Kelterei Heil

Kelterei Heil

Kelterei Heil is one of the best-known and most traditional family cider producers in Hesse – rooted in the Taunus village of Laubus-Eschbach near Frankfurt am Main, in the heart of the legendary Hessian cider region, where the company's story begins with one of the most charming founding legends in German beverage history: when in the mid-1940s no goods were available for sale in the family's own inn, Grandfather Heil simply exchanged a goat from his own farm for an apple press – and thereby laid the foundation for a family cidery that today ranks among the most important producers of cider, apple wine and fruit juices in Hesse. Today brothers Martin and Christof Heil run the operation already in the third generation – Martin Heil as a qualified business administrator responsible for organisation, management and marketing, Christof Heil as a certified fruit juice master and graduate beverage technologist responsible for the technical, flavour and quality aspects of the products – and have expanded the range from once a single apple wine to over 70 different products.

What has distinguished Kelterei Heil from the very beginning and continues to do so today is an uncompromising commitment to natural fermentation processes and high-quality raw materials: all apple wines and ciders are produced through natural fermentation from sun-ripened cider apples, without added sugar, without artificial acceleration of the fermentation process and with the unmistakable character of the Hessian «Ebbelwoi» – tartly fresh, fruity, mineral and with the typical interplay of natural fruit acids and fine spiciness that makes Taunus apple wine unmistakable worldwide. As the first Hessian cidery, Heil also brought an alcohol-free apple wine to market – a pioneering product in which the alcohol is removed through a particularly gentle process so that the typical flavour and full aroma are completely preserved.

The social and ecological commitment of Kelterei Heil is as remarkable as its artisanal skill: since the beginning of its annual campaign to save the traditional orchard meadows, over 50,000 trees have already been planted, making the cidery one of the most important private supporters of Hessian orchard meadow culture – an ecosystem that not only forms the basis for the unique flavour of Heil apple wine but also represents an irreplaceable piece of Hessian cultural landscape. With numerous DLG awards, the first IFS certification of a Hessian cidery and events such as the Apple Run and the Apple Blossom Walk, Kelterei Heil stands today as a living symbol of the conviction that a goat, an apple press and a passion for the apple are enough to create one of the most significant cideries in Hesse.