Famille Ruhlmann-Schutz - Vins d'Alsace et du Languedoc -
34, rue du Maréchal Foch 67650 Dambach-la-Ville Alsace, France
34, rue du Maréchal Foch 67650 Dambach-la-Ville Alsace, France
Because “Rome was not built in a day”, neither was the Ruhlmann-Schutz vineyards. Discover our whole history and the events that marked our evolution.
Arrival in Alsace
In 1688, a Hungarian knight named Ruhlmann started to grow the vines and set up in a house at Dambach-la-Ville that is still existing and is located rue du Maréchal Foch.
Conversion to viticulture
Jean-Charles RUHLMANN and his wife Marthe started to grow the vines, while they went already farming the wheat, the tobacco and the livestock. In the 60's, the firsts harvests took place. Despite a minor harvest due to the frost, the couple didn't lose all hope and started the winemaking process to, later, sell the wine.
The first bottles
A little goes a long way, that's how Jean-Charles and Marthe Ruhlmann gave themselves the keys to successfully start their production and the selling of their firsts bottles. Jean-Charles gave then little services to his colleagues and neighbours for a small fee to expand the wine-growing area. It is after the oil shock that they decide to launch their own production.
The viticulture above all
From farmers to wine-growers... since the 80's the wheatfields and the livestock are entirely substituted by the vines and the wine-making. Wine become then the main activity of the family and André Ruhlmann, the son of Jean-Charles, join his father to help him in his work.
An unexpected loss
In the end of 1993, Jean-Charles passed away and left us a wine-estate with still so much to do. His children, André and Christine, took the estate over, since they had been helping their beloved parents for many years ago.
Ruhlmann & Schutz
The year 1994 marked the begining of a new adventure as Laurence Ruhlmann, Christine and Jean-Victor Schutz, left them respective profession to join André in the wine-estate and thus formed all together the Domaine Ruhlmann-Schutz in Dambach-la-Ville.
Grand Cru Frankstein
In 1997, the Ruhlmann-Schutz family acquired vines in the heart of the Grand Cru Frankstein and it's in 1998 that the first bottles are sold. Today, the family owned 3,5 hectares of vines on the appellation Alsace Grand Cru.
An international expand
Jean-Victor Schutz did not stop traveling all over France and Europe looking for new clients. It is a little before the 2000th year that the bottle crossed over the ocean. Today it is 35% of our production that is sale abroad, in more than 25 countries.
Millenium
January 1st 2001, 9h30 : the juice of a very concentrated Gewurztraminer flows along the press "la Cuvée du Millénaire" (The vintage of the millennium). An exceptional wine to celebrate the transition to the 3rd Millennium.
A growing vineyard
As the years go by, the vineyard of the family Ruhlmann-Schutz grown up : from 7 hectares in 1995 to 20 hectares in 2005. On another note, without workforce before, the Family can rely on about ten employees at that time.
Diversification
Summer 2015 marked an important moment for the family, when Louise-Anne and Jacques-Emile Ruhlmann, along with Thomas and Antoine Schutz, proposed to their parents that they take on a new challenge by developing a new wine estate 800 km away... in the Corbières near Narbonne. . They had in mind to diversified and complete the range of Alsatian wines.
Château Valmont
After a whole year of work in a totally different region : the first vintage of Château Valmont is born. This one is called "Aventure", simply reflecting the saga of the family Ruhlmann-Schutz, now working with the 3rd generation.
A new generation
Two years after the acquisition of Château Valmont, 3 of the 4 children of the 3rd generation joined and integrated the familial estate, renamed for the occasion : Vignobles RUHLMANN-SCHUTZ.
