Historia
Official records of the Pieroth family date back to the year 1675. The Pieroths have been known as farmers and vintners in Burg Layen since 1705. The family's seat near Burg Layen was built in 1731. Since the year 1926 wine was filled into bottles, which was a innovation after being sold for decades in barrels only. At the same time, Philipp Ferdinand Pieroth began to send wine to his customers. This marked the birth of direct selling, which was improved in 1953 when Elmar and Kuno Pieroth had the idea of offering customers the opportunity to taste the wines in their own premises. This was the start of the company's growth to its present size and international reputation.
335 Years of Pieroth
Pieroth headquarters is in Burg Layen, Germany. It was quite a while before the name of Pieroth became a synonym for highquality German wines and international wine expertise throughout most of Europe and overseas.
335 years ago, the ancestors of the present Pieroths started as part-time farmers in Burg Layen. Just a few decades later, they were already cultivating vineyards alongside their fields, and began gradually to concentrate more and more on wine production over the following years. In 1953, Elmar and Kuno Pieroth laid the foundation stone for international direct wine sales, based on the idea of a personal wine tasting without obligation at the customer‘s home or office. e idea had been born, and success was not long in coming . .
The Most Important Stages In Our International Success:
1675 First documentary evidence of the German ancestor of the Burg Layen Pieroths, Heinrich Pieroth, in the official records of the small town of Stromberg, 11 km from Bingen.
1704/5 First documentary evidence of vine cultivation in the Pieroth family in the „Morgenbuch“ of the commune of Schöneberg, on the river Nahe. Heinrich Jacob Pieroth is named as the owner of a number of „Wingerten“ („vine gardens“).
1756 For the first time, a Pieroth – the second youngest son of Heinrich Jacob Pieroth – is mentioned as „steward“ of the Baron von Weyern in Burg Layen. A few years later, the nature of his service to the court is made clear by the designation „Steward and Vintner“.
1762 Andreas Pieroth, the youngest son of Heinrich Jacob Pieroth from Schöneberg, takes over the lease on the land from Baron von Weyern in Burg Layen after offering his own fields and vineyards in his home town as security for taking over the lease.
1780-1790 Johann Heinrich Pieroth, son of Andreas, continues to farm the land as a tenant after the death of his father, but also single-mindedly acquires land of his own - including vineyards - at the same time. In around 1780, the Burg Layen estate passes from the von Weyern family to the Princes of Bretzenheim.
1810 Heinrich Pieroth, the son of Johann Heinrich Pieroth, acquires part of the estate of the Prince of Bretzenheim for himself. The price of 24,000 francs is one of the highest prices to be paid at that time for the acquisition of state-owned land.
1850-1860 Nicolaus Pieroth, son of Heinrich Pieroth, buys arable land and vineyards in and around Burg Layen through contracts and auctions after part of the Burg Layen land owned by his father passes to his brother. He concentrates increasingly on wine growing; notaries‘ documents prove that although he had initially (around 1850) purchased mainly arable land, he bought only vineyards from around 1870 onwards.
1906 Ferdinand Pieroth, son of Nicolaus Pieroth, states in his diary that wine growing is the main source of income for his farm.
1925 Expansion and alteration of the Pieroth headquarters building in Burg Layen. Large parts of this building were part of the estate of the Baron von Weyern, whose main tenant the Pieroth family had become in the middle of the 18th century.
1926 Philipp Ferdinand Pieroth, son of Ferdinand Pieroth, fills Pieroth wine into bottles for the first time in the history of the company – in the previous decades, all wines had been sold in barrels. At the same time, he starts sending wine from the producer to the consumer. The first bottles of wine from the House of Pieroth are delivered in Duisburg.
1928 The family ends its other agricultural operations, such as arable farming and cattle-breeding.The production and sale of wine is now the sole business operated by the House of Pieroth.
1930 is year, wines from other German winegrowing areas are also incorporated into the Pieroth wine range for the first time, in addition to the company‘s own wines from the Nahe region.
1936 Establishment of Pieroth OHG as a company.
1949/50 Establishment of the first delivery warehouses in various major cities in the Federal Republic of Germany and introduction of the company‘s own delivery service.
1953 Elmar Pieroth, oldest son of Philipp Ferdinand Pieroth, introduces the „personal wine tasting in the customer‘s own home“. He makes this ideal opportunity for presenting an individual wine range and offering superb customer service the central point of a new distribution system, which he implements with the support of his younger brother Kuno Pieroth and a number of members of staff. is marks the start of the growth of the House of Pieroth to its present size.
1958 In England, Pieroth wine consultants, under the guidance of Elmar Pieroth, start selling wines within the new sales system for the first time abroad. The quality of both the wines and of the customer support is so popular amongst British wine-lovers that a subsidiary is founded in London.
1959 Establishment of a Pieroth company in Switzerland.
1961 Establishment of a distribution company for Pieroth wines in Denmark.
1962 In Burg Layen, a new building containing the administration, new cellars and a bottling plant is erected alongside the traditional Pieroth headquarters building.
1963 sees the start of the sale of German wines in France and Austria.
