Buhl Franz Eberhard

The German wine-growing estate owner and Imperial Councillor Franz Eberhard Ritter von Buhl (1867-1921) came from a distinguished family of winegrowers in the Palatinate and studied law and economics. After the death of his father Franz Armand Buhl (1837-1896) he took over the "Peter Heinrich Jordan Erben" winery. After his marriage, in 1909, he combined the inheritance with the land he had married into one of the largest privately owned German wineries and later named it Reichsrat von Buhl after the title he received in 1912, "Reichsrat der bayrischen Kammer". Buhl made special efforts to control vine pests and further develop viticulture. Already his father Armand Buhl had enforced a law in 1873 against the import of foreign vines in the fight against phylloxera and mildew. In France, Franz Eberhard Buhl had vine grafting trials with German grape varieties carried out for years. He was a co-founder of the Palatinate Commission for the Control of Vine Pests and the Palatinate Wine Growers' Association. He was also the founder of the DWV (Deutscher Weinbauverband), its president from 1905 to 1920 and then honorary president. Furthermore, he held many positions in national (e.g. as committee member of the DLG) and international viticultural institutions and as president of numerous congresses.