History

The Drathen winery has been in family possession for over 100 years whose forefathers originated from the Netherlands making their way to the Moselle via Linz on the Rhine River. The Peter Josef Drathen winery was founded in 1860 with its home in St. Aldegund and was renamed in 1927 as the Josef Drathen winery through settlement of the estate. On the death of the founder Josef Drathen in 1939 the winery was run by his widow Else, her niece Grete Gesthüsen with her husband Hugo until 1969. On 1 July 1969 the next generation represented by Arthur Gesthüsen, Dieter Gesthüsen and Josef Zirwes took over and successfully ran the business for about 30 years. By using careful business policies it was possible to open a completely new and modern winemaking facility in the business park on Zell-Barl in 1993. Between 1996 and 2016 the management of the business has been in the hands of the younger generation of the family represented by Tim Gesthüsen and Jürgen Zirwes. In 2016 Denis Jablonski took over the operational management position from Jürgen Zirwes.

Josef Drathen
Jürgen Zirwes
Tim Gesthüsen
1860 Founding of the Peter Josef Drathen Winery
1939-1969 Management by Grete and Hugo Gesthüsen
1969-1996 Management by Arthur Gesthüsen, Dieter Gesthüsen and Josef Zirwes
1996-2016 Management by Jürgen Zirwes and Tim Gesthüsen
2016 - Management by Tim Gesthüsen and Denis Jablonski

Headquarters in times of change

The photo dating from the year 1904/1905 shows the winemaking building of the Peter Josef Drathen company in St. Aldegund. In the foreground a large number of wine casks can be seen as these were used in those days, as they are partially today, to allow the wine to mature.

The original building was significantly enlarged through conversions and extensions in 1975 and 1983. The capacities created at the headquarters in St. Aldegund sufficed during the successful company expansion until 1991.

In order to meet the requirements of the continually growing customer base at home and abroad it was then decided to go ahead with a new company building at a new location: In 1992 the winery found its new home in Zell on the Barl hilltop business park.