Georg Christian Kessler

Georg Christian von Kessler, painting by Jean-Baptiste-Louis Germain (1782–1842), Reims, from 1825.

Georg Christian von Kessler (born March 30, 1787 in Heilbronn ; † December 16, 1842 in Stuttgart ) founded the company " GC Kessler & Co. " on July 1, 1826 in Esslingen am Neckar together with Heinrich August Georgii , today the oldest sparkling wine cellar Germany. At the same time, the manufacturer is considered a "pioneer of the Württemberg industry".

Careers at Veuve Clicquot

Georg Christian was the fourth child of the city ​​court assistant and organist Johann Wilhelm Kessler (born April 5, 1756 in Walldorf , Sachsen-Meiningen; † September 10, 1825 at Gut Neuhof , Oberamt Neckarsulm ) and the master tailor's daughter Johanna Christine Gesswein (born January 18, 1753 in Heilbronn; † November 9, 1798 in Heilbronn) born in Heilbronn. Georg Christian attended grammar school in Heilbronn until he was 14 . Then he left high school to begin an education. He was denied an academic career such as that of Kessler's older brother Heinrich (born March 30, 1783 in Heilbronn; † March 10, 1842 in Oppenweiler ). He refused his father's request to train as a silver worker. Instead, he began an apprenticeship as a businessman in a retail store for paints, spices and leather goods in Neuwied . An apprenticeship fee of 300 guilders had to be paid for the position . The apprenticeship was arranged for him by friends of his father, who had meanwhile agreed to his son's plans. During his apprenticeship, Kessler took language lessons from a priest who had emigrated during the French Revolution . Due to his language skills, after three years of apprenticeship - the agreed fourth year of apprenticeship had been waived for him by his "principal" - he moved to a leather goods store in Mainz , which at the time belonged to France and was known for its fine leather goods.

Like Kessler to Veuve Clicquot-Fourneaux et Cie. came to Reims , there are two interpretations of this. The Clicquot sources report that Kessler was hired on July 1, 1807 on the recommendation of Ludwig (Louis) Bohne as a clerk (accountant). Bohne came from a Mannheim family and met François Clicquot in Basel in 1801, who was looking for a representative for his company. Kessler himself later said that one of his schoolmates was in the Veuve Clicquot Fourneaux & Cie. employed as an accountant in Reims and traveled for this company. “It was up to him to propose his deputy, and his choice fell on me.” Kessler goes on to report that he went to Reims with mixed feelings because he didn't feel quite up to the task. But then everything started much better and he sat very quickly and firmly in the saddle.

Around 1807 the company found itself in economic difficulties because of the continental blockade imposed by Napoleon , because Great Britain had broken away as an important sales area for champagne. In addition, François Clicquot, the owner of the wine shop founded by his father Philippe Clicquot-Muiron in 1772, died in October 1805. His widow Barbe-Nicole Clicquot-Ponsardin (1777–1866) decided to continue the company, since 1806 with the wine and textile trader Alexandre Jérôme Fourneaux as the second partner, with each party investing the then high sum of 80,000 francs. After the partnership agreement with Fourneaux expired in the summer of 1810, she continued to run the company as a sole proprietor.

The catastrophic outcome of the Russian campaign in 1812 and the looming defeat of Napoleon after the Battle of Leipzig in October 1813 were also reflected in the poor business performance of the Clicquot company. Since 1806, when Barbe-Nicole ran the company, sales had fallen by 80 percent. The sales agents were less and less successful because customers were burdened with contributions and high taxes to finance the war; In addition, the journeys became more and more dangerous and the sales area became smaller and smaller due to the withdrawal of the French armies. During these difficult years, when Barbe-Nicole had to lay off many employees, Kessler proved to be a capable employee. He quickly learned the peculiarities of the champagne trade and received power of attorney on July 20, 1810 , after Barbe-Nicole had separated from Alexandre Jérôme Fourneaux. Kessler now receives a fixed salary of 1200 livres , and for every wine order in excess of 100 livres he receives 2 livres and 2½ centimes for each bottle.

However, his home in Württemberg never completely let go of him. In December 1811 he had to travel to Heilbronn because they wanted to recruit him "by force" for the army of the King of Württemberg. However, at the beginning of 1812, the draft commission in Stuttgart declared Kessler unfit for military service and finally deleted him from the lists.

Sparkling wine around 1800

Kessler came to Reims when the champagne business was changing. In 1801 Jean-Antoine Chaptal published a pioneering book on the improvement of wine, in which the chemical relationship between yeast and sugar and between fermentation and alcohol formation is described for the first time. Although the art of sparkling wine production had been known since the 17th century, Chaptal was the first to describe the entire process from rinsing the bottles to corking the champagne with a scientific perspective. His book served many wine merchants in Champagne as a guide for building up the lucrative sparkling wine business, with which a price up to four times higher than that of still wine could be achieved. Even today, adding sugar to increase the alcohol content during fermentation is called chaptalizing .

Until the end of the 18th century, the vin mousseux was drunk cloudy because the yeast added for fermentation could only partially be separated from the foaming wine. When the sparkling wine was transferred from the fermentation bottle with the deposited trub to the sales bottle - so-called transvasing - a large part of the carbonic acid produced during fermentation was lost. At Veuve Clicquot, Kessler got to know the new vibration process developed by Anton (Antoine) Müller. The sparkling wine bottles are carefully shaken after fermentation and storage until the yeast and lees in the bottle neck have settled on the cork. After about six weeks all the yeast has collected at the end of the bottle neck, then the cork is opened and the yeast shoots out, driven by the internal pressure of the bottle. Before the bottles are closed with the shipping cork, a little sweetened wine - the liqueur d'expédition - is added.

Back then, sparkling wine was stored in cool cellars in bottles on its own yeast for about one to one and a half years. This means that the sparkling wine came onto the market around two years after the harvest. This involved a high financial risk for the producers. In addition to the technical difficulties of producing a clear, sparkling sparkling wine, there was always the risk of high losses due to glass breakage. One advantage over barrel wine production, however, was that the sparkling wine, once fermented but not yet separated from the yeast, could be stored stably in bottles for many years, while wine in wooden barrels lost its quality after a few months.

The sparkling wine - the term “champagne” only gradually gained acceptance around 1860 - had little to do with today's taste of a fresh, lively sparkling wine that tended to be dry. In the early 19th century, sparkling wine was not served as an aperitif before a meal. Back then it was rather a foaming dessert wine that was extremely sweet for today's taste and was served very cool. Back then, sparkling wines often had 200 grams of residual sugar per liter. In order to satisfy the customers' desire for sweet sparkling wines, the producers filled generous cans of sugar or brandy dissolved in wine into the detached bottles before they were closed with the shipping cork. Russian customers demanded even sweeter qualities. Wines with 300 grams of sugar were considered pleasant - even ice wine today hardly has more than 200 grams of sugar. A champagne from the Kessler period was equivalent to an extremely sweet, carbonated dessert wine that was drunk very cold.

The sparkling wine of the early 19th century already showed the characteristic mousse, which is created by the carbonic acid bound in the wine under pressure and which dissolves from the liquid in the form of thousands of small CO ₂ bubbles after the bottle is opened . However, the pressure is likely to have only corresponded to about half of the current internal pressure of about 6 bar. Even sparkling wine bottles with thick walls and inwardly curved bottoms could withstand a pressure of no more than about 3 bar, which is why a large number of the bottles burst during fermentation.

