From St. Aldegund to Zell: 160 years of family history on the Moselle
The roots of the winery date back to 1860, when Peter Josef Drathen founded a winery in St. Aldegund on the Moselle — the family had its origins in the Netherlands and had come to the river via Linz am Rhein. After an inheritance division, the company was re-registered under the name Josef Drathen in 1927. When Josef Drathen died in 1939, his wife Else and her niece Grete Gesthüsen with her husband Hugo took over the business and continued to run the winery until 1969. The next generation — Arthur and Dieter Gesthüsen as well as Josef Zirwes — drove modernization and growth. In 1992, the old facility was no longer sufficient: The family built a new, high-performance winery in the Zell-Barl industrial area and moved the headquarters there. Since 1996, Tim Gesthüsen and Jürgen Zirwes have led the company in the fifth generation; since 2016, Tim Gesthüsen and Denis Jablonski have shared the management.
Solid winemaker partnerships, cold fermentation, modern craftsmanship
The winery building is located above the Moselle on the Barl near Zell — in the middle of the wine-growing region, which is known between Trier and Koblenz for its slate-dominated steep slopes. Zell itself stands for the famous vineyard site "Zeller Schwarze Katz". Instead of its own vineyards, Drathen relies on fixed winemaker contracts: The freshly pressed must is delivered to the winery immediately after the harvest, where experienced cellar masters process it gently. The central process here is cold fermentation, which ensures freshness, purity, and varietal typicity in the glass. Several fully automatic bottling lines — equipped with control systems that have been successively expanded since 2013 — enable precise processing on a large scale without giving up artisanal care.
Mosel Riesling, vintage sparkling wine, and a remarkable range breadth
More than half of the portfolio consists of German quality wines — with a focus on Mosel-Saar-Ruwer, supplemented by wines from Rheinhessen, Nahe, Pfalz, and Franken. Classic Mosel grape varieties such as Riesling and Müller-Thurgau form the heart; in addition, there are red wines such as Dornfelder as well as international wines from other European wine-growing regions. In the sparkling wine sector, the range extends from cuvée-based classics in dry, semi-dry, and mild to varietal vintage sparkling wines — including the Schloss Koblenz vintage sparkling wine in dry and semi-dry, which is based on cold-fermented base wine and is characterized by fine perlage as well as fruit-fresh aromatics. In addition, there are semi-sparkling wines, mulled wine specialties, and non-alcoholic alternatives. The range is supplemented by an expanded own-brand program: Drathen develops and fills customer-specific brands and special bottlings — a business area that positions the winery as a proven specialist for private labels in the German market.
