Ludwig Neuhaus - History
1924 - A small winery is set up in the village of Minheim near Piesport on the Mosel by a winegrower, Peter Mertes.1947 - A new facility is built in Minheim with a capacity of 1 million litres. At this time most business is conducted with on-trade accounits in the Rhine area.
1952 - After the death of the founder, the running of the company is taken over by the daughter Edith Mertes and her husband, Dr. Willkomm.
1954 - The Dr. Willkomm estate is founded with the purchase of 6 ha of vineyards near Trier.
1960 - The decision is taken to concentrate marketing activities on the self - service retailing segment of the market. The major steps that are taken being:
- The introduction of a range of wines from the Rheinpfalz and Rheinhessen areas to complement the existing selection of wines from the Mosel.
- The inauguration of a system of regular product listings with a price uarantee for 6 to 12 months replacing the traditional quantity contracts.
- The use of industry - trained wine consultants to promote sales at point of sale
- a < first > in the wine trade.
1965 - Enlargement of the facilities in Minheim to enable the storage of 2 million litres of wine. Bottling capacity now 20.000 bottles per day.
1969 - The rapidly increasing demand for wines from Peter Mertes makes it necessary to build an entirely new winery in Bernkastel - Kues. Storage capacity 2 million litres and a bottling capacity 100.000 bottles per day
1974 - The winery proves to be too small and further tank storage capacity is built.
1977 - A second expansion programme becomes necessary providing even more tank storage capacity and warehousing with an operational area of 30.000 m2 ( 270.000 ft2 ). Storage capacity now 20 million litres and warehousing facilities for 10 million bottles
1978 - Peter Mertes begins exporting wines to the retail trade in Denmark, Great Britain and the Netherland.
1985 - Peter Mertes starts production on Europe’s fastest bottling line for 1 litre bottles with an output of 25.000 bottles per hour. Bottling capacity now 300.000 bottles per day.
1986 - A Tetra filling machine is installed with an hourly capacity of 6.000 units. Then, with a new, fully - automated filling line for 3 litre Bag - in - Box destined for the UK market, Peter Mertes becomes Germany’s leading producer of such packaging.
1987 - The Dr. Willkomm estate designates 4 ha ( 10 acres ) of vineyards to the production of organic wines.
1988 - The first step is taken towards protection of the environment when a fully automated waste water clarifying plant is installed.
1989 - The new Quality Control Centre is opened with a state - of - the - art analytical laboratory. Tank storage capacity now 30 million litres. The Dr. Willkomm estate is now one of the largest on the Mosel with 28 ha ( 70 acres ) mainly in the best sites of Bernkastel, Graach, Zeltingen and Wehlen.
1990 - Sophisticated bottling equipment is installed capable of bottling 27.000 bottles per hour bringing the total bottling capacity up to 52.000 per hour or 420.000 per day.
1991 - The existing waste water clarification plant is converted to a bio-degradable system and awarded the title of a pilot project for the wine trade by the Minister for the Environment. Work begins on new warehousing capable of handling 25.000 pallets of finished goods. Peter Mertes installs a 10 litre Bag - in - Box filling line to produce Amphora units for the on - trade and the wine trade.
1992 - Peter Mertes is awarded the licence to market the Käfer selection of fine wines (renowned delicatessen ).
1993 - Peter Mertes obtains the sole brand and marketing rights for the Sittmann, Demmer and Leoff range of wines. A contract is signed with Weingut Georgshof with a view to intensifying the co-operation between the two companies.
1994 - The new warehouse and tank cellars are officially opened. Connected by a computerised overhead gantry system, all loading and in - plant movement of goods is now almost fully automated. Peter Mertes initiates the ISO 9002 quality control and quality assurance certification process.
1995 - Peter Mertes forms a joint-venture with Gustav Adolf Schmitt, Nierstein, one of the oldest and most respected wineries in Germany. A brand-new 1.5 liter, automatic bottling line is installed with a capacity of 50.000 botttles per shift.
1996 - At a cost of DM 6 million, a state-of-the-art palletising system is installed, automatically linking all the bottling lines to the warehouse. An in-house logistics company is founded to coordinate national distribution. Peter Mertes installs a fourth, multi-functional bottling line with a capacity of 80.000 bottles per shift, mainly for the export trade. This line is designed to bottle, seal and package a wide range of bottle shapes sizes with both still wines as well as sparkling and semi-sparkling products. Peter Mertes is awarded the ISO 9002 certificate for management quality.
1997 - A further 10 million litres of bulk wine storage capacity in stainless steel tanks is installed bringing the total capacity up to 40 million litres. This additional capacity is below ground level so that grape must can now be fermented at ideal temperatures. In response to consumer demand for red wines, the Peter Mertes buying team extends its activities to the New World. A wide range of top quality wines imported in bulk from Chile, California, South Africa and the Argentine finds immediate acceptance resulting in sales of 4 million bottles by the end of 1997. The wine market in Russia starts to boom. Peter Mertes quickly establishes itself as the number 1 exporter supplying its two main importers in Moscow and St. Petersburg with more than 8 million bottles of wine. The leading European retailers make massive investments in the young Polish market. To be prepared for the the sophisticated requirements of such customers, Peter Mertes Poland is founded. Within 12 months Peter Mertes Poland has become the largest supplier of German wines to Poland.