1965 Pieroth changes its legal status to become a GmbH (limited liability company). e same year, a further sales office is opened in Belgium.
1969 Elmar Pieroth establishes the first Pieroth branch overseas, in Tokyo, Japan.
1972 is is followed by the establishment of the Australian branch in Sydney and a year later by a subsidiary in Chicago, USA.
1974 e new, ultramodern Pieroth wine-production plant with central warehouse is formally opened in Langenlonsheim, 10 km from Burg Layen. Pieroth quality wines are bottled in one of Europe‘s most modern plants and dispatched all over the world.
1975 A new Pieroth branch is opened in Hong Kong. The Pieroth headquarters building is converted to the Customer Service Centre and the Burg Layen Weincabinet is formally opened as a centre for lovers of Pieroth wines.
1976 An old glass tradition is rediscovered in the House of Pieroth. Many centuries ago, the glass produced in the Nahe region was often blue or blue-green in colour. It is was caused by the minerals which were mined or excavated for glass production here. e House of Pieroth retrieved the idea and created a royal blue wine bottle which took the wine world by storm as „Pieroth Blue“. . .
1977 Another Pieroth overseas branch is founded in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
1980 A new Sekt production centre with a modern bottling plant is opened in Rüdesheim near Bad Kreuznach. An Italian wine distribution company is founded in Italy.
1985 A new central sales unit is built in Luton, England. In the same year, the first cooperation agreements with Chinese wine producers are concluded in Beijing.
1990 After the spectacular collapse of the GDR regime and the peaceful reunification of the two Germanies, a wine boom starts in Germany‘s new federal states.
1992 e political changes in Eastern Europe after the fall of the Iron Curtain mean that it is possible for Pieroth to open a sales office in Poland.
1994 e Pieroth eagle – the internationally recognised trade mark of the House of Pieroth – is introduced as a relief on the wine bottles.
1995 A Pieroth company is founded in Taiwan selling German wines. After several years of inactivity, new contacts are made with the People‘s Republic of China and a permanent office is opened in Beijing.
1996 In New Zealand, customers enjoy the delights of wine tastings before purchase.
1997 sees the foundation of sales offices in Dublin, Ireland, and in Prague, Czech Republic.
2000 Pieroth celebrates its 325 year anniversary.
2001 „25 years of Pieroth Blue“. From the introduction of the „Pieroth Blue“ in 1976 until now, Pieroth has filled and sold around 25 million blue wine bottles. If the bottles were lined up one after the other, they would cover a distance of 1,875 km or around 1,170 miles - the distance from Lisbon to Moscow.
2006 In July, our branch in the UK is able to look back on 45 successful years. And a new Pieroth office is opened in Seoul, South Korea. 50 members of the Pieroth family, covering four generations, meet for the first major Pieroth family reunion in the original building in Burg Layen, dating from 1731. A Pieroth wine auction is held for the first time in Japan. Over 90 carefully selected top-quality wines from the world‘s largest wine regions are put up for auction. Pieroth donates part of the profit to the „Make-a-wish“ charity, which supports seriously ill children.
2007 Wine visionary Kuno Pieroth celebrates his 70th birthday in August. To mark the occasion, a special wine is produced with an exquisite, hand-embossed tin label showing a likeness of Kuno Pieroth, which becomes a coveted collectors‘ object in just a short time.
2008 e House of Pieroth celebrates is 333rd anniversary with the creation of a historic wine label which is only available in the anniversary year. is anniversary year is also an ideal opportunity for the House of Pieroth to demonstrate the high regard it has for its loyal customers and new wine purchasers by offering many valuable advantages.
Today, the House of Pieroth is internationally renowned for its expertise in top-quality wines from Germany, Europe and the rest of the world. Over 3.5 million people from all over the globe have been captivated by the high-quality wine, Sekt, spirit and juice products from the House of Pieroth, and have remained loyal customers for years.
2002 A new product line sees the light of day: The Pieroth window bottle is successfully launched for the first time in Japan and the USA.
2003 For the first time, the Pieroth Hungaria cellar operation wins the coveted St. Orban Statue for the best wine of the year, a 2002 Zweigelt Ausbruch. Pieroth France celebrates its 40th anniversary with a two day wine tasting in the Eiffel Tower in Paris.
2004 e respected Japanese foreign trade organisation JETRO names Pieroth as the most successful company in the Japanese market. At the same time, Pieroth Japan wins the coveted JWC ( Japan Wine Challenge) Award as the best importer, with 5 gold, 15 silver and 8 bronze medals.
2005 One of the biggest successes in Pieroth‘s history is its participation in the EXPO 2005 World Exhibition in Aiichi, Japan, with 8 restaurants over a total area of 1,000 mÇ – an area which would cover the wings of 2 jumbo jets.
Pieroth Hong Kong celebrates its 30-year anniversary. Our branch in the Czech capital of Prague proves it has a soft spot for children by giving soft toys and sweets to children who have to stay in hospital over Christmas. For the first time in the history of China, Pieroth invites its guests to an exclusive Christmas wine tasting in the Jin Jiang Hotel in Shanghai.