Kessler – Germany’s oldest sparkling wine producer

Esslingen is a wine producing town, utterly through and through. Yet very few people know that it is here in Esslingen that the history of German Sekt originated. In the year 1826 Georg Christian Kessler brought the fine art of bottle fermentation - and as a consequence the Sekt - to this town. He learned the method in Reims, France, in the champagne cellars of Widow (Veuve) Clicquot Ponsadin, where he had spent his years of apprenticeship.

Ever since then, the administration and production of the Swabian enterprise have remained under one roof. The mighty, representative half-timbered building behind the Parish Church was formerly the “Pfleghof” – the administrative building belonging to the monastery in Speyer. The real treasure of the modern production rests beneath the building in a 2,000 m² medieval vaulted cellar: approx. one million bottles of the coveted sparkling wine are stored here and carry on the tradition of the building, for the medieval Pfleghof was a monastic administrative building; it was here that the monks’ wine matured.

In the stylish Kessler Karrée on the front side of the building it is possible to enjoy a glass of the sparkling wine - either to start off an eventful tour of the town, or as a fitting conclusion. The choice is yours!