Between the wars

Louis SIPP began his family's involvement in wine growing at the end of the First World War.
Louise, pioneering grandmother of the family, acquired the first plots of vineyard while her husband Louis was away on the Russian Front. The first vats were also bought at this time. Some of those old vats are still in use, and can be seen in our wine cellars. At this time grapes were harvested on the Kirchberg hill (today classified as "Grand Cru" land) and carried in baskets on the harvesters' backs down to the presses, wich were situated at the top end of the town. The first wine awards were given from around 1920.
 
Louise' son Auguste went on to make the firm one of the most well-known wine producers in Alsace between the wars. From the beginning of the 1920's Louis SIPP and his son Auguste began to cultivate business relations with the other wine growers of Ribeauvillé, buying their grapes and producing wine with them. Their intention was to expand the business, while always maintaining a high level of quality. In 1933 they acquired and equipped a more spacious work site at the lower end of Ribeauvillé, in the property of the Krumb family. They dug deep cellars, with a total area of more of more than 1000 m2, which press up against the ramparts encircling the ancient town of Ribeauvillé. Shortly afterwards, in 1934, a new wine processing plant was built. It was among the most modern plants of its day.
Between 1945 and 1964 the cellars' storage capacity was increased by around 10 000 hl.

After the war

In 1962, August's sons Louis and Pierre, aided by Pierre's wife Simone, began a rethink of the vineyard's use of vine varieties, veering the business toward the higher quality "noble" varieties Riesling, Gewurztraminer and Pinot Gris. The vineyard was also by the acquisition of plots bordering those the business already used in Ribeauvillé's very best locations. In 1964 a new wine production plant was brought into service to have the best facilities for handling grapes from around sixty hectares of exceptional land in Ribeauvillé's geological rift zone.

Etienne SIPP, son of Pierre and Simone, decides to join the family business at the beginning of 1996. With him, the fourth generation took it its place in the firm. Many improvements were made both to the vineyard and to the wine storehouse, in an effort to heighten the wines' distinctive character, finesse, and all-round quality. the improvements included a reduction in the robustness of the wines, modernisation of the system that the wine-making process can be adapted to best suit each soil type.

Today a team of 20 people works every day to bring you wines which express the true nature of the Ribeauvillé vineyard, and which, we hope, will delight your taste buds wherever in the world you savour them, and for many long years into the future.