FAMILY HIMMEL
You can always find competent and friendly advice by telephone or personally by Charlotte Himmel if you try your favorite wines in the newly designed tasting room.
Dirk Himmel, has a BS in viticulture and oenology and is responsible for the care of the vines and the expansion of the wines. The seniors Bernd (master of winemaking trade) and Reinhild Himmel, nee Schwan, are also still on board.
The offspring including Luise, Maximilian, Clara, Johanna and Moritz might cross your path. Do not get startled, they won’t do anything to you … they just want to play!
Dirk Himmel, son of Bernd and Reinhild Himmel, married to Charlotte Himmel nee Röß, completed a 3-year wine-growing apprenticeship with subsequent studies in Geisenheim and graduation as a wine-growing engineer (FH). The personal contact between the customer and „their winemaker“ will continue to be cultivated in the future in order to be able to report on the success of Weingut Schwan for generations.
From the swan wine to the heavenly drop
Helmut Schwan (1913 – 1993) is still known to long-standing regular customers as a venerable and determined man – a man with principles. It was only through these qualities that it was possible for him to set the course in a whole new direction in the difficult economic times. He was the initiator in the Schwan Winery, who began to fill some selected wines in bottles. The first drop was filled into the bottle with extremely simple means. In view of the current necessary cellar technique to fill the vine juice in the bottle, it remains a mystery, as he did that very well at that time. If the operation of Albert Schwan (1884 – 1958) was still a traditional agricultural mixed business with arable farming, viticulture and livestock farming, Helmut Schwan and his wife Anneliese Schwan nee Weiler (1926 – 2013), the viticultural sector became a vital pillar.
Due to the early death of his father, Bernd Himmel led his parents‘ company together with his mother at the age of 14. In 1963 he became administrator in the Schwan Winery. The master of the winemaking trade, Bernd Himmel, convinced his sometimes stubborn boss of his work, visions, and last but not least, through his capacity to succeed. Not only professionally, but also privately, he could impress his future father-in-law. In 1970 Bernd Himmel married the daughter of the house, Reinhild Himmel nee Schwan. As it turned out later a strong team developed.
Bernd Himmel saw himself forced to make a decision by declining revenues in agriculture. He found the solution in a specialization of the enterprise. He first left cattle farming, and a few years later gave up agriculture. Weingut Schwan was thus the first vineyard in the Zellertal to strictly focus on winegrowing.
On one hand the increasing mechanization in the foreign economy and in the basement made the work much easier, and on the other high investments had to be made. 1980 the winery underwent a large renovation with the construction of tank storage, bottle storage, sales room and tasting room. Since then the wine sales have steadily increased.
