The first laboratory-bred grape to conquer a country, Müller-Thurgau was created in 1882 to combine Riesling's class with an earlier, more reliable ripening — a cross of Riesling and the table grape Madeleine Royale, long mislabelled as Riesling × Silvaner until DNA set the record straight. It ripens early and crops heavily almost anywhere, and for a few post-war decades it was the most planted grape in Germany.
That very ease was its undoing: pushed for volume, it made the soft, sugary wine that filled the bottles of Liebfraumilch and dented Germany's reputation. Grown with care it can be gently floral, peachy and charming, and it has found a more honest home in northern Italy, England and the cool corners of central Europe.