In the early 19th century, sparkling wine sales were like blind tasting. Labels for labeling the bottles were the exception, at most there was a symbol of the champagne house on the cork, with Clicquot-Ponsardin it was an anchor. The first bottles with labels from Clicquot date back to 1814, because foreign customers wanted to make sure that they were getting the right content for the high prices they paid for the red Champagne of the Century from 1811 from Bouzy. These early labels were kept in plain white and carried the vintage and location of the wine as well as some floral garlands for decoration. Only in the course of the following years did labels become an integral part of the equipment and bear the brand of the producer.

On the top

Little is known about Kessler's role in the critical transition phase between the defeat of Napoleon and the restoration of Bourbon rule in the spring of 1814. At that time, Reims and other cities in Champagne were occupied by the allied troops of the Russians and Prussians, and contributions were raised. Although the Russian city commander, Prince Sergei Alexandrowitch Volkonsky, was able to prevent the worst riots, there were repeated looting, including at Veuve Clicquot. An indication that Kessler actually performed "not insignificant services" for the Clicquot house during this time is his rise to become a partner, an associé, which was to take effect on January 1, 1815.

In the years after the collapse of Napoleonic rule, Madame Clicquot commissioned Kessler and the well-traveled sales agent Louis Bohne to expand exports . Veuve Clicquot was the first champagne house to bypass the import ban for French goods, in June 1815, to transport 2,190 bottles of “champagne wine” and a barrel with the volume of 200 bottles on the Dutch 70-tonne Les Gebroders via Königsberg to Russia. When Louis Bohne arrived in St. Petersburg with the first delivery, customers besieged him to get some bottles. Bohne wrote to Madame Clicquot that he had received 5.50 francs per bottle, which is around 50 euros by today's standards. During these years of success, Georg Christian's relationship with Madame Clicquot seems to have been untroubled. Kessler felt at home in France and also took root in his new homeland privately: in May 1819, Kessler married Marguerite Clémence Jobert (1799–1825) from a respected dynasty of manufacturers and clothiers from Sedan .

Kessler reached the peak of his career in 1821 - this was also the turning point. That year Clicquot sold 280,000 bottles of sparkling wine - ten years later, after Kessler's departure, there were only 145,000 bottles. In a circular dated December 1, 1821, Barbe-Nicole informed her business partners that Kessler would receive all of the company's assets by July 20, 1824 “as a token of gratitude for the great service rendered”. This did not happen, however, and for unknown reasons this decision was withdrawn on July 1, 1822. Kessler did not take over the company, but retained power of attorney.

What happened between 1821 and 1823 has not yet been clarified. A business failure of Kessler has not been proven in these years. Kessler's position at Veuve Clicquot may have wavered after his business partner Louis Bohne - by the way, he had been married to the daughter of the Württemberg civil servant and later legation councilor Karl-Heinrich Rheinwald from Stuttgart since 1810 - slipped on an icy bridge in 1821 and suffered the consequences died of the fall. What is certain is that after 1821 Kessler had a competitor in the young, ambitious Eduard Mathias Werle (1801–1886). He succeeded the legendary cellar master Anton ("Antoine") von Müller (1788-1859), who was responsible for the cellars at Veuve Clicquot for twelve years. The contemporaries found words of praise for Werler, who later called himself Édouard Mathieu Werlé, but also characterized him as "autoritaire, impérieux et dominateur". Werler pushed up like Kessler - the champagne house will later serve as a stepping stone into politics: from 1852 to 1868 Werler, the son of a little postmaster from the former imperial city of Wetzlar , was mayor of Reims through the protection of Barbe Nicoles , in 1862 he became Elected deputies to the Legislative Assembly of France.

Kessler's withdrawal from the Reims business was initiated by the appointment of Eduard Werler as cellar master on May 16, 1822, just one year after he joined the company. At the same time, Madame Clicquot allowed him to draw by procura on business matters while she was away. That was an affront to Kessler, who now realized that nothing more would come of the promise of August 1821. Since that time he had finally given up the idea of ​​taking over Clicquot-Ponsardin, as Eduard Werler succeeded in doing when he joined the company in the summer of 1831 for a deposit of 100,000 francs (around million euros).

Years later, when Kessler had long since left the company, the bank was drawn into the economic and financial crisis of 1827/30, the decline of which Eduard Werler later blamed Kessler and brought the entire company to the brink of ruin due to high levels of debt (see below). The failure of the banking business, for which Kessler was not responsible, was nevertheless attributed to him. Rescuing the company from this crisis - Werler is said to have obtained two million francs in cash from the Parisian banker friend Rougemont de Lowenberg in 1827 in a night-and-fog operation - on the other hand, Barbe-Nicole's new favorite was on the flag.

As in other events, the winner - Eduard Werler - wrote the story and Kessler transformed himself into an ambitious but careless dreamer in the Clicquot's official view of history, who put the company in great danger - and made his savior shine all the more. The actual chronological sequence of events and the well-considered and wise approach to founding his own company in Esslingen, however, fuel doubts about this one-sided interpretation of events to the detriment of Kessler.

Industrial pioneer

On February 26, 1825, Kessler's young wife died ten days after the birth of their daughter. Marguerite's death marks the beginning of the end of Kessler's career in Reims. This stroke of fate reinforced his desire to return to Württemberg . In fact, from that time on, Kessler began to put out his feelers to Esslingen am Neckar . In his life story we read that he “transplanted to Württemberg, where his place of birth belonged since 1803, to transplant individual branches of industry that were still not local there, with the laudable intention of caring for siblings who expected support from him. “At the instigation of Kessler, a modern spinning mill was built in Esslingen, where a large number of qualified workers were available at low wage costs. Another spinning mill followed shortly afterwards in Pontfaverger in Champagne.

On April 10, 1825, Veuve Clicquot, in the person of Kessler, took a stake in the cloth factory for machine-spun worsted and carded yarn, which Kessler's brother-in-law Christian Ludwig Hübler had founded in Esslingen in 1823. Hübler came from a respected family of merchants and entrepreneurs from Ludwigsburg. His brother was the "materialist" August Gottlieb Hübler (1788–1833), whose daughter had married the Stuttgart factory owner Wilhelm Heinrich Siegle (1815–1863), the father of Gustav Siegles , who is still considered a prime example of Swabian entrepreneurship.

Christian Ludwig Hübler, who married Kessler's sister Johanne Friederike on May 4, 1819, moved in a milieu of entrepreneurs and used the new technical possibilities offered by the beginning industrialization. Apparently the company, approved by the Esslingen authorities in 1824, flourished from the start. Kessler and Hübler's foreman Conrad Wolf , who later became a partner in Merkel & Wolf, was a master of his craft and made a significant contribution to expansion in the first few years. From Reims, Kessler pushed the further expansion of the textile company in Esslingen. All machines are said to have been delivered to Esslingen from Sedan - where Kessler's first wife came from. The sophisticated cylinder machines for cloth production, as well as a mechanical loom supplied by Guillaume Louis Ternaux of Saint-Ouen-sur-Seine , were state-of-the-art for their time. With its machinery, Kessler was able to manufacture products of such quality that they could compete with French and British goods.

Kessler's factory on the site of the Steudel cloth factory founded in 1811 is thus an early example of foreign capital investment in the private sector in Württemberg . A technology transfer began between the industrially rather backward Württemberg and the progressive French machine manufacturers. At the same time, Kessler introduced modern yarn and cloth production methods developed in Great Britain and France. Kessler's modernity is also that he was the first apprentices in the company showed trained . Like today, the apprenticeship lasted three years. After that, the graduate had to work as a journeyman in the company for another year .

