The history of the winery, which is headquartered in the city of Trier in the German Moselle wine region, goes back to the Romans. The origin of today's wine cellar lies in the old Roman brickwork, which was built around 330 AD and is partly still preserved. The figure of St. James with a walking stick on the label of the estate bottling refers to the St. James Hospital in Trier. There, pilgrims already found a hostel in the Middle Ages on their pilgrimage to Santiago de Compostela. Later, the hospital offered a refuge to the poor and infirm. In 1464, one of the accounts books of the St. Jakob Hospital documents the cultivation of Riesling. In the course of secularisation under Napoleon (1769-1821), the United Hospitals were established in Trier in 1805 as a foundation and settled in the area of the former Benedictine abbey of St. Irminen. To this day, the foundation's mission is to care for sick and handicapped people, as in the famous Hospices de Beaune, financed from a vineyard estate and other estates.
The vineyards comprise 25 hectares of vineyards in the individual sites Altenberg (Kanzem), Augenscheiner in exclusive possession (Trier), Goldtröpfchen and Schubertslay (Piesport), Hölle in exclusive possession, Kupp and Scharzhofberg (Wiltingen), and Schloss Saarfelser Schlossberg (Serrig) in exclusive possession. They are 90% Riesling, the small remainder with the varietiesPinot Gris, PinotNoir and PinotBlanc. We practice close-to-nature, environmentally friendly viticulture according to ecological criteria with greening and the use of natural fertilizers. The grapes, which are selectively harvested after strict yield limitation, are gently pressed. The top qualities are vinified separately according to location. Fine spirits (fruit, yeast, marc) and bottle-fermented Riesling sparkling wines are also produced. The winery is a member of the VDP.