Spanning 8 generations and over 250 years of winemaking Martin Kerpen continues his family’s tradition today. Kerpen is located in the village of Wehlen, in the heart of the Middle Mosel. Kerpen owns 7.5 hectares in some of the most prestigious Erste Lage vineyard land in the Mosel, most notably in the famed Wehlener Sonnenuhr, where Martin remains on of the largest holders with a mere 3 hectares, yet still accounting for a mere 5% of the total vineyard.
Kerpen’s holdings include several parcels at the base of the famous sundial for which the vineyard is named. Wines from the Wehlener Sonnenuhr express much minerality, in part because of the abundance of underground streams and thin soil of weathered blue and gray slate of the vineyard. Additional parcels are maintained in Graach, in the Himmelreich and Domprobst vineyards, extremely steep sites adjacent to the Wehlener Sonnenuhr.
As a member of both the Bernkasteler Ring and the Mosel VDP, Kerpen crafts fruity wines as well as dry Grosses Gewächs from his Erste Lage sites.
Martin works in honor of the traditional methods his ancestors have passed on to him, fermenting spontaneously in large fuder. In September 2012, Marie-Luise Kerpen was choosen as Wine Queen of the Mosel.