The wine-growing tradition of the Thanisch family can be traced back more than 350 years. In 1636, the name was mentioned for the first time in the registers of Bernkastel-Kues. At the end of the 18th Century, the Thanisch family acquired the Berncasteler Doctor vineyard, a very steep site with deep devon slate structure, situated behind and overlooking the rooftops of the quaint old town of Bernkastel. The Doctor name originates in a legend about Prince Boemond II of Trier who fell sick and then was cured by a wine from this vineyard. Medicinal powers of fine wines are today being re-discovered! Without a doubt, the Doctor Vineyard is the most valuable and most famous German site. The Thanisch estate (the heirs Muller-Burggraef) includes over 12 hectares (nearly 30 acres) of the best sites in the middle Mosel valley.

International reputation was gained in the mid-9th Century under the management of Dr. Hugo Thanisch. From that time on, Thanisch wines fetched spectacular prices at international auctions. In 1986 a bottle of 1921 Berncasteler Doctor fetched the incredible sum of 11,200 DM. This was a bottle of the first Riesling Trockenbeerenauslese ever made in the Mosel valley. The bottle had been hidden, together with other rarities, during World War II, and found by accident again in 1959: a former employee, who knew nothing about the hiding place, approached the estate manager of that time about these wines, who then went to investigate the cellar and found the wines hidden behind a double wall. Quality is still the standard of the Thanisch family estate. A great part of this quality is due to the Doctor Cellar that is hewn deep into the rocks beneath the vineyard. Here all Thanisch wines are matured in traditional old oak Fuder casks at a constant year-round temperature of 8 degrees C. In the mid 1990s, the family has invested heavily into modern technology, gentle handling of uncrushed grapes and temperature controlled fermentation equipment. The vintages since 1997 reflect this improvement.

WWE. Dr. H. Thanisch practices sustainable agriculture in its 12 hectares of prime Mosel Valley vineyards, with no use of pesticides, herbicides (special herbs are planted to kill weeds), insecticides (use of pheromones instead), no chemical fertilizers (only mulch from pips, stems and skins of grapes) or heavy machinery which compacts the slaty soils with nearly all work done by hand. Environmentally-friendly practices extend to the cellar where there is no use of artificial enzymes, sorbic acid (commonly used to stabilize wine), industrial cleaners and only minimal use of sulphur dioxide.

Margrit Muller Burggraef, the granddaughter of Dr. Hugo Thanisch, passed the estate on to her niece, Barbara Rundquist Muller in January of 2007. Today, Barbara and her husband Erik are running the Estate and promoting the wines internationally.