On April 12, 1825, Georg Christian's brother Heinrich Kessler , who was four years older, joined the company. He had served as an officer in the Napoleonic wars and studied camera science in Tübingen . Heinrich Kessler worked in the vicinity of Friedrich List (1787–1846), who is considered the founder of modern economics , and in 1820 moved into the second chamber of the Stuttgart state parliament as a member of the Oberamt Öhringen . The company was now firmly in the hands of the Kessler family. As long as Georg Christian was mainly in Reims, his brother Heinrich acted as a deputy.

Kessler's intention to open a German branch of Veuve Clicquot was the decisive factor for the separation in 1826. Eduard Werler wanted to prevent Kessler's expansion plans because the entrepreneurial risk seemed too high to him and he feared that the money from the Reims company would be a profit Established company that could later become a dangerous competitor.

A glance at a publication that was written about Eduard Werler many decades after the events shows that this competition was not very squeamish:

When Werler became the cellar manager in 1822, “Madame Clicquot had a certain Kessler as partner and co-director, who was intelligent but ambitious and shrewd. When the champagne business stagnated in 1822 due to an economic crisis, Madame Clicquot decided, at the instigation of Mr. Kessler, to resume banking and the textile trade, which had previously been the business focus of her father-in-law, Mr. Clicquot-Muiron, but which her late husband had given up had to devote himself entirely to the wine business. "

“The banking business expanded rapidly and vigorously. Herr Kessler, who had big raisins in his head and took full advantage of the blind trust that Madame Clicquot had in him, involved her in setting up a spinning mill in Esslingen. This venture was all the more dangerous as the spinning mill was run by members of the Kessler family but financed by Madame Clicquot's bank. She quickly saw the dead end she had entered and parted with Mr. Kessler, who kept the spinning mill in Esslingen and all the property that was in Germany on his account. "

The cancellation contract is dated May 24, 1826: “The entire property in Germany belongs to Georges Kessler, but he is also responsible for all debts and obligations there; the same applies to Madame Clicquot with regard to the quality, supplies and buildings which the Bank Clicquot has acquired in Reims. The French spinning mill in Pontfaverger also becomes their property. "

After the break with Veuve Clicquot, Kessler concentrated completely on his Esslingen-based company. As early as July 11, 1826, it was announced that “Kaufmann Heinrich Kessler and CL Hübler” had resigned from the company on June 30, 1826 “by agreement and now GC Kessler would continue the business as the exclusive owner for sole account.” July 1 1826 is the official founding date of the Kessler company.

Second career in Esslingen am Neckar

Auguste von Vellnagel, wife of Georg Christian von Kessler since 1826 - painting by Ludovike Simanowitz (1759–1827). Photo: Kessler Sekt

On January 23, 1826, Kessler married the twenty-year-old Auguste von Vellnagel (June 1, 1806– August 14, 1890). She was the daughter of the Württemberg politician Christian Ludwig August Freiherr von Vellnagel (1764-1853). Vellnagel was President of the Upper Court Council , President of the Court Domain Chamber , State Secretary and Head of the Royal Cabinet. Due to the outstanding position of his father-in-law, Kessler, who had just returned from France, gained access to the Württemberg royal court and ministries. As early as May 1826, King Wilhelm I of Württemberg “inspected” the company and noted “the vigorous efforts to perfect and revitalize this branch of the patriotic industry”. He probably became aware of Kessler's company through an extensive newspaper report in the " Schwäbische Chronik " on February 12, 1826, which introduces "Trade and Industry in Württemberg" and begins with a presentation of the textile company Kessler, Hübler & Cie. The company pursues the goal of "producing woolen fabrics and fabrics mixed with wool and other textile materials (especially according to the French industry), which up to now have not been produced in Württemberg or have only been produced imperfectly and inadequately." Already ten months after the foundation 400 people already worked for the factory, 300 of them at the Esslingen location. The company, according to the editor of the “Schwäbische Chronik”, provides proof “that where machine work becomes more frequent, the number of manual workers who deal exclusively with their trade and not with farming on the side increases As we have seen, it mainly matters. ”In the Esslingen-based company, the authors find“ technicians and machines trained abroad, almost all of which were not manufactured in southern Germany ”. It is noteworthy that Kessler purchased machines from the company of Guillaume Louis Ternaux (1763–1833) in Saint-Ouen-sur-Seine near Paris:

“A mechanical loom of new invention ordered for testing in Paris will also find a place here as soon as it arrives. This chair, weaving without the strength of human hands, is one of those that have been found to be far more excellent than the English by these and other proven experts at Mr. Te r n a u x in St. Ouen. "

After separating from Veuve Clicquot, Kessler had to quickly raise fresh capital for his Esslingen-based company . Only if he expanded the business quickly could he compete with British and French products. Therefore he tried with great enthusiasm to convert the company into a stock corporation and to find partners. This plan is the first tangible event in Württemberg in which a private entrepreneur wanted to set up a large company in the textile industry.

The legal form of partnership was only a stopover for Kessler. His plans continued. Two weeks after taking over the business, he tried to find partners for the conversion of the company into a stock corporation, which he had intended from the start. In a supplement to Schwäbischer Merkur on July 13, he made his plan publicly known:

Calling Georg Christian Kessler to participate as a shareholder in his textile factory in Esslingen am Neckar. Supplement to the "Swabian Chronicle" of July 13, 1826

“A mature insight has generated the patriotic wish among many that something important should happen in Württemberg through factories in this branch of industry (textile). The circumstances of the time, however, make it a certain need for not a few to invest a larger or smaller sum in higher interests in the country without, however, venturing much, and to deal with trade and factory transactions themselves.

Under such conditions the local capitalists get more and more accustomed to supporting art and craft industry by buying shares by taking advantage of their advantage: only what is beneficial and pleasant can emerge from it for the common best. "

Kessler's factory on the Maille was extremely progressive for the time. By founding the stock corporation, he wanted to bring additional capital into the company and expand quickly. Because the 1920 spindles that his company had until then could not produce the quantities that were necessary to keep up with the British and French competition in price. Kessler planned to increase the share capital of 150,000 guilders by 300,000 guilders in shares of 500 guilders each. The total fund of 450,000 guilders was to earn interest at five percent on June 30th, the surpluses were partially transferred to a reserve fund and the remaining sum was paid out to the shareholders as an extraordinary dividend .

Kessler confidently announced that he would take over the management of the company himself. Kessler's plan to convert his textile company into a stock corporation is the first verifiable operation in Württemberg in which a private entrepreneur attempted to found a textile stock corporation that could compete seriously with British and French companies.

Already at the “Art and Industry Exhibition in Stuttgart” in spring 1827, the newly founded Kessler textile factory stood out for its modernity and quality. The report on the exhibition states:

“The Keßler'sche Fabrik is a completely new establishment that has only emerged since the last art exhibition, which is characterized by the size, machinery, facilities, diversity, beauty and price-cheapness of its articles, especially by the fact that there are several, the transplanted articles peculiar to French industry on patriotic soil and first produced them here.

