Louis Klein Winery

Dreigiebelhaus Cellar, now the Louis Klein Winery

The complex of buildings situated on Enkircherstraße is a great example of winery architecture at the end of the nineteenth century.

Built in 1897 by Oskar Graff, brother of Napoleon Graff (owner of the Sonora Villa), it was later taken over by Max Melsheimer, who married Oskar’s widow Maria. In 1920 the property was purchased by Kilian Klein from Kröv, the father of Louis Klein.

The two initially separate buildings, each cellared with three parallel barrel vaults just below street level, were subsequently connected by a central building. Owing to the huge demand experienced at the time, the cellarage capacity in one of the buildings was extended upwards over a number of floors. In addition there was a branch line which connected directly to the Mosel valley railway, still known to many as the "Saufbähnchen" (Boozers’ Line), which ran along the right bank of the Mosel from Bullay to Trier until 1964.

These days the winery is managed by his daughter Ulrike, who matures her wines in traditional wooden barrels and modern plastic and stainless steel tanks. The red wine is matured and stored in 220 litre barriques.