The generational changing of the guard has never quite looked like this before.
Every year, with each new bottling, wineries have a fresh opportunity to impress the world. But high-profile changeovers in the industry’s upper echelons may occur just once in a generation—which is why the wave of recent ascensions within major winemaking dynasties is so intriguing.
Some of the new guard, including Saskia Prüm, recently named owner and winemaker of Germany’s S.A. Prüm, and Anne Trimbach, now in charge of sales for famed Riesling house Maison Trimbach, have relevant old-school experience—vinification and marketing, respectively—but others bring entirely different backgrounds to their family businesses.
Courtesy of Marlene Awaad
Inside the Maison Trimbach vineyard
Anne Trimbach, 35, represents the 13th generation to guide the winery founded by her ancestors in Alsace, France, in 1626; all of her vineyards are in the process of becoming certified organic, and she is pushing the outside growers she works with to become similarly accredited. Trimbach says her vision of the future is “more and more towards equality, respect for the environment and the people who work with us.”