1998 - The scale and variety of Peter Mertes activities both at home and abroad necessitate the setting up of a Product Development Department. Using state-of-the-art computer design techniques Peter Mertes is now in a position to develop new brands, labels and packaging both independantly as well as cooperatively with customers’ own design and
product development teams. In the meantime more than 50 different bottle shapes and sizes are in use to satisfy the demands of both traditional as well as new markets. A new company is set up to deal exclusively with the growing market for wines in Bag-in-Box. The I.T. department experiences a major face-lift, PC network systems working both with the mainframe AS 400 data bank as well as the Internet put Peter Mertes in a position to communicate with customers not only more rapidly but also within the framework of ECR systems. Peter Mertes installs two new TBA8 lines together with a new 1.0 l line and a unique 75cl line and can now package wine in Slimline Tetrapacks with Pulltab and Recap. The warehousing facilities are modernised and can now store Tetra -packs automatically in 1,200 new pallet sites.
1999 - Distribution contracts with Canandaigua (USA) and Cowra Estate (Australia) lead to the first significant import of bottled wines and it becomes necessary to expand the goods-in reception area. Peter Mertes embarks on a joint-venture project in Hungary and "Peter Mertes Hungaria" is established in Budapest. Initially concentrating on the production, bottling and distribution of Hungarian wines on the Hungarian market the first plans are also made for exporting such wines to Eastern Europe and Germany. 1999 also sees the sales department move into new, 600m2 , state-of-the-art premises. The marketing department now comprises 3 specialists including a graphic designer. Development work concentrates on new wines for the Millenium celebrations.
2000 - Under the supervision of the State Oenological Research Station in Oppenheim, a unique style of cooperation with wine-growers is inaugurated. The scientists at the Research Station set down rules for the production of an exclusive, new style of wine and Peter Mertes guarantees a set price for the growers. In the autumn of 2000, the first 600,000 l are harvested and cool-fermented. The Marketing Department indicates the need for new labelling ideas. As a result, bottling line 4 is expanded to incorporate a six-headed labelling unit capable of applying any format of self-adhesive label. In addition to this, a new capsuler is installed to be able to process metal capsules. A new Tetra line comes on stream increasing the total output of Tetras by 9,000 units per hour. This new line can be easily re-tooled to also fill 1.5l Tetras. Peter Mertes is now in a position of offering 5 different shapes of soft packaging which together with the increased total production capacity guarantees a continuous supply chain for the market.
2001 - Peter Mertes installs another now fifth, multi-functional bottling line with a capacity of 80.000 bottles per shift. This line is designed to bottle, seal and package a wide range of bottle shapes sizes with both still wines as well as sparkling and semi-sparkling products.
2002 - Peter Mertes is awarded the BRC certificate for production quality.
In 1924 the owner of a winery and master winemaker Peter Mertes founded the company in the little village of Minheim on the Mosel. His intention was to go beyond pure wine growing, which had been a documented tradition in the Mertes family for more than 400 years. Peter Mertes had a clear goal. He wanted to deliver his wines directly to his customers. The basis for the blossoming business was an extensive vineyard area between the well-known wine villages Bernkastel and Piesport on the Mosel. In the 1950s, his son-in-law, Dr. Gustav Willkomm, began to operate in the famous wine villages on the Rhine (Nierstein, Oppenheim, Bingen and Mainz) and a little later in the Pfalz. In the 1960s, the assortment increased to include wines from the Rheingau and the Nahe. With this assortment the customer base as well as the sales markets grew, and today you can find wine from Peter Mertes in all parts of Germany and many export markets. Besides the vineyards on the Mosel that continued to increase, wine cellars, bottle facilities and modern climate-controlled warehouses emerged during the 1970s and 80s. Nowadays, the company owns Germany’s largest barrel cellar specifically for German red wine as well as prestigious wineries with premium vineyard locations. At the time of the winery’s founding the enjoyment of wine was a privilege reserved for only the top layers of society. Peter Mertes’ vision was to appeal to the broader population with selected well cultivated wines of the best quality. This vision remains today and is the basis for the company’s philosophy. In the last few years, the sales markets in Eastern European and Asian countries have been successfully increased especially in terms of German “Qualität” wines. Today, with several hundred employees in various locations, enologists, cellar masters, vineyard engineers, sales and marketing specialists, Peter Mertes offers a broad assortment for wine lovers both within Germany and throughout the world. Since 1996 the company headquarters has been located in the famous wine city of Bernkastel-Kues on the Mosel.
