Deinhard
| Deinhard KG
|
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|---|---|
 |
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| legal form | KG |
| founding | 1794 |
| Seat |
Koblenz Germany
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| management | Andreas Brokemper, Eberhard Benz, Frank van Fürden |
| Website | www.deinhard.de |
The Deinhardstein Sektkellerei KG is a German sparkling wine and winery based in Koblenz . The company goes back to a wine shop opened by Johann Friedrich Deinhard in 1794 and the start of sparkling wine production in 1843. Today Deinhard belongs to the Henkell & Co. Sektkellerei group of companies , which bundles the wine, sparkling wine and spirits manufacturers within the Oetker Group .
history
On May 1, 1794, Johann Friedrich Deinhard (1772–1827) laid the foundation stone of the company by opening a retail store in Koblenz. Just a few months later, French troops marched into the Rhineland . Deinhard managed to continue his business, in which wine soon developed into the best-selling item. By marrying Ludovica Nebel in 1801, Deinhard became the son-in-law of the most taxed citizen of the city of Koblenz, who was also a wine wholesaler. In 1805 Deinhard was able to hire a first traveling salesman. From 1807 Deinhard cooperated with Karl Tesche , who ran wine shops in Koblenz and Cologne. The common stores of the trading partners were in the rented cellar under the Koblenz Barbarakloster and in the Jesuit cellar. Friedrich Wincelius joined the company as a further partner around 1812 . Deinhard has been exporting wine to England since 1825 , for which the young Anton Jordan (1804–1890) made a particular contribution, who was the only member of the small workforce to speak English and who spent several years on business trips in England.
August Deinhard (1806–1865), the founder's son, became a partner after his father's death in 1827, together with Tesche and Wincelius. Jordan received power of attorney and shared in the profits from the deal with England. The year 1834 brought further decisive turns in the course of business. The former partner Tesche left the company and began to produce "country wines like champagne". August Deinhard married Wilhelmine Therese Engel, who brought further fortunes into the company. August Jordan married August's sister Louise. In future, the company operated under the name Deinhard & Jordan . August's younger brothers Carl and Friedrich took over the international business in England and Holland. In 1835, the first permanent foreign branch was established in London under Carl Deinhard (1809–1850), who from then on called himself Charles and later became a partner.
Inspired by Tesche's success, Deinhard also founded his own factory for the production of sparkling wine in 1843 . In France , the monk Dom Pérignon invented the production of sparkling wine as early as 1700 , but the quality fluctuated. Deinhard developed the process further and improved the quality of the sparkling wine. The sparkling wine from Koblenz was very popular with wealthy citizens and the nobility in the 19th century . Outside of Germany, too, demand increased steadily and Deinhard became one of the leading sparkling wine exporters in the Rhineland. In England, the sparkling wine achieved high sales figures under the name “Sparkling Moselle”. In 1851, 176,000 bottles of sparkling wine were sold. The small states and the political unstable situation in the second half of the 19th century caused great concern for the company management, since at that time it was mainly dependent on the Rhine shipping route to ship products to England and other destinations. August Deinhard was also a member of the state parliament and was therefore caught in the tension between business and political interests.
After Charles Deinhard's early death in 1850 due to a heart defect, Louis Ehrmann took over the successful business in England. He was supported from 1857 by Jakob Hasslacher († 1903) and Julius Wegeler (1836–1913). After the English wine tax was lowered in 1860, the still wine business also flourished in England. In 1861 Wegeler married August Deinhard's daughter Emma. After disputes with the partner Jordan, Deinhard separated from him in 1864 and instead took on his successful English traders Wegeler and Hasslacher as partners. After August Deinhard's death in February 1865, Wegeler became manager in Koblenz, Hasslacher stayed in London and married Wegeler's sister after the death of his first wife. August Deinhard's widow remained involved in the business until 1875, after which time Wegener and Hasslacher became the sole owners and completely expanded the company into the largest winery on the Rhine. At that time, the Deinhard Cabinet brand for quality standard sparkling wine was introduced in 1888 . In 1891, Deinhard also took over the winery of the former partner Jordan, who had since left the company and who had also built up a German and English customer base after leaving Deinhard.
In 1892 Deinhard was the first German sparkling wine producer to introduce the disgorging process for sparkling wine production. The process was invented by the Englishman Walford. It enabled the sparkling wine to be produced in large numbers with consistently high quality. At the World Exhibition in Paris in 1900 , the Deinhard company received the Grand Prix. Also in 1900, parts of the famous Bernkasteler Doctor vineyard site were bought on the Moselle for 100 gold marks per vine, and thus for many times the price of the other sites acquired at the same time.
At the turn of the century there was the next generation change within the management. After Hasslacher's death in 1903, his son Charles Hasslacher (1865–1961) and his son-in-law Heinrich Schiller took over the business in England. In Koblenz, Julius Wegeler withdrew from day-to-day business and handed over management to his brother Karl Wegeler . In 1910 Deinhard introduced the Deinhard Lila brand for extra dry sparkling wine.
