The Dr. Crusius Wine Estate has a long history in Traisen. Around 430 years ago our ancestors settled in this small village near the River Nahe and 200 years later the foundations were laid for the estate buildings, which still exist today. From the mid 20th century onwards the focus was exclusively on winegrowing.
Historie
1576
The name Crusius is first mentioned in the Traisen parish register. Matthäus Crusius is the vicar of Hüffelsheim and is also a winegrower.
1870
Our ancestor Peter Crusius III first plants a vineyard on the prime site Traiser Bastei.
1888
Completion of the estate buildings that still form the heart of the Dr. Crusius winery today.
1937
The vaulted cellar is built with the active support of the local School of Viticulture and Enology.
1941
One of our prime sites, the Schlossböckelheimer Felsenberg, is cleared and planted.
1954
Hans Crusius qualifies as a Master Winemaker.
1955
Production switches entirely to bottled wine.
1956
Hans Crusius takes over the business from his father, Peter Crusius IV, who dies at the age of 59.
1966
The agricultural side of the business is leased out in order to concentrate 100% on winegrowing. The wines of the ’66 vintage were already of outstanding premium quality, so that our 1966 Felsenberg Eiswein even made it onto the table of the British royal family.
1969
Pinot blanc (Weissburgunder) is harvested for the first time. The beginning of a success story that continues to this day.
1976
Hugh Johnson, writing on the Crusius wine estate:
“If anyone asks me how good German wine can be, I always recommend the wines of Hans Crusius as a benchmark.”
1978
After graduating as a Diplom Ingenieur in Agricultural Science at Hohenheim, Peter Crusius commences an enology degree at Geisenheim.
1982
Peter Crusius earns a doctoral degree with his thesis: “The effects of pruning on quantity and yield”. In the same year Dr. Peter Crusius becomes a partner in the Crusius Wine Estate.
1984
Our wine estate is admitted to the Verband Deutscher Prädikatsweingüter (the Association of German Prädikat Wine Estates, abbreviated VDP).
1990
Hans Crusius hands over the wine estate and its management entirely to his son, Dr. Peter Crusius and it is renamed Weingut Dr. Crusius.
1991
The first Cuvée “HC” – named after Hans Crusius – is created. It consists of the grape varieties Müller-Thurgau, Riesling, Pinot blanc (Weissburgunder) and Auxerrois, which are all grown in the vineyard of the same name.
1999
The first red wine is harvested. The vineyards where we grow the Pinot noir (Spätburgunder) have existed for some time, but up to now these grapes have been vinified exclusively as Rosé.
2002
The 2001 Pinot blanc (Weissburgunder) from the Dr. Crusius Wine Estate is named “Best Weissburgunder on the Nahe” by the IHK (Chamber of Industry and Commerce).
2008
The award of the 4th Grape in the Gault-Millau Wine Guide and our return to the list of Germany’s top 100 wine estates provide official recognition for the strategy adopted by the Dr. Crusius Wine Estate: total commitment to producing wines of the very highest quality.