Europe’s oldest family-owned business is a winemaker.
We don’t know exactly when they began. But Château de Goulaine in the Loire Valley has been making wine for more than a thousand years. The family produce classic wines like Muscadet, Sancerre, and Vouvray. But they are also innovators. Today the estate makes what is believed to be the first commercial Chardonnay in the western Loire Valley.
Château de Goulaine captures the three pillars of family wine businesses: legacy, consistency, and vision.
It is no surprise that vine-growing works best in family ownership. The lifespan of a vineyard spans at the very least one working lifetime. More likely two. While the reputation of premium vineyards builds up over many generations. Each one leaving a legacy to the next.
And this means premium wine making benefits from “the long view”. Great harvests are balanced by tough ones. Creating a business of generational returns, not quarterly results and guaranteed dividends. It needs consistency of vision and commitment to quality
Which means in turn that winery owners must invest not for themselves, but for the future. For their own legacy. Ensuring future generations benefit in the same way they did. That means being open to innovation. Like planting Chardonnay in the western Loire to adapt to a changing climate.
These qualities of family-owned wine businesses mean they need partners who understand them. Partners who understand their distinctive motivations and outlook. And partners who build the services and support that will ensure they thrive for another… ten, hundred, even a thousand years.
Staffelter Hof in Germany is the world’s oldest winery. It’s also the world’s sixth oldest company. Staffelter Hof was founded as a monastery in 862 A.D. While the monks planted its first vineyards on the Mosel river, the Vikings were capturing Cologne.
Staffelter Hof endured for almost a thousand years because those monks were inspired by God. But for the last seven generations it has been run by people driven by something perhaps even more fundamental. The power of family.
Jan Matthias Klein, the current winemaker, took over from his father Gerd in 2005. Jan Matthias maintains the legacy of this one thousand one hundred and sixty year old vineyard. And applies the consistent attention to detail and commitment that winemaking on the Mosel river needs. But he also innovates. He’s planting experimental PiWi grape varieties adapted to changing vineyard conditions. He’s working with new (and ancient) techniques in low-intervention winemaking. And he’s innovating with branding too. One of his most celebrated wines is a Riesling blend, that features no vintage and a name you might not expect to see emblazoned on a bottle of wine.
When we think of family-run wineries we often look to their past. But imagine if you were asked to predict the premium wines people will be drinking in another thousand years. The list should include Staffelter Hof and Château de Goulaine.
