The Geisenheim Grape Breeding Institute was founded in 1872 and is located in Geisenheim, Rheingau, Germany. In 1876 professor Hermann Müller from Switzerland joined the institution, where he developed his namesake variety Müller-Thurgau (with Thurgau being his home canton), which became the most planted grape variety in Germany in the 1970s. Professor Helmut Becker worked at the institute from 1964 until his death in 1989.