Peter Mertes

The company was founded in 1924 by the winery owner and master winemaker Peter Mertes in Minheim on the Moselle. Since then, the company has been engaged in the production and distribution of wines and wine products both domestically and internationally. In 1934, the first international export took place to Luxembourg. During World War II, Maria Mertes, the company founder's wife, temporarily took over the management of the company. After the war, in 1947, a winery was built in Minheim with a storage capacity of 100,000 liters.

In 1952, Peter Mertes' daughter Edith Mertes and her husband Gustav Willkomm took over the management of the company. They gradually expanded operations to the wine-growing regions of Rheinhessen, Palatinate, Rheingau, and Nahe.

In 1960, Peter Mertes became one of the first German wineries to start supplying wines to the retail sector, with the goal of making wine a readily available and standardized product. This involved developing a business model in which Peter Mertes purchased grapes, must, or wines from vintners based on fixed contracts, ensuring a reliable supply of raw materials for the company. During 1962, Peter Mertes introduced one of the first automated bottling lines in the Mosel wine-growing region. In the 1960s, the product range was expanded, and in 1969, due to company growth, a production site was established in Bernkastel-Kues, which has since been expanded.

In the third generation, under the leadership of brothers Michael and Stefan Willkomm, the company expanded its offerings beyond wine. Since then, it has offered cocktails and sparkling wines as well as, since 1987, organic wines. At the same time, Renate Willkomm, wife of Michael Willkomm, established a quality management system covering oenology, laboratory analysis, and cellar management. In 1992, Peter Mertes received licensing rights for wines and sparkling wines for the company Käfer-Gruppe. In 2006, the company began introducing its own branded wines.

In 2009, the winery started offering contract bottling services. Since 2010, the company has been managed by Matthias Willkomm, the great-grandson of the founder, and Georg Graf von Walderdorff. In 2020, Peter Mertes acquired the wine and sparkling wine brand Deinhard, which had previously belonged to Henkell & Co. Sektkellerei.