With the First World War , almost all of Deinhard's foreign branches were lost. The company stopped producing still wine entirely and concentrated only on sparkling wine, which during the war years could almost only be sold in Germany. On the international market, Deinhard's sales markets have meanwhile been occupied by French champagne. The company went through difficult years during the period of inflation and, after a brief recovery phase, again during the Great Depression in 1929, which the company only survived mainly because of the resurgent sales in England. In the early 1930s the company recovered and was able to increase its international business enormously again. But with the onset of National Socialism , the company was more and more affected by the regulations of the planned economy principle.
In the Second World War , the connections to the English branch of the company were cut. Charles Hasslacher kept his head above water there with the distribution of Algerian, South African and Hungarian wines. The German company's cellars and offices were almost completely destroyed in air raids on Koblenz . In the post-war period, Austin Hasslacher, the son of Charles Hasslacher, made a name for himself in resuming exports to England. In the course of the currency reform, the company was restructured again, with the London partners leaving the company in Koblenz and Heinz Hasslacher (* 1914) taking over management in Koblenz.
Production only got going again slowly and the export business could only take off after the establishment of the Federal Republic and the assumption of foreign trade powers by the German authorities. In addition to exporting its own products, Deinhard also dealt with the import and sole distribution of foreign products in those years, including Pommery and Pernod from France, VAT 69 from Scotland and Sherry Dry Sack from Spain.
Domestic business with sparkling wine did not become significant again until 1952, when the sparkling wine tax was reduced to a third and as a result, sparkling wine sales in Germany increased tenfold by 1965.
Around 1953 there was another generation change in the company management when Gerhard Wegeler died at the age of 59 in the midst of the rebuilding of the company. His son Rolf and his nephew Hans Christof became partners in 1955 and partners alongside Heinz Hasslacher in 1962. The last co-owner of the previous generation, Julius Wegeler (1887–1961), was awarded the Federal Cross of Merit 1st Class in 1954.
In the 1960s, new production facilities were built in Koblenz-Wallersheim due to the great demand . First, in 1965, a new production facility was built by Epikur GmbH, which belongs to Deinhard, and a new sparkling wine cellar was built in the vicinity in 1966/67. The head office in Koblenz city center next to the theater was still used to manage the export business, in 1969 Deinhard set up a cellar museum there.
The company and the trademark rights have been owned by Henkell & Co. Sektkellerei KG (Oetker Group) since 1997 .
Products
Sparkling wine range for the Rhine-Moselle region:
- Deinhard Lila Riesling (since 1910)
- Deinhard Cabinet Trocken (since 1888)
- Deinhard Medium Dry Medium dry
Wine range for export:
- Deinhard Green Label Riesling
- Deinhard Piesporter Riesling
- Deinhard Piesporter gold droplets Riesling
- Deinhard Dry Riesling
- Deinhard Riesling Moscato
- Deinhard Hanns Christof Liebfraumilch
Monument protection
The Deinhard parent company is a protected cultural monument according to the Monument Protection Act (DSchG) and is entered in the list of monuments of the state of Rhineland-Palatinate . It is located at Deinhardplatz 3 .
The Deinhard parent company has been part of the Upper Middle Rhine Valley UNESCO World Heritage Site since 2002 .
literature
- Wolfgang Schütz: Koblenz heads. Mülheim 2000.
- Deinhard & Co., Coblenz on the Rhine and Moselle, founded in 1794. Rheinische Verlagsgesellschaft, Koblenz approx. 1928. (digitized version)
- A century in the Rhenish wine trade: illustrated in the origins and development of the Deinhard & Co. company, Coblenz. Founded in 1794. Düsseldorf, 1894. (digitized)
- A German wine house in its creation and development since 1794 - Deinhard & Co., Coblenz, on the Rhine and Moselle. Cologne, 1902. (digitized version)
- George Bruce: A Wine Day's Work. The London House of Deinhard 1835–1985. London 1985, ISBN 0-9509475-0-4 .
- Tom Johnson: Deinhard of Koblenz and London. London 1983.
- Helmut Prößler: Secret Commerce Councilor Julius Wegeler (1836-1913). Koblenz 1986.
- Helmut Proessler, Berthold Proessler: Wine and sparkling wine in Koblenz. Koblenz 1992.
- Helmut Prößler: 200 years of Deinhard 1794–1994. The history of the Deinhard house from the beginning to the present. Koblenz 1994.
- Wilhelm Treue: Deinhard. Heritage and Mission. Koblenz 1969.
Web links
Individual evidence
- ^ Company history of Deinhard Sektkellerei KG. Institute for Historical Regional Studies at the University of Mainz, accessed on August 27, 2020 .
- ^ General Directorate for Cultural Heritage Rhineland-Palatinate (ed.): Informational directory of cultural monuments - district-free city of Koblenz. Mainz 2020, p. 6 (PDF; 6.5 MB).
Coordinates: 50 ° 21 ′ 28.7 " N , 7 ° 35 ′ 58" E