These include: the merinos in these degrees of delicacy, the superfine flannel shawls, the blankets (machine-spun draw wool, braided on the frame and perfectly suited to replace the plumeaux), the superfine woven woolen blankets and the superfine shirt flannels. "

So it is not surprising that Kessler was one of the prize winners and, as one of 32 entrepreneurs, was authorized by King Wilhelm by decree of August 25, 1827 to put the award medal next to his trademark. The modernity of Kessler's company is evident in the fact that it received circulating air heating and gas lighting with 200 flames as early as 1826, which were installed in the factory building by the master bricklayer Ernst Bihl from Waiblingen . The economic benefit of artificial lighting is clearly emphasized by the "Swabian Chronicle": "How useful lighting with gas is often in particular because of its equally widespread strong and yet mild light is shown by the aforementioned machinery for drawing yarn spinning, their Part moved by water power without gas light, as is happening now, could not be kept going day and night. "()

With his plan to set up a large textile stock corporation, Kessler was way ahead of his time, perhaps too far: In Württemberg there was definitely a larger group of potential investors. But they preferred to invest their money in real estate and government bonds instead of investing them in risky industrial projects. It was another twenty years before large cotton-processing companies were founded as joint-stock companies with Swiss capital in the 1850s .

When Kessler's project of building the textile company into a stock corporation did not progress, he shifted his activities to the production of sparkling wine. As early as 1828 he leased part of his cloth factory - namely the spinning mill and cloth manufacture on the Maille - to his works foreman Conrad Wolf from Weil der Stadt . In 1830 Johannes Merkel (1798–1879) and Ludwig Kienlin, both from important Ravensburg merchant families, became partners in Wolf. From then on the company was called "Merkel & Wolf", since Kienlin remained a silent partner until 1843 . In 1831 "Merkel & Wolf" is named as one of the largest commercial enterprises, with 40 looms and a spinning mill for woolen stuff and worsted yarn. After Wolf had to retire for health reasons, the company was renamed Merkel & Kienlin, which produced the well-known " Esslinger wool " until its liquidation in the 1970s .

Founding of the oldest sparkling wine cellar in Germany

Vibrating consoles in the cellar of the former “clerical administration” of the Speyrer Pflegehof, today the seat of the Kessler sparkling wine manufacturer.

On July 1, 1826, Kessler founded the sparkling wine factory GC Kessler & Co. together with the chief justice procurator Heinrich August Georgii. As early as 1820, Kessler had bought Gut Neuhof (today: Falkensteiner Hof ) near Oedheim for the champagne house Veuve-Clicquot from his brother Heinrich . Several vineyards, a beer brewery, a vinegar factory and a brandy distillery belonged to the estate. Heinrich had been the owner of the estate since 1812, having acquired it from the estate of his grandfather Johann Georg Balthasar Geßwein (* in Strümpfelbach ; † November 9, 1807 in Heilbronn). The tenant of the estate, the surgeon Johann Christoph Strölin (born December 8, 1783 in Altbach ) was also part of the immediate family. Kessler's eldest sister Christiane Louise (born May 19, 1781 in Heilbronn) had married Strölin in her second marriage on August 13, 1811 in Heilbronn.

In the correspondence sheet of the Württemberg Agricultural Association, Kessler reported in 1823 about attempts to cultivate buckwheat, the straw of which was "mixed with spirits" which resulted in nutritious fodder. In Oedheim, Kessler tried - before the break was looming and certainly with the consent of Barbe Nicole - in several test series to produce sparkling wines with high-quality local grape varieties such as Clevner as the main grape, but also Riesling , Traminer , Elbling and Gutedel . From the many years of preparation it becomes understandable how in 1826 Kessler was suddenly able to start producing, trading and selling the "sparkling wines like champagne".

Although fewer personnel were required for the production of "sparkling wines" than for textile production, high operating resources were required. First of all, considerable sums had to be raised for the establishment of the company and the market launch of a completely new product - sparkling wine from German production. Since large storage and cellar areas are required for the production of sparkling wine, high real estate investments as well as rental and leasing rates were incurred. In addition, there was a high expenditure of funds for the purchase of the base wines. Kessler only bought high quality products from the best locations in order to be able to compete with French products. However, he avoided imitating or imitating French products:

“Although Mr. Keßler, disdaining to give his domestic product a foreign name, only brings the wine on the market as 'foaming Württemberg wine', and thereby guarantees the solidity of his company, this caution is still evident in the products that are so distinguished The full name of champagne has not been displaced in the audience. "

In the first few years, Kessler's partner Heinrich August Georgii personally took care of purchasing. “Shortly before autumn, a partner in the company usually travels to various places where black Clevner and Rieslings are planted, which are known for their excellent locations. When the contract is concluded and the harvest time comes, a member of parliament comes from the company and has the grapes cut, although no rotten berries are allowed, because they make the wine slightly yellow, and bring them straight to the wine press without being squeezed, where the juice is squeezed out with a slight pressure and immediately transported to Esslingen filled in barrels. This insistence on quality was decisive for the success of the company and created trust among customers who first had to be won over for the new product. Many imitators, however, did not last long. "()

Viticulture in Württemberg at the beginning of the 19th century

In the first few years it was not always easy for Kessler to source high-quality base wines for sparkling wine production. This was due to the development of viticulture in Württemberg since the Thirty Years War and the pressures associated with the series of wars, looting and devastation that gripped the country. In addition to the consequences of the Palatinate War of Succession (1688–1697), the Spanish War of Succession (1701–1714 / 15) and the Napoleonic Wars , there was a noticeable cooling of the climate at the beginning of the 18th century, which favored bad harvests and impaired the cultivation of high-quality grape varieties. Up to the beginning of the 17th century, quality viticulture played an important role in Württemberg. Since the 15th century, Termeno varieties, which were crossed from local varieties and produce high-quality, medium-heavy to heavy white wines, were widespread. In the 18th century, mass carriers like the cleaning scissors and grape varieties like Silvaner , Elbling and Trollinger were widespread. At that time, higher qualities such as muscatel , traminer and the Burgundy varieties grew on at most a fifth of the vineyards . Up until the 19th century, there was only limited demand for high-quality and expensive wines in Württemberg, which is why wine producers met the needs of a wide range of buyers for cheap and simple wines.

The foundations for quality wine growing in Württemberg were laid in the first half of the 19th century. The Kessler Sektkellerei played an important role in this. Because Kessler needed high quality base wines for sparkling wine production. It quickly became apparent that the wine growers were ready to cultivate high-quality varieties such as the Clevner if acceptance was guaranteed. The most common grape varieties in the upper Neckar valley were Silvaner, white and red Elbling, Trollinger and a little less Gutedel and Clevner, in Esslingen also smaller red Veltliner, called Hansen. The winemakers benefited directly from the increased demand for quality wine. In the description of the Oberamt Eßlingen from 1845 it says:

“At the same time, the high prices it pays for the noble grape varieties (which are three and four times higher than the usual autumn prices) make it very encouraging for the improvement of Wuerttemberg viticulture (meaning the Kessler sparkling wine producer). For the city itself, the business is important due to the increased traffic, which is brought about by the delivery of the wine must and the various operational needs and the shipping of the wines. "

However, Kessler did not only buy his base wines regionally, which is evident from the fact that, despite the proximity to his company, no more Clevner was grown in Esslingen than before. Rather, the winery acquired the grapes specifically from good Clevner and Riesling locations - for example in 1857 from Heilbronn , Flein , Ortenberg , Weinsberg , Kleinbottwar , Hoheneck , Stetten , Lehrensteinsfeld , Hanweiler and Hecklingen . The continued success of Kessler's product was based on the improved quality of the base wines paired with careful processing and skillful marketing. The theologian and writer Carl Theodor Griesinger attributed an important role to Kessler in the improvement of viticulture in Württemberg in the first half of the 19th century:

“Württemberger wine is cheap and you can endure it for a long time. (...) And - if you want strong wine - don't we have a wine improvement institute that has brought in the finest Rhine wine grapes and the finest Burgundy and Champagne grapes? And hasn't the wine already been so improved and refined that strangers often believe that they are drinking sillery mousse when it is only a Esslinger or Heilbronn brand? Don't you have Clevner and Traminer that no Bordeaux or Deidisheimer is allowed to go to? Are not Wuerttembergers seduced across the sea, to distant America, and the democratic merchants there prefer to drink it than French wines, although it is more expensive than these? Bey god! Württemberg is a wine country that can compete with everyone else. "

Sources of capital

The oldest label from the Kessler sparkling wine manufacturer from around 1826/1830. Kessler refers to his previous partnership with Veuve Clicquot-Ponsardin

Kessler and Georgii filled the first 4,000 bottles in 1826, which came on the market a year later. In the "Swabian Mercury" of January 5, 1828, the two founders advertised the 1826 vintage:

“We have the honor to notify the public that we have prepared champagne-style products from Mr. Spindler in Stuttgart, Mr. Bossert in Tübingen, Mr. Schumann in Esslingen (meaning sales offices, author's note) Hieländischen mussirenden wines from the year 1826, and that with the same individual bottles by 1 bottle. 36 kr. to buy. If you want to order at least 25 bottles, you can also contact us directly, whereupon we receive nothing more than 1 fl. 24 kr. for the bottles, but in such a way that the customer has to bear the packaging costs, the freight and any breakage that may occur on the way. "

The response to the production of the first year of sparkling wine from Kessler exceeded all expectations. “Last autumn, Mr. Keßler in Esslingen made attempts to prepare must from Clevner and Elbling the champagne way and both types of wine, especially the Clevner, have, as far as they can be assessed in the first six months, in terms of taste, color and Moussiren delivered a very favorable result. ”In 1827 30,000 bottles were drawn and in 1828 54,000 bottles. In 1842, the year Kessler died, 140,000 bottles were already produced.

The first production facility for Kessler sparkling wine was the wine press of the Kaisheimer Pflegehof . The building including larger vineyards on the "Schöneberg" (today "Burgberg") belonged to Georgii. Soon additional cellars had to be leased in the vicinity. The Hohenheim professor Wilhelm Heinrich Theodor Plieninger (1795–1879), who was the scientific secretary of the agricultural central office from 1832 to 1848, reported on this:

“Before the autumn of 1827, Messrs. Kessler and Georgii bought the former so-called Klösterles-Kelter (of the Kaisheimer Pflegehof, author's note) along with the cellar underneath, and in both of them the ones taking place in Champagne for Treatment of sparkling wines. 30,000 bottles of the wines of the autumn in question were filled; the draw in 1828 was 54,000 bottles, in 1830 (the must was too small in 1829) some 30,000, in 1831 72,000 and in 1832 44,000 bottles. The fact that the sparkling wines can only be shipped after 1½ to 2 years made it necessary to own further suitable buildings and cellars, even if the annual draws were reduced to 30 or 40,000 bottles; Therefore, the very spacious premises belonging to the local foundation, forming the former foundation press, along with the cellars underneath and an adjacent cellar were purchased. According to the arrangement that was soon given to these bars, they were used for this year's drawing, consisting of 57,000 whole bottles, of last year's wine. "

This marked the beginning of the gradual acquisition of the cellars and buildings on the area of ​​the former Speyrer Pflegehof between the Esslingen city church St. Dionys and the old town hall , which was completed in 1866. The historic Speyrer Pflegehof and the guild and town houses adjoining it are still the seat of Kessler Sekt .

A specialty of the sparkling wine production was that the production had to be pre-financed over a long period of time. The wine, fermenting and maturing in bottles, was stored for many months before it could be sold as sparkling wine. In addition, there were production losses due to poor fermentation or bottle breakage, which until well into the 1830s affected up to 50 percent of the filled bottles. Calculations showed that the working capital required at the time of establishment was between 100,000 and 150,000 guilders.

The capital required came from several sources. In the first years after the establishment of the sparkling wine cellar, Kessler remained associated with his textile factory as a partner, so that he was able to invest the profits from the sale of the products in the new business. When sparkling wine production had stabilized, he forced the sale of his shares in the textile factory in order to finance the growth of the sparkling wine cellar.

Further capital came from Georgii, who was more than a business partner. Kessler and Georgii got on well personally and had great trust in each other, so that there was no written partnership agreement until 1835. After Kessler's death Georgii wrote in 1846: “When Mr. Kessler and I (...) founded the wine shop GC Kessler & Co. in 1826, a written partnership agreement was not drawn up between the two founders and shareholders. However, the shareholders agreed on the main points. "()

The third source of capital was the " Württembergische Landessparkasse " founded by Queen Katharina in Stuttgart - a predecessor organization of today's Landesbank Baden-Württemberg . In 1833, Kessler received a loan of 20,000 guilders against a pledge of a claim to the Hardtmann brothers from a sale of the Kessler weaving mill. This is an early testimonial of a government banking institution loan to a private entrepreneur. Since 1818 the Stuttgart merchant and cloth merchant, the secret court and domain councilor Gottlob Heinrich Rapp , an uncle of the poet Gustav Schwab , who in turn belonged to Kessler's circle of friends , has been at the head of the "Württembergische Landessparkasse" . Rapp was one of the most influential public figures of his time in Württemberg. King Friedrich I of Württemberg transferred the management of the “Royal Tobacco Control” to the skilled businessman in 1808, he appointed him head of the salt mine management, later the chief finance councilor and appointed him in 1814 as the controller of the court bank. King Wilhelm I appointed him court bank director and head of the Württembergische Landessparkasse. Rapp and the publisher Johann Friedrich Cotta belonged to Queen Katharina's circle of friends. Rapp was known far beyond the country's borders as an art connoisseur and patron, Goethe called him a “well-educated art lover”.

Kessler obtained the first champagne bottles from the Black Forest , in the first few years preferably from the royal glassworks administration in Schönmünzach , later from the Buhlbach smelter and the Böhringer glass smelter in Freudenstadt . The Buhlbach bottles cost 15 guilders per hundred, half bottles cost 10 guilders per hundred. As early as 1833, shortly before Württemberg joined the German Customs Union , which created a uniform economic area, Kessler had around 150,000 bottles in stock.

From Esslingen "to all parts of the world"

The number of customers rose from 130 in 1829 to 523 in 1834. In the first few years, the main sales area was Württemberg with over 80 percent, followed by Bavaria. The relationship has changed since the German Customs Association was founded. In the 1840s, over 50 percent of customers came from the states of the German Customs Union, mainly from Bavaria, Saxony, Thuringia and Prussia. As early as 1839 a representative of the company named Johann Eichhorn, based in Mannheim, was responsible for sales in Baden, Hesse, Prussia, Saxony and Bavaria. In 1842 there was a representative in Berlin and in 1846 for Bavaria.

Kessler had a particular skill in marketing his product abroad. Here he benefited from the experience he had gained at Veuve Clicquot, where he was able to significantly increase exports, especially to Russia, after the Congress of Vienna. Immediately after founding the company, he began to promote Kessler sparkling wine in Austria, Great Britain, the Netherlands and especially Russia.

