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About Us

The house from which today's winery was created
The house from which today's winery was created

At the beginning of the 17th century, the Sauerweins were first mentioned in a document on the upper Moselle. At that time they came from Natters in Tyrol.

Over the generations, some wine was always grown, together with agriculture and additional income from the railways, crafts and administration. Matthias Sauerwein, grandfather of Erwin Sauerwein, was mayor of Palzem after 1945. He also founded today's winery location in 1924, now a large building surrounded by vineyards.

Edith and Erwin Sauerwein laid the foundation for today's winery with their children Matthias, Tobias, Timo and Andreas. After the early death of Erwin in 2016, the sons Matthias and Timo continue to run the winery.

From 2003 to 2018 the company ran under the name Winery Sonenbuerg. 2019 we went back to our family name – which is somewhat idiosyncratic for winegrowers. Because we are the Sauerweins, which translates to dry wine.

Tradition in Harmony with modern Innovation

Matthias and Timo, who grew up on the winery, both studied viticulture and oenology in Geisenheim. After gaining experience in renowned wineries in Germany, France, Austria and New Zealand, they now run the winery with fresh ideas.

Edith, the mother of Matthias, Tobias, Timo and Andreas, is the backbone of the family.

As a primary school teacher, Judith, Matthias' wife, is less involved in day-to-day business. However, she is always happy to support Matthias with her enthusiasm for wine. And the next generation is already growing up: Theodor and Johanna explore the winery, taste the grapes and enthusiastically drive the tractor with their dad.

Family Sauerwein

It's easy to forget, but there's a lot of work in a glass of wine that we wouldn't be able to do without our dedicated employees. At work in the vineyard, in the cellar, in the warehouse, in sales, in the office, in the guest house… a motivated team supports us.

The Sauerwein family and employees enjoy their lunch in the vineyards
Christian du Toit-Schmidt

Christian du Toit-Schmidt and Hans Lamberti bring their wine expertise to our sales department. Christian studied art history before switching to wine. He has been in charge of most of our tasting events for a long time.

Hans was one of our first customers, he was already selling our wines in his grocery store in the 1980s. Now he looks after our trading customers and resellers.

As a trained winemaker, Bastian Groschke actively supports us in the cellar and vineyard.

Winary

Timo carries two full buckets of grapes from the vineyard

On almost 20 km along the Moselle, from Nennig to Rehlingen, we plant white and red grape varieties, including more than 20% of the Elbling, the oldest German vine. True to our motto “Pure Diversity”, there are now 20 different grape varieties (Auxerrois, Cabernet Cortis, Chardonnay, Dornfelder, Dunkelfelder, Elbling, Gewürztraminer, Pinot Gris, Kerner, Ortega, Regent, Riesling, Rivaner, Red Riesling, Sankt Laurent, Schwarzriesling, Solaris , Pinot Noir, Syrah and Pinot Blanc).

The variety of grape varieties reflects the diversity of our region. Our soil in Palzem near the Moselle consists of shell limestone. They are offshoots of the Paris Basin. They heat up quickly, are permeable and particularly well suited for Elbling and the Burgundy varieties.

1/3 of our vineyards are steep slopes – that means a lot of manual work: from pruning in winter to leaf care, defoliation, and halving of the grapes in summer to hand-picking in autumn.

shell limestone
Matthias draws a sample from a barrique barrel

Our white wines are fermented in stainless steel or wooden barrels. After mash fermentation, the red wines mature in small barriques for 1–2 years.


Matthias and Timo inspect a grape
A lizard

In Harmony with Nature


It is natural for us to protect and preserve the sensitive nature.