Henkell & Söhnlein

Henkell & Co. Sektkellerei KG is a German producer of Sekt (German quality sparkling wine), wine and spirits based in Wiesbaden. Since 1996, the company has been owned by Dr. August Oetker KG.

Adam Henkell founded the Henkell & Cie winery in Mainz in 1832. 25 years later he commissioned the building of a “Champagne factory” in Walpodenstrasse in Mainz, making him among the first in Germany to master the technology of producing sparkling wine from wine. The Henkell Trocken brand was patented in 1894 under the management of Otto Henkell I, and in 1898 it became one of the first legally protected brands in Germany. In 1909 Henkell & Co. moved into its new stately headquarters in the independent town Biebrich. The Henkell Trocken brand was marketed very aggressively from 1900 to 1920, with large-format ads regularly appearing in publications like Jugend and Simplicissimus. Artists commissioned to design ads for the campaign included Thomas Theodor Heine, Lucian Bernhard, Gino von Finetti and Adolf Münzer. The Henkell headquarters was also depicted in several full-page advertisements in Lucian Bernhard’s signature style.

Otto Henkell and Ludwig Stollwerck are widely considered to be the inventors of joint advertising, a strategy they deployed starting around 1900. It was the first time marketing activities were jointly developed and funded by multiple companies within a single industry. In 1935 Henkell & Co. pioneered and patented the “Pikkolo” brand. The “black gentleman” (Schwarzer Herr) silhouette design debuted on the Henkell Trocken label in 1936 and for many years was its distinctive insignia.

In 1975 the company acquired Sektkellerei Carstens KG in Neustadt an der Weinstraße. Further acquisitions and corporate mergers followed. In 1986 Otto Henkell sold the winery to the entrepreneur Rudolf-August Oetker, who had previously acquired Söhnlein Rheingold Sektkellerei in Schierstein in 1956. After an initial period of individual growth for both companies, former competitors Henkell & Co. and Söhnlein Rheingold KG merged in 1987 to form Henkell & Söhnlein Sektkellereien KG, based in Wiesbaden-Biebrich. Both companies continued to be managed through 2009, after which they were consolidated into parent company Henkell & Söhnlein Sektkellereien KG.
Henkell & Söhnlein Sektkellereien KG took the first step towards forming a European beverage group in 1988, when it acquired the Austrian Scharlachberg label, with the exception of the brandy of the same name. Henkell & Söhnlein, Austria, was founded with its own sparkling wine production facilities in Vienna and its own brandy bottling plant in Salzburg. In 1992 the parent company acquired Hungarovin Kft. in Budapest, the Hungarian market leader for sparkling wine, and in 1995 it acquired a majority stake in Kurpfalz Sektkellerei KG, located in Speyer, Germany. Henkell & Söhnlein Polska Sp. Z o.o. was founded in Warsaw in 1996 and in 1997 Deinhard Sektkellerei KG in Koblenz was added to the portfolio, as well as a qualified majority in Vinpol SP. Z o.o. in Toruń, Poland. In 1999 the Group acquired a qualified majority in Sekt Českomoravská vinařská a.s., Starý Plzenec, Bohemia, Czech Republic, and in 2000 it acquired a majority stake in the Slovakian sparkling winery Hubert J.E. s.r.o., based in Sereď. Gratien & Meyer S.A.S. in Saumur, France, was purchased in the same year. In 2003 Henkell & Söhnlein acquired the distribution and trademark rights for the Menger-Krug sparkling winery in Deidesheim and S.C. Astese Production S.r.l., in Bucharest. The brands Kupferberg Gold und Scharlachberg Meisterbrand were added to the portfolio in 2004, and in 2006 the company acquired the spirits brands Der Gute Pott and Stern-Marke from A. Racke GmbH & Co. in Bingen am Rhein, Germany. In October 2007, the company expanded further with the acquisition of Kiev-based sparkling wine producer Kijewskij Sawod Schampanskich Win Stolitschnij. In May 2008, Henkell & Söhnlein Sektkellereien KG acquired the Italian company Mionetto, a maker of international award-winning spumante and frizzante sparkling wine brands. Following multiple mergers, effective 1 January 2009, Henkell & Söhnlein Sektkellereien KG was renamed Henkell & Co. Sektkellerei.[1]