Peter Mertes KG was founded in 1924 by the winery owner and master winemaker Peter Mertes in Minheim on the Middle Moselle(Rhineland-Palatinate) and has had its headquarters in Bernkastel-Kues since 1969. Initially, the company is engaged in the production and distribution of Moselle wine from the famous wine villages between Piesport and Bernkastel. In the 1950s, Dr. Gustav Willkomm and his wife Edith Willkomm née Mertes took over the family business of their late father and expanded the company's activities to include well-known wine villages on the Rhine such as Bingen, Nierstein and Oppenheim, followed a little later by the Palatinate. In the 1960s, the product range was expanded to include wines from the Rheingau and Nahe regions. As the product range grew, so did the customer base and sales markets, making it necessary to expand the buildings. For this reason, the company headquarters was moved from Minheim to Bernkastel-Kues in 1969.
In the course of the 1970s and 1980s various wine cellars, bottling plants and modern, air-conditioned warehouses were built, including the "Rotwild-Keller" - Germany's largest barrique cellar. In a slate vaulted cellar dating from the 19th century and measuring 240 metres in length, red wines from German growing regions are matured here in more than 1,500 barrique barrels. In addition, the company also owns highly respected wineries in the best locations. In the Wilhelminian period, the enjoyment of wine was a privilege of the upper class. Peter Mertes' vision of appealing to broad sections of the population with selected wines of the best quality still exists today and is the basis of the company's orientation.
In recent years, the sales market in the Eastern European and Asian countries has been successfully expanded, especially with German quality wines. With several hundred employees at various locations, oenologists, cellar masters, viticultural engineers, sales and marketing specialists, the company offers wine lovers a wide range of first-class wines from many countries worldwide. Cellar management and bottling have been certified according to all important standards for years. These include ISO 9002, BRC (British Retail Consortium) and IFS (International Featured Standards). All processes are accompanied by a systematic quality management, the control is carried out by a constantly developing HACCP system.
Well-known umbrella brand assortments are marketed through food retailers in their various forms of distribution. These include wines produced in cooperation with Feinkost Käfer, the Bree range, red and white wines from the Turmfalke range and Riesling wines from Villa Sittmann. In addition to the assortments from Germany, in recent years, those from Austria, Italy, Spain and overseas such as Australia, Chile, California and South Africa have been created. Mainly for export, the company offers many variations of the well-known Rhine wine Liebfraumilch. The assortment Nachtgold includes various types of Eiswein, Beerenauslese and Trockenbeerenauslese. Fixed contracts with winegrowers, producer communities and wineries provide a basis for the annual recording of the harvest quantities, which are then developed and marketed by the winery. Peter Mertes is one of the most important marketers of wines made from grapes from organic viticulture, especially from the Moselle and Rhine growing regions. As a member of ECOVIN, the winery is regularly certified in a mandatory organic audit.
The company is also active as a sponsor: since 1985 the Peter Mertes Scholarship has been awarded to young artists in cooperation with the Bonner Kunstverein. The company also supports the rehabilitation of alcoholics in the region by inaugurating the "Haus der Hilfe" in Bernkastel-Kues in 2001. This is a privately run facility for alcoholics and homeless people, which offers its residents protection and supports them in leading an independent life again in the long term.
