The winery is located in the municipality of Mettenheim (Nierstein area) in the German wine-growing region of Rheinhessen. It has been family-owned for 250 years and has been managed by Gerhard Sander since 1979. After practical experience at foreign wineries, his son Stefan