Letter from Georg Christian Kessler to the Württemberg ambassador in St. Petersburg, Prince von Hohenlohe-Kirchberg, with the request to support his company in introducing "sparkling wines" in Russia

In the spring of 1830, Kessler sent 300 sample bottles to Saint Petersburg . In the spring of 1831 he was able to deliver 6,000 bottles of his sparkling wine to the Russian capital. Kessler had been familiar with this market since he and the commercial agent Louis Bohne set up Clicquot's export to Russia after the Napoleonic Wars . In order to increase exports to Russia, Kessler used his connections to the Württemberg government and to King Wilhelm I in 1834 . His father-in-law, Minister of State Baron von Vellnagel, opened the doors to Kessler: On the recommendation of the King, the Württemberg ambassador in Russia, the Prince of Hohenlohe-Kirchberg , was sent 60 bottles of “German sparkling white wine” from the Kessler house to St. Petersburg via Lübeck . The prince then asked the director of the economic department in St. Petersburg for assistance in introducing Kessler's sparkling wine in Russia. Shipments were soon sent to the court of the tsars, the court of Grand Duke Michael and other members of the nobility. Apparently Kessler had correctly assessed the chances in Russia. By May 16, 1834, 5279 bottles of "vin Traminer" were sold via St. Petersburg via the agents Hills & Whishaw, the bottle for 4¾ rubles. In 1835 the newspapers reported that for Kessler Russia was the most important market outside Germany.

Regardless of Kessler's export offensive, Württemberg remained the most important sales area. King Wilhelm I of Württemberg, the Württemberg nobility, the ministers and the higher civil service were among the buyers in the first few years, who indirectly also had a multiplier function. A particularly critical customer was Duke Heinrich von Wuerttemberg (1772-1838), the youngest brother of King Frederick I . He corresponded extensively with Kessler about the quality of his products and gave valuable advice for the successful marketing of the "sparkling wine" outside of Württemberg. In a letter of August 4, 1833, he praised the 1830 vintage: “I have now carefully checked the three types of your muszirenden wine - u. the one marked with a string by the year-walk, 1830 - found to be the one I like best. This wine is pleasant, not too strong and therefore the least sweet - all properties that correspond to my taste. "

Last years of life

Grave stele of the von Vellnagel family with grave inscription by Georg Christian von Kessler (center), Hoppenlaufriedhof , Stuttgart

Kessler's vision and interest in new things was evident in his position in relation to the new rail transport system . In a list of Esslingen shareholders for railway construction in Württemberg from March 24, 1836, Kessler was one of the citizens who invested a lot of capital in the purchase of railway shares because they had high hopes for economic development. Kessler appears with a share package of 3000 guilders as one of the largest investors from Esslingen, besides him only two citizens of Esslingen risked similar sums, namely the manufacturer Carl Christian Deffner also with 3000 guilders and the cavalry master Karl Friedrich Sigmund von Minkwitz (1795-?) with 6000 guilders.

The high point of the social recognition of Kessler's services to the Württemberg industry and viticulture was the award of the Knight's Cross of the Order of the Württemberg Crown by King Wilhelm I on October 30, 1841. Admission to the order is associated with elevation to the personal nobility. However, in the same year Kessler fell so seriously ill that he had to reckon that he would not be able to continue the business for much longer.

On July 1, 1835, the young Carl Weiss-Chenoux (1809–1889) joined the company as a new partner. It was important to Kessler that not only oenological skills, but also commercial competence, remained in the hands of an energetic entrepreneur. His wife, son, and daughter were not seriously interested in maintaining the partnership. To them, the high capital requirements required in those years of growth seemed too risky. Therefore, with the consent of the other shareholders, in 1841 he accepted the businessman Gustav Stitz as a further partner in the company.

Grave inscription by Georg Christian von Kessler on the family grave of the von Vellnagel family, Hoppenlaufriedhof , Stuttgart

Because of the incurable spinal cord disease, which made it difficult for Kessler to use his hands and feet, he almost completely withdrew from business life in January 1841. He sold his shares to his partners for 54,000 guilders. The shareholders agreed that he should receive 24,000 guilders in three installments that same year. The remaining 30,000 guilders were to be paid in six installments of 5,000 guilders each. He only wanted to continue doing business with Russia personally.

Kessler's condition quickly deteriorated, so that he also renounced the Russia business. On September 16, 1842, he sent the following circular to his business partners:

"I have the honor to inform you that, as a result of renewed increased malaise, in addition to my unfortunately incurable spinal cord disease, which makes it extremely difficult for me to use my hands and feet, I felt compelled to look forward to my resignation of the corporate action GC Kessler & Cie, to renounce Russian business reserved for me and my heirs in favor of my successors. Would you be kind enough to take note of this in order to come to an understanding and calculate with the said successors of mine about the business dealings between you and me. I thank you most sincerely for the benevolence and trust you have shown me most kindly, and I remain with the greatest respect, yours GC Kessler. "

Kessler died on December 16, 1842 at the age of 55 in Stuttgart. He left his widow with the 16-year-old daughter Anna Friederike (born January 2, 1827) and the 15-year-old son Georg Karl August (born February 14, 1828; † 1868 as a manufacturer in Leipzig). His daughter Clara, born on June 2, 1830, had preceded her father in 1836 shortly before the age of six from the consequences of meningitis in death. Kessler's grave is located in the Hoppenlau cemetery in Stuttgart .

Without a doubt, Georg Christian von Kessler is one of the most prominent and innovative personalities in the early phase of industrialization in Württemberg. He belonged to a social group that emerged with the bourgeois society of the 19th century, which - freed from the constraints of the class and guild order - shaped their lives of their own accord and was characterized by a pioneering spirit, willingness to take risks, possessiveness, education and ingenuity. In addition, Kessler's obituary from 1844 reveals his social responsibility and his artistic sense, traits that may have been influenced by his father's work as a city councilor and organist:

“Through an open, straight demeanor, through a service-minded, friendly approach, through pleasing forms, through exaltation over petty interests, through active participation in everything beautiful and charitable, through generosity and hospitality, principles of his character, which, despite all the disgruntlement in the last years of his life, never hiding himself, he had acquired the respect and affection of all who came into contact with him. He never tired of the support of his siblings, who all died before him and two of whom he had to look into the grave during the past few years, as well as their relatives. To be able to do well to those in need at all and to be able to let his surroundings take part in his life pleasures, he thought was the main gain of his own activity and the happy end results of his undertakings.

A passionate friend of the art of music, he found great pleasure in occasionally gathering the wreaths of songs from Esslingen on his friendly country estate on the Neckar and shortening his evening with their four-part chants under the sound of the cups that his hospitality filled them. His memory will be blessed not only with everyone he was close to, but with all friends of the fatherland, but preferably with the inhabitants of the city of Esslingen, to whom his work brought manifold lasting benefits. "

