Müller-Catoir

About Müller-Catoir

The Müller-Catoir winery has been a family-owned business since 1744. It is now in the ninth generation, owned and run by Phillip David Catoir with Martin Franzen as the viticulturalist and winemaker.

The winery holds iconic status in the Pfalz and became legendary during the ‘70s and ‘80s under former manager Hans-Günther Schwarz who, supported by the Catoir family, refused to industrialise the Estate despite the strong trend in that direction in Germany at that time. The wines were one of the few bastions of authenticity and quality in an ocean of mediocrity. Today, with star vigneron Martin Franzen at the helm, the quality has risen even higher.

Under the Mosel-born Franzen, this historic Estate has become known for producing some of Pfalz’s most ethereal and fine-boned wines: tightly packed, un-showy Riesling that can take years to uncoil. A far cry then, from the Pfalz’s upfront, stand-and-deliver norm. That said, without dialling down Catoir’s traditional mineral character, the wines here have been gradually evolving towards a more expressive, textural and intense style.

In the Vineyard

Müller-Catoir owns roughly 20 hectares of vines in and around the village of Haardt, in the hills outside Neustadt. The yellow sandstone that dominates here (significantly different to the red sandstone typically found in Pfalz) delivers a distinctive, smoky kind of minerality and more yellow-fruited wines.

The topsoils of Bürgergarten specifically are sandy and deep, with yellow sandstone bedrock below, a soil type that brings power, perfume and intense mineral freshness. In the ‘Im Breumel’ parcel, the soil here is more impoverished than the lower section of Bürgergarten, consisting of pure mottled-yellow sandstone gravel with a high ratio of decomposed stone.

The viticultural philosophy at Müller-Catoir is a simple one: spend a lot of time in the vineyard, working to the rhythm of the seasons. Under Franzen organic and biodynamic practices have been implemented in the vineyards, as well as new pruning techniques like the Poussard-Guyot.

In the Winery

The wines are made exclusively from estate fruit and created in the Müller-Catoir style: highly refined, with notes of minerality, elegant and uncompromisingly unique. Following a selective harvest by hand, fruit undergoes a slow, natural fermentation with no SO2 until racking or bottling, then careful maturing in the cellar, waiting as long as possible before bottling.

This all results in wines of deep fruit, high extract, ripe acidity and powerful vineyard expression. Crucially, the more recently released wines are also more accessible when young, a revolution under Franzen that has been no mean feat.

Deutschsprachler! Check out the video below for an in depth look at the winegrowing methods employed at Müller-Catoir.

Where in the World is Müller-Catoir?

The Müller-Catoir estate is nestled on the edge of the Palatinate located in Haardt, a tiny German wine district just outside the city of Neustadt, at the heart of the Pfalz wine region. The region is known for its high-quality Rieslings, which are typically complex and more full-bodied than those from other parts of Germany.