A FAMILY-OWNED WINERY
Established in Zellenberg in the 17th century, the Becker family spans over twelve generations – a rarity that makes it one of the oldest families of winemakers in Alsace.
The Becker family’s story is intrinsically linked to Zellenberg’s, a small village built by monks on a hillock in the 9th century.
1610
While Galileo discovered moon craters and Jupiter’s satellites, the name “BECKHER” was mentioned for the first time in the wine universe of Zellenberg.
Georg BECKHER (1590-1666) standing at the peak of the Becker family tree would have been born in 1590 in Rappolstein by the Château de Ribeauvillé. As a member of the bourgeois and one of the men who were able to bear arms in Zellenberg, he was guardian of the village’s battlement patrol paths. Georg was then made chief of the Ribeaupierre militia under Eberhard de Ribeaupierre.
Information on his descendents before 1848 is limited, but they are consistently mentioned as vineyard owners rolling from father to son.
1848
In 1848, François-Joseph (1821-1891) started an Alsace wine trade in Zellenberg. He was a pioneer and he moved away from the constrained small village boundaries to establish his winery down the Schlossberg. This is where he built the current green house.
1870
While Alsace wines gained popularity under Napoleon III, the region was annexed and turned into a German province in 1870.
Jean-Ernest (1857-1933), graduate engineer from Geisenheim and mayor of the village, developed close relationships with Berlin where wine was exported in barrels to. On the land, that time was strongly marked by the phylloxera, an aphid from the United States that methodically destroyed vineyards across Europe. The problem was ultimately soothed after a few decades by grafting native grape varieties from American wild vines, which were essentially resistant to the phylloxera. Jean-Ernest has to go through this difficult time in the profession and just like thousands of other winemakers, he is left with no other choice than to replant all his vineyards.
1918
When Alsace became French again, Jean-Ernest lost all his loyal customers from Berlin. Consequently, he gained interest in the French capital where he found an important client: the Maison Nicolas. His son Joseph (1888-1968) developed these relationships until the Second World War. As a young builder and mayor of the village, he built the first reinforced concrete building in the village at the beginning of the 20th century. It is the winery’s largest building, housing crucial spaces such as the wine cellar, the fermenting room and the bottling area.
1945
In the aftermath of the Second World War, Jean-Jacques (1926-2004) replanted the damaged vineyards, completed the wine cellar and modernized the winery.
1980
Jean-Jacques is succeeded by his three children, Martine, Jean-Philippe and Jean-François. Their early days sat in a context marked by a significant turning point in the Alsace wine production. In 1975, the first Grand Cru was named in Kaysersberg and in 1983, Alsace saw its first late harvest. The young siblings embraced this movement and took this opportunity to review the house’s fundamental principles. This led to a radical decision that has since then been an integral part of the Jean Becker winery’s philosophy:
- yield was significantly reduced in favor of better quality wines
- a major effort was put on the vineyard and in the house to produce terroir wine, Grand Crus and late harvest wine, which have an added layer of production complexity as opposed to traditional varietal and blended wine
- the growing awareness of winemaking’s environmental impact led to the complete winery transition to sustainable agriculture, despite the industry’s hostility towards these practices deemed non-viable
THE TEAM
