The headquarters of today's "Rotkäppchen-Mumm Sektkellereien GmbH" is located in the town of Freyburg in the German wine-growing region of Saale-Unstrut. The origin lies in 1856, when a wine shop was founded by the brothers Moritz (+1863) and Julius Kloss (+1890) and their friend Carl Foerster (+1888). One year later they took a share in the "Freyburger Champagner-Fabrik-Gesellschaft". From 1861, a sparkling wine was produced under the brand name "Monopol". But already in 1862 the company had to be liquidated. Most of the estate was acquired in 1866 by the "Kloss & Foerster" sparkling wine producer with the three gentlemen mentioned above as partners. Business was now going better and better, so that musts and wines were bought from the Moselle, Main and Rhine, and later even from Champagne. The French champagne company Heidsieck Monopole successfully protested against the brand name in 1894. Kloss & Foerster were no longer allowed to use "Monopol" and introduced the name "Rotkäppchen" (at that time still with an "h") after the red bottle cap and the still permitted name "Champagner" on the label. In 1891, the five-storey "Großer Keller" and a new office and reception building were built, which still form the heart of the sparkling wine house in Freyburg today.
In 1896, the completion of a giant barrel with a volume of 120,000 litres of wine, built in the in-house cooperage from the wood of 25 oak trees, was celebrated. In 1903, on the occasion of an "imperial manoeuvre" held near Freyburg, Kaiser Wilhelm II (1859-1941) praised the wholesomeness of the sparkling wine and boasted that he had introduced Rotkäppchen sparkling wines to many German officers' messes while still Crown Prince. A year earlier, the Kaiser had introduced the tax on sparkling wine to finance the imperial fleet. In 1906, the 50th anniversary was celebrated. In the following decades there were ups and downs in business, but the company also survived the world economic crisis in 1929 and the two world wars. In 1948, the company was expropriated and became "national property". The founder's grandson Günter Kloss went to the West and founded the "Sektkellerei Kloss & Foerster" in Rüdesheim in 1952. The now "VEB Rotkäppchen Sektkellerei Freyburg" became a model GDR company. Innovative products such as "Mocca-Sekt" and "Sekt-Pils" were created and 38 sparkling wine brands were produced in the 1980s. After the reunification of Germany in 1989, West German competition led to a sales crisis, and turnover dropped to a tenth.
In 1993, after long preparations, the company was privatised through a management buy-out. Sixty percent of the shares went to the managing director Gunter Heise and other members of the management. Forty percent of the shares were held by the traditional West German company Eckes-Chantré. After that, a new success story began for the brand. Sales increase rapidly and the company expands. In 2001, the German sparkling wine division was bought by the multinational Seagram and the three brands Mumm (German company, not to be confused with the French one of the same name), Jules-Mumm and MM (Matheus Müller) were also acquired. Since then, the company has been trading as "Rotkäppchen-Mumm Sektkellereien GmbH", while the ownership structure has remained the same. In that year, Rotkäppchen became the best-selling sparkling wine brand in Germany. Finally, in 2003, the "Privatsektkellerei Geldermann" was also taken over (see Deutz).
To crown it all, in 2005 they returned to their roots with the purchase of the sparkling wine brand "Kloss & Foerster". This created Germany's largest sparkling wine house with over a quarter of the market share. More than 300 employees work to produce sparkling wine at the four traditional locations in Breisach, Eltville, Freyburg and Hochheim. Since 2000, Rotkäppchen sparkling wine has also been produced in China under the brand name "Xiao Hong Mao" ("little red cap") in two flavours. With the Rotkäppchen quality wines introduced in 2006 and the Collection de Chantré acquired in 2007, the company entered the wine segment. The same year also saw the takeover of the West German company Eckes-Spirituosen- und Wein GmbH. Finally, in 2009, the well-known branded wine line Blanchet was purchased from the Racke company. This made the company a leading European beverage group. In that year, 157 million bottles of sparkling wine were marketed (the main share being Rotkäppchen with almost 100 million). See also under largest wine companies in the world.
Cellar: By Lumu (talk) - Own work, CC BY-SA 3.0, Link
Barrel: By Je-str - Own work, CC BY 3.0, Link
Bottle: By SPBer - Own work, CC BY-SA 3.0, Link