Individual evidence

1. ↑ See the announcement of the admission of Carl Weiss-Chenaux (1809–1889) as a partner in the company: "Our business, which was founded in 1826, has, as you know, the preparation of local mustard wines made from the finest grape varieties . "
2. ^ Gerd Kollmer-von Oheimb-Loup : Georg Christian von Kessler . Factory owner and pioneer of the Württemberg industry (1787–1842). In: Life pictures from Baden-Württemberg . No. 20 . Kohlhammer, Stuttgart 2001, ISBN 978-3-17-017333-0 , pp. 207 .
3. ^ New necrology of the Germans. Twentieth year, 1842, second part, Weimar 1844, No. 317: Georg Christian von Kessler, p. 871 ( digitized version ).
4. ↑ ^{a b} New Nekrolog der Deutschen, p. 872.
5. ↑ The handwritten curriculum vitae of Kessler is quoted in excerpts from Günther Weiss: From Eßlinger Champagne to Kessler Hochgewächs. Chronicle of the Weiss family, the oldest family of sparkling wine experts in Germany 1835–1985. Esslingen 1985, p. 20ff.
6. ↑ Your maternal great-grandfather was Nicolas Ruinart (1697–1769), who founded the first champagne company in 1729; see: Robert Tomes: The Champagne Country. New York 1867, pp. 94-95
7. ↑ A conversion ratio of one franc to today's euro of one to twenty is considered conservative. Barbe-Nicole Clicquot would have invested around 1.5 million euros. For comparison: an unskilled worker earned around 400 francs (8,000 euros) annually around 1830, a bottle of champagne cost around 3.5 francs (70 euros) around 1800.
8. ↑ The company, which Alexandre and his son Jérôme continued to run under the name Fourneaux et fils , also produced high-quality champagne and in 1931 it was owned by Champagne Taittinger , the third oldest champagne house. See: Jacques-Louis Delpal: Merveilles de Champagne. Paris 1993, p. 58
9. ^ Jean-Antoine Chaptal: L'art de faire le vin. Paris 1819; Jerry B. Gough: Winecraft and Chimistry in Eighteenth-Century France: Chaptal and the Invention of Chaptalization. In: Technologies and Culture. Volume 39, No. 1, 1998, pp. 74-104, especially p. 102.
10. ^ Roderick Philipps: A Short History of Wine. New York 2000, p. 243.
11. ^ Robert Tomes: The Champagne Country. New York 1867, p. 68; Henry Viztelly: Facts About Champagne and Other Sparkling Wines, Collected During Numerous Visits to the Champagne and Other Viticultural Districts of France an the Principal Remaining Wine-Producing Countries of Europe. London 1879, pp. 192, 198, 214
12. ^ Gérard Liger-Belair: Uncorked: The Science of Champagne. Princeton, NJ 2004, p. 15.
13. ↑ Jacques-Louis Delpal: Merveilles de Champagne. Paris 1993, p. 173; Frédérique Crestin billet: La Veuve Clicquot: La grande dame le la Champagne. Paris 1992, p. 134.
14. ↑ See: Frédérique Crestin-Billet: Veuve Clicquot. La grande dame de la Champagne. Grenoble 1992, p. 91 and Rulf Neigenfind: The two lives of Georg Christian Kessler. The story of a famous stranger. Lane Books, Paris 2009, pp. 79f.
15. ↑ In many publications there is talk of 10,500 bottles, but the consignment note shown on page 81 of Crestin-Billet shows the above Freight amount.
16. ↑ The biography of Rulf Neigenfind by Kessler opens up entirely new aspects of Kessler's social position in Reims, which arose through his marriage to the respected and upper-class cloth and wool dynasty Jobert-Ternaux. See: Rulf Neigenfind: The two lives of Georg Christian Kessler. The story of a famous stranger. Lane Books, Paris 2009, pp. 87-92.
17. ↑ Frédérique Crestin-Billet: La Veuve Clicquot La grande dame de la Champagne. Paris 1992, pp. 88 and 94
18. ↑ Tilar J. Mazzeo: The Widow Clicquot. The Story of a Champagne Empire and the Woman who ruled it. New York 2008, pp. 139f.
19. ↑ See the groundbreaking research by Rulf Neigenfind: The two lives of Georg Christian Kessler. The story of a famous stranger. Lane Books, Paris 2009, pp. 58f.
20. ↑ Frédérique Crestin-Billet: La Veuve Clicquot La grande dame de la Champagne. Paris 1992, pp. 91-94; Robert Tomes: The Champagne Country. New York 1867, p. 87.
21. ↑ To this in detail Rulf Neigenfind: The two lives of Georg Christian Kessler. The story of a famous stranger. Lane Books, Paris 2009, pp. 95ff.
22. ↑ Like Georg Christian Kessler, Heinrich Kessler is one of the forgotten personalities in the history of Württemberg during the restoration period who deserve a modern historical review.
23. ↑ Kunigunde Sophie Ludovika Simanowitz, née Reichenbach: portrait painter, draftsman, miniature painter, student of Nicolas Guibal in Stuttgart and Antoine Vestier in Paris, befriended Christian Friedrich Daniel Schubart , who dedicated several poems to her, and Friedrich von Schiller , whom she and portrayed his family
24. ↑ The painting hung in the founder's hall of the Kessler House until 2005, but was in the possession of the previous owner family. In 2008 it was sold to an unknown buyer abroad via an auction house in Erlangen.
25. ↑ See Ernst Heinrich Kneschke (Ed.): New general German Adels Lexicon . Volume 9, Leipzig 1870, p. 366.
26. ↑ ^{a b c d} Swabian Chronicle. February 12, 1826, p. 77.
27. ^ Correspondence sheet of the Württemberg Agricultural Association. Volume 12, Stuttgart 1827, p. 226
28. ^ Correspondence sheet of the Württemberg Agricultural Association. Volume 12, Stuttgart 1827, p. 336
29. ↑ Swabian Chronicle. February 17, 1826, p. 87.
30. ↑ See: Rulf Neigenfind, The two lives of Georg Christian Kessler. The story of a famous stranger , 2nd edition, Paris 2012, p. 103. The copy of the sales contract dated December 23, 1820 is in the Ludwigsburg State Archives (E 173 III, Bü. 255101).
31. ↑ Research assumes that Riesling originated on the Rhine. From a genetic point of view, Riesling is a cross between the white Heunisch and a descendant of the wild grape of the Vitis silvestris type. See Andreas Jung, Erika Maul: The origin of our autochthonous and international grape varieties. In: Geilweilerhof currently. 33, Issue 1, 2005, pp. 19-26
32. ↑ See also Günther Weiß, Die Deutsche Sektindustrie. Their becoming and essence and the influence of the state on their destinies, Stuttgart 1931, S22; Weekly newspaper for agriculture and housekeeping, trade and commerce. No. 39 of November 11, 1834, quoted by Rulf Neigenfind: The two lives of Georg Christian Kessler. Paris 2009, p. 156.
33. ↑ JP Bachem (Ed.): Rheinische Provinzial-Blätter for all stands. New series, Volume 6, No. 27, Cologne 1839, p. 3
34. ↑ Werner Föll: "More than just champagne ..." Georg Christian Kessler (1787–1842). In: Christhard Schrenk (Ed.): Heilbronner Köpfe III. Pictures of life from three centuries ( small series of publications from the archive of the city of Heilbronn. Volume 48), Weinsberg 2001, p. 155
35. ^ Dieter Mertens: Württemberg. In: Handbook of Baden-Württemberg History. Volume 2, Stuttgart 1995, pp. 142-147
36. ^ Ferdinand Regner, A. Stadlbauer, Cornelia Eisenheld: Heunisch × Fränkisch, an important gene pool of European grape varieties. In: Wine Science. Volume 53, No. 3, 1998, pp. 114-118
37. ↑ The grape variety forms large clusters with thick, large berries that ripen late, are prone to rot and are sensitive to frost. It delivers large yields, the quality of the must and the wines is simple and not very durable. The variety is said to have been imported from Hungary after the Thirty Years' War , whereby it must be taken into account that Hungary was much larger then than it is today and included Slovakia , Croatia and parts of Romania .
38. ↑ See: Christine Krämer: Grape varieties in Württemberg. Origin, introduction, distribution and the quality of the wines from the late Middle Ages to the 19th century (Tübinger Baussteine ​​zur Landesgeschichte 7), Ostfildern 2006, pp. 161f.
39. ^ Johann Philipp Bronner: Viticulture in the Kingdom of Württemberg. Volume 1, Heidelberg 1837, p. 95.
40. ^ Description of the Oberamt Eßlingen. Stuttgart and Tübingen 1845, p. 121.
41. ^ Bronner: Viticulture. Volume 1, p. 196ff.
42. ^ Friedrich von Bassermann-Jordan : History of viticulture. 2 volumes, Frankfurt a. M. 1923, here Volume 1, p. 169
43. ^ Carl Theodor Griesinger : Humorous pictures from Swabia. Heilbronn 1837, p. 266f.
44. ^ Gert Kollmer-von Oheimb-Loup, Georg Christian von Kessler, p. 219.
45. ↑ Swabian Mercury. January 5, 1828; quoted in: JP Bachem (Ed.): Rheinische Provinzial-Blätter for all stands. New series, Volume 5, No. 53, Cologne 1838, p. 29
46. ^ Christian Carl Andé (ed.): Economic news and negotiations. 1827, p. 538, no. 68, § 537: Economic societies
47. ^ Correspondence sheet of the Royal Württemberg Agricultural Association. New series, Volume 6, 1834, p. 59
48. ^ Economic Archives Baden-Württemberg , Stuttgart, inventory Y 267 GC Kessler, No. 179; also cited in: Helmut Arntz: Frühgeschichte des Deutschen Sektes II: First Firmenteil (Writings on Wine History 82), Wiesbaden 1987, p. 12
49. ↑ “In memory of the deceased Geh. Court and Domain Raths H. Rapp dedicated by his bereaved. “Stuttgart undated, contains: the speech at the grave of Oberconsistorial-Rath, city dean Köstlin and an anonymous outline of his life; also: the necrologist von Dannecker in Schwäb. Merkur, Chronik, Jg. 1841, p. 1409 ff. And in the Kunstblatt, 1842, p. 1 ff.
50. ↑ Quoted from Max Rehm: Origin and Change. Guiding principles of the years 1818 to 1945. In: One hundred and fifty years Württembergische Landessparkasse. Stuttgart 1968, p. 24ff.
51. ↑ See also the customer directories in the WA Baden-Württemberg (listed)
52. ↑ WA Hohenheim, Y 267, No. 226
53. ↑ Proof of life data: Michael Klein, The manuscripts of the J 1 collection in the main state archive in Stuttgart (The manuscripts of the state archives in Baden-Württemberg, Volume 1), Wiesbaden 1980, p. 355
54. ↑ Baden-Württemberg Economic Archives , inventory signature Y 267, No. 178
55. ^ New necrology of the Germans. 1844, p. 875.

