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  • May 23, 2014
  • Schloss Vaux and Château de Vaux

  • by Per Linder

schloss_vauxVaux is a little village just southwest of Metz, in France. It is situated in a side valley of the Moselle River. The name Vaux is derived from the Latin vallis, or valley. There are records that wine has been grown here since at least the eighth century. The château tower has been dated to the 13th century.

In the second half of the 19th century, a light red table wine was traditionally produced in this area of the Mosel, but it was only consumed locally. Between 1871 and 1918, this part of Lorraine belonged to the German Empire under the name Bezirk Lothringen, which corresponds to the present-day Département Moselle.

In 1880, winegrowers started to sell base wine of blanc de noir—which, back then, was named Klaret in German—to the sparkling wine factories on the Rhine. This activity was so successful that in 1894—although the Bezirk only accounted for 5 percent of Germany’s vineyards—it delivered a third of its total production of sparkling wine. Later on, production of sparkling wine was further developed. In 1912, there were 15 sparkling wine factories in Lorraine. One of these was Château de Vaux, or, as it was called then, Schloss Vaux.

The Graegers were wine merchants for several generations in Berlin. When demand for sparkling wine took off in the mid-19th century, two brothers, Oskar and Heinrich, founded their own sparkling wine factory, O. + H. Graeger, Hochheimer Schaumweinkellerei in 1868. They sent their brother Carl (1849–1902) to establish a branch in Hochheim in the Rheingau, with the purpose to purchase base wine. Yet, in 1877, Carl founded his own Sekt, or sparkling wine, firm without consulting his brothers. This dispute ended up in court. Carl, who had to pay Oskar and Heinrich a settlement, became a very successful businessman and exported Sparkling Hock to Great Britain. Sparkling Hock was an (old) English term for sparkling wine from the Rhine. His company, Sekthaus Graeger, based in Bingen now, remained in the family till 1970.

While Oskar withdrew from the business after the settlement, Heinrich used his proceeds to buy Château de Vaux in 1892 and started production of sparkling wine there. In order to distinguish himself from his brother, he renamed the firm Champagner-Kellerei Schloss Vaux.

After the First World War, when Lothringen was returned to France, the Graegers, like all Germans, were forced to leave the region. Heinrich moved the firm back to Berlin in 1919. In 1920, he moved Schloss Vaux to Eltville, in the Rheingau, where the firm still exists today, though under different ownership.

In Vaux, the chateau changed hands and activities—holiday home, home for women alcoholics—many times thereafter. In 1982, it was bought by the present owner, the Diligent family from Metz, who reintroduced winemaking to the property. In 1999, the Molozays took over the vineyard management, and they sell their wines, most notably Pinot Noir, under the label Château de Vaux. ♦

Photograph of a late 19th-century ad from Schloss Vaux in the Mainz-based weekly Weinbau und Weinhandel.

Per Linder works in asset management; he lives in Luxembourg with his wife and two children.

  • Thanks to Per for another article on my site. I included some 19th-century Schloss Vaux ads from the Mainz-based weekly Weinbau und Weinhandel, which Per pointed out to me at the Trier city archives. It’s where he found an ad for Moselwein.

    To read the original German text for the big Schloss Vaux ad, click here. It says that all the brands of Schloss Vaux are bottled in the old French (i.e., Champagne) method, with the second fermentation in the bottle. The base wines are all “original-natural-wines” (unchaptalized wines) from Lorraine and France. Because the cellars in Lorraine are all state controlled, the authenticity and origin of the wines can be proven. (Back then, as Per points out in his article, Lorraine was a part of the German Empire.)

    Per also gave me a bottle of Château de Vaux’s 2011 Les Clos Pinot Noir. This is made by the family Molozay and tasted good. The wine was quite ripe (13.5 percent alcohol), but it wasn’t over the top. It’s the second Pinot Noir that I’ve tasted from this producer.

  • Kevin Goldberg says:

    Thanks, Per. This is great information about my favorite Sekt producer (the Eltville iteration).

    • Today, Raumland is considered the top sparkling wine producer in Germany. I’ve never tasted their wines, though.

      On the Mosel, St. Laurentius Sekt is an important producer, which also makes a lot of the local growers’ sparkling wines, as most growers don’t have the equipment, space, or expertise to bottle their own Sekt. There’s also Kirsten, who also does the sparkling wine for some of his fellow growers. In Trier-Süd, Saar-Mosel-Winzersekt bottles for others, as does the Moselland co-op. A few producers specialize in making sparkling wine in their own winery, such as Melsheimer or Dr. Wagner.

  • Andrew Bair says:

    Thank you for the interesting article, Per. I was not aware that sparkling wine played such an important role in the history of the French Moselle.

    Anyway, I checked, and apparently, a couple of the Château de Vaux wine are imported to the NY/NJ markets on a limited basis by Voss Selections.

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