WINZERGENOSSENSCHAFT AHRWEILER WINZER-VEREIN E.G.
The Management Board, Supervisory Board and employees of our winegrowers' cooperative introduce themselves
Tradition became community. When the Ahrweiler Winegrowers' Association was founded in 1874, individual winegrowers joined together to form a cooperative in order to market their wines jointly. Joint winemaking was soon added so that more time could be invested in winemaking. The historic cooperative with a family atmosphere has developed into an important wine-growing business in the Ahr Valley with around 78 members.
The Romans already appreciated the Ahr as a wine-growing area, as this region is still considered Germany's "red wine paradise" today. Our cooperative is located in the heart of the romantic Ahr Valley. Here in Ahrweiler, the red wine metropolis with more than 1100 years of town history, we are only about 150 meters from the Obertor, the western part of the medieval town wall, very close to the Roman villa and the "government bunker".
The 85 percent red grapes that we process include grape varieties such as Pinot Noir, Frühburgunder, Portugieser and Dornfelder, while Müller-Thurgau, Riesling and other white grape varieties make up the remaining 15 percent. In addition to our wines, we also produce sparkling wine, fine distillates and grape juices.
Review
We present a selection of important events from the first 150 years of our winegrowers' cooperative.
1874
FOUNDATION OF AHRWEILER
WINZER-VEREIN E.G.
Foundation of the Ahrweiler Winegrowers' Association with 51 comrades. The first president was Franz Heinrich Mies. The young winegrowers' association focused on red wine and relied on wine travelers and local wine merchants for distribution.
1875
CONSTRUCTION OF THE FIRST BUILDINGS
Two wine cellars, a shed and the restaurant building will be built on the site of the former chewing tower.
1883
FOUNDATION OF THE AHRWEILER WINEGROWERS' ASSOCIATION
The newly founded winegrowers' association found its home near the Adenbach Gate. Today there is a modern hotel here.
1888
BURNING RIGHT
The Ahrweiler Winzer-Verein receives distilling rights. To this day, the winegrowers use the distillery to distil excellent spirits from yeast and marc.
1961
MERGER
Ahrweiler Winzer-Verein and Ahrweiler Weinbauverein merged to form Ahrweiler Winzer-Verein e.G. The two cooperatives in Ahrweiler merged.
1971
TAKEOVER BID
The Ahrweiler, Altenahr and Walporzheim winegrowers' associations are to merge with the Dernau winegrowers' cooperative under the umbrella of the Ahrtalkellerei. The initiator is District Administrator Korbach. The winegrowers' associations are fighting back.
1975 - 1980
HARDEST TIME
of the Ahrweiler Winzer-Verein. No leadership. Significant loss of members.
1984
A NEW BEGINNING
Young employees take over the management of the cooperative. The business was restructured. In the following years, conversion to modern cellar technology and a lot of renovation work on the building.
2014
140 YEAR CELEBRATION
The Ahrweiler Winzer-Verein looks back on 140 years of history with a big celebration. Inauguration of the redesigned "small tasting room", the "Turmkeller".
2021
Flood in the Ahr valley
The buildings and vaulted cellars of the Ahrweiler Winzer-Verein are hit by the flood wave in the night from July 14 to 15, 2021.
First helpers arrive
The first helpers arrive at the cooperative's farm in the first few days after the flood. In the days that followed, we received more and more help.
2024
150 YEARS OF AHRWEILER
WINZER-VEREIN E.G.
Our winegrowers' association celebrates its 150th anniversary. The Ahrwein Forum is being renovated and is ready for the anniversary celebrations.
WOULD YOU LIKE TO TASTE LONG TRADITION AND THE HIGHEST QUALITY?
Take part in a wine tasting and get to know the fine wines of our winegrowers' cooperative.
The principle of origin
Our wines in new splendor
With the development of our new wine lines, we have set ourselves the goal of emphasizing the origin of our wines through their visual characteristics. The abbreviation "AW" serves as a symbol for the origin of our wines, so that people throughout Germany associate them with the Ahr Valley and Ahrweiler. As our home, the Ahr Valley, and the cultural landscape there are particularly close to our hearts, we would like to present our wines according to the principle of origin. With our Ahr, local and site wines, we present wines from different origins and thus also different quality levels.
BOARD OF DIRECTORS, SUPERVISORY BOARD AND EMPLOYEES OF AHRWEILER WINZER-VEREIN E.G.
The team behind the winegrowers' cooperative
Stephan Esser
Managing Director
Johannes Kastenholz
Head of viticulture
Ulrike Simons
Administration
Supervisory Board & Executive Board
Florian Schreier
Cellar master
Alexander Müller
Operations manager
WINEMAKERS OF THE AHRWEILER WINZER-VEREIN E.G.
Our winegrowing families and members
For 150 years, the Ahrweiler Winzer-Verein e.G. has been located in Walporzheimer Straße, directly in front of the historic upper gate of the old town of Ahrweiler. With just under 20 hectares of vineyards, we are the smallest of the three winegrowers' cooperatives on the Ahr and currently have 79 members.
Winegrower family Hewel
Horst Wershoven
Lukas Schmitz
Appel winegrowing family
Florian Schreier
The Müller winemaking family
Our 25 winegrowing families cultivate their vineyards around Ahrweiler with passion and dedication, often together with family and friends. The grapes are selectively harvested by hand in the fall, which ensures the high quality of our wines. Through established quality programs, we control the yields and constantly improve the quality of the grapes.
The Körtgen winemaking family
Herbert Ley
Rainer Schäfer
Johannes Mies
Bünnagel winemaking family
Münire Beu
Our wines not only reflect excellent quality, but also their origin. Inspired by top wineries, we divide our wines into Ahr, local and site wines in order to bring the unique characteristics of the special sites of our winegrowing families to life.