literature

Kessler label from 1910 for Piccolo bottles with the symbol of the “Great Comet” from 1811.

swell

• Economic Archive Baden-Württemberg, Stuttgart, inventory Y 267 GC Kessler, no. 171; 178; 179; 226.
• Economic Archives Baden-Württemberg, Stuttgart, inventory B 44 Merkel & Kienlin Bü 34, 164, 442, 583, 661, 1268, 1315

Printed sources

• Correspondence sheet of the agricultural association 1822–1842.
• Business friend or art and trade advertiser in the Kingdom of Württemberg. 1st year, 1826
• Swabian Mercury with supplement Swabian Chronicle 1823–1831.

literature

• Helmut Arntz , Winfried Heinen: Sekt. A market leader (= complete works of German wine. Special volume 4). Heinen, Trittenheim 1982, ISBN 3-922369-05-7 , pp. 98-101.
• Helmut Arntz: Early history of the German sparkling wine. Volume 2: 1st part of the company (= publications on wine history. No. 82, ISSN  0302-0967 ). Society for the History of Wine, Wiesbaden 1997, pp. 5–15.
• Otto Borst : The Esslingen Pliensau Bridge. Municipal transport and economic policy from the early Middle Ages to the present (= Esslinger Studien. Schriftenreihe. Vol. 3, ISSN  0425-3086 ). City archive, Esslingen 1971.
• Jacqueline de Caraman Chimay: Madame Veuve Clicquot-Ponsardin. Sa vie, son temps. H. Debar & Cie, Reims 1956.
• Frédérique Crestin billet: Veuve Clicquot. La grande dame de la Champagne. Glénat, Grenoble 1992, ISBN 2-7234-1421-3 .
• Werner Föll: "More than just champagne ..." Georg Christian Kessler (1787–1842). In: Christhard Schrenk (ed.): Heilbronner Köpfe. Volume 3: Pictures of life from three centuries (= small series of publications from the archive of the city of Heilbronn. Volume 48). Stadtarchiv, Heilbronn 2001, ISBN 3-928990-78-0 , pp. 143–156.
• Eberhard Kaiser: Georg Christian von Kessler. In: Diplomatic dispatch. 10/2005, ZDB -ID 2150101-4 , pp. 66-67.
• Gerd Kollmer from Oheimb-Loup: Georg Christian von Kessler. Factory owner and pioneer of the Württemberg industry (1787–1842). In: Life pictures from Baden-Württemberg. Vol. 20, 2001, ISSN  0948-0374 , pp. 207-225.
• Georges Lallemend: Edouard Werlé. Négociant en vins de Champagne. Maire de la Ville de Reims from 1852 to 1868. Député au Corps Législatif (October 31, 1801 - June 6, 1884). Texts d'une conférence donnée à la Societé des Amis du Vieux Reims, le 28 octobre 1953. Société des Amis du Vieux Reims, Reims 1954.
• Gérard Liger-Belair: Uncorked. The Science of Champagne. Princeton University Press, Princeton NJ 2004, ISBN 0-691-11919-8 .
• Tilar J. Mazzeo: The Widow Clicquot. The Story of a Champagne Empire and the Woman who ruled it. Collins, New York NY 2008, ISBN 978-0-06-128856-2 .
• Rulf Neigenfind: The two lives of Georg Christian Kessler. The story of a famous stranger. Lane Books, Paris 2009, ISBN 978-2-9535498-1-2 .
• Georg Christian von Kessler. In: New Nekrolog der Deutschen. Vol. 20, part 2, 1842 (1844), pp. 871-875, no. 317, ( digitized version ).
• Bertold Pfeiffer: The Hoppenlau cemetery in Stuttgart. A homeland security study. New, expanded edition. Kohlhammer, Stuttgart 1912.
• Henrich Tiessen: Industrial development, social change and political movement in a Württemberg factory town in the 19th century. Esslingen 1848–1914 (= Esslinger Studies. Series of publications. Vol. 6). City archive, Esslingen 1982.
• Wilhelm Treue :  Kessler, Georg Christian von. In: New German Biography (NDB). Volume 11, Duncker & Humblot, Berlin 1977, ISBN 3-428-00192-3 , p. 549 ( digitized version ).
• Alain-Marcel-Louis de Vogué: Une maison de vins de Champagne au temps du blocus continental. 1806-1812. 1948 (Paris, Mémoire présenté pour l'obtention du diplôme d'études supérieures d'histoire, June 1948).
• Friedrich-Franz Wauschkuhn: The beginnings of the Württemberg textile industry as part of the state's commercial policy 1806–1848. Hamburg 1974, (Hamburg, University, dissertation, 1975).
• Günther Weiss: From Esslinger Champagne to Kessler Hochgewächs. Chronicle of the Weiss family, the oldest family of sparkling wine experts in Germany. 1835-1985. A chat. Kessler, Esslingen 1985.

Web links

Commons : Georg Christian Kessler  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

• Website of Kessler Sekt GmbH & Co. KG