?

Müller Family: For us, no grape variety can embody the minerality of our slate steep slopes and the present fruitiness, caused by the climate, better than Riesling. Together as a team, we want to bring exactly that - our home - into the bottle and show the world with our liquid ambassadors of the Middle Rhine how special and unique the Rieslings of our wonderful region are.

VDP: How do you combine tradition and innovation?

Müller Family: Through the interaction and cooperation of the different generations, we get different perspectives on what we do, how we do it, and what we create in the process. This is how new creative ideas and different ways of thinking keep growing. We use the combination of experience and dynamism to pursue our goal of the perfect Mitterhein wine.

VDP: What would you compare to making wine?

Müller Family: Every wine is individual - like a child. The care and development, the character and strengths of a "cellar child" are comparable - from the vine to the filling - to a human being. You have work, hope for the right external circumstances, need a lot of patience, but also have a lot of joy in the process of creation. After some time, you can enjoy the "child" as a finished wine in the bottle and are proud of what has been created here.

VDP: Why should people visit your winery?

Müller Family: A great attraction is our region itself. The romantic Rhine Valley is always worth a visit. There are many great hikes to be taken with beautiful views.
At our winery, there are a number of events around the year that focus on wine and enjoyment. Thus, an enjoyable visit can be perfectly combined with a short trip to the Middle Rhine.