Von Hovel Oberemmeler Hutte Kabinett 2000

The Hövel winery, formerly Grach winery, whose origins of viticulture can be traced back to the Celtic times, has been family-owned for over 200 years. In 1803 the Trier merchant Johann Emmerich Grach laid the foundation stone for today's winery.

On December 6, 1803, as part of the secularization under Napoleon Bonaparte, Grach acquired half of the vineyards of the Trier Imperial Abbey of St. Maximin in Oberemmel with vineyards, farmland and meadows. Grach's son, Johann Georg Grach inherited this Maximinerhofgut. His granddaughter married the royal forester Balduin von Hövel in 1902, who continued the business and gave it its current name. Eberhard von Kunow, Balduin von Hövel's great-grandson, took over the winery from his parents Irmgard and Friedrich von Kunow, who had bought it from a community of heirs in the 1950s.

Since 2010 the great, great, great grandson of Johann Emmerich Grach, Maximilian von Kunow, has been running the renowned VDP winery in the 7th generation.

Konz could be seen as a quaint, sleepy valley village in the Saar, surrounded by rolling vineyard hills, pastures and small houses with one modest church steeple–though it is anything but old-fashioned when Max von Kunow is around. Since assuming the estate in 2010, Max has nearly doubled von Hövel’s vineyard holdings, converted the estate to organic practices (including an intensive compost program) and he is in the process of transforming not only the viticulture, but also the style of the wines.