Weingut Maximin Grünhaus

Living Riesling History

Grünhaus seems to have been settled during Roman times. Roman foundations of a villa rustica, a countryside villa, can be traced here, including various remnants, such as clay pottery and bricks.

The first documented reference to Grünhaus was in 966, when Otto I, Holy Roman Emperor, confirmed a gift, dating back to the seventh century, from Frankish King Dagobert I. Back then, Dagobert gave the property to the Benedictine monastery of St. Maximin in Trier.

The monks of the fourth-century Abbey of St. Maximin—whose original portal still stands in Trier’s Maximinstrasse—ran the property till 1802. After the secularization under Napoleon, it was in French administrative hands until 1810, before being sold to Friedrich von Handel, a baron who gave it over to Friedrich von Solemacher, his grandson, 40 years later.

In 1882, Carl Ferdinand Freiherr von Stumm-Halberg bought and modernized the manor with its winery, farm, and woodlands at Grünhaus. He invested in hydraulic presses for the press house, and even built rails for small locomotives and a cable car from the farm to the vineyards.

Von Stumm-Halberg’s son died at an early age, so his eldest daughter, Ida Louise Henriette, who married the Prussian officer Conrad von Schubert, received as part of her dowry the Grünhaus property.

Since 1882, Maximin Grünhaus has been exclusively owned by the von Schubert family. The estate is today in the 5th and 6th generation with Dr. Carl von Schubert and his eldest son, Maximin. Having evolved over time, like the Karthäuserhof in Eitelsbach, where the Carthusian monks came 400 years later to engage in viticulture, Maximin Grünhaus has always been one of the top producers in the Ruwer Valley. Since January 2016, Maximin Grünhaus is a member of the Verband Deutscher Prädikatsweingüter (VDP).