Why it matters
The producer
Weingut Martin Müllen is a family estate in Traben-Trarbach whose roughly five hectares are devoted chiefly to Riesling. Founded as a hobby winery in 1986, it now makes dry, named-vineyard wines with hand-picked fruit, slow fermentation and cask ageing at their centre. Jonas Müllen joined the business in 2018, and the estate has belonged to Ring Mosel since 2025. The defining label is Trarbacher Hühnerberg Riesling: a dry wine whose vineyard name points to a reclaimed south-facing slope rather than a broad regional blend.
Martin and Susanne Müllen began with a hobby winery in 1986, then committed to viticulture full-time around 1991. The estate remained small enough for hand harvesting and a historic basket press to stay central to the work, instead of becoming an incidental tradition beside a larger production. Jonas’s arrival in 2018 extends that family line into the present range, where dry Rieslings keep vineyard names and long cellar time in view.
Place and vineyards
Where the wines begin
The estate works the Middle Mosel around Traben-Trarbach and Kröv, where steep slopes narrow the work to individual vineyard sections. Riesling occupies 95% of the vines, so the differences between labels come chiefly through site and harvest rather than a changing grape mix. On a bottle of Trarbacher Hühnerberg Riesling, Hühnerberg names the vineyard behind the fruit; the label directs attention to one slope and its slate rather than to Mosel as a whole.
Trarbacher Hühnerberg faces south over blue-brown slate. A sunny exposure helps Riesling grapes reach ripeness, while the slate-rich ground is reflected in the crushed-stone and saline notes recorded in the dry 2021 wine. The site received the highest category on the 1897 Mosel vineyard-classification map, a historical detail made concrete by Müllen’s 2.5 hectares of parcels there. The 2021 Hühnerberg Spätlese Trocken draws fruit from all four vineyard terraces, carrying the hill’s separate sections into one dry bottle.
In the cellar
Vineyards and cellar
Hand-harvested grapes are gently pressed in a historic basket press, then ferment spontaneously and age in traditional wooden casks. The cellar allows the wines time to develop with minimal intervention. For dry Riesling, that sequence preserves fruit and acidity while the old wood contributes texture rather than an overt oak flavour. The 2014 Trarbacher Hühnerberg Kabinett Trocken makes the method especially tangible: old-vine fruit fermented with ambient yeasts in a classic Fuder, then remained unbottled until August 2015.
Wines to know
The range in view
The documented range is organised around dry Riesling from named vineyards rather than a generic estate bottling. Trarbacher Hühnerberg appears as the 2014 Kabinett Trocken and as the 2021 Riesling Spätlese Trocken: two dry expressions from the same central site, separated by vintage, harvest and cellar history. The 2021 Hühnerberg was picked in November and bottled at 11% alcohol, combining dry structure with ripe fruit.
Alongside it, the 2021 Trabener Würzgarten Riesling Spätlese Trocken brings another named slope into view. Its old and younger vines produce a dry Riesling with lemon zest, grapefruit, white flowers and spice, followed by savoury fruit and a long, salty finish. The range therefore moves through vineyard names and dry Riesling texture, from Hühnerberg’s yellow fruit and slate to Würzgarten’s citrus and herbs.
A useful way in
A bottle to begin with
Choose the 2021 Trarbacher Hühnerberg Riesling Spätlese Trocken. It is dry Riesling from the estate’s central 2.5-hectare Hühnerberg holding, harvested in November across four terraces, pressed by hand-harvested-fruit methods and raised through spontaneous fermentation and oak vessels. The wine brings ripe yellow fruit, herbs, crushed blue slate and saline mineral character into a compact, creamy palate, with juicy acidity and a long dry finish. It puts the south-facing slate slope and the patient cellar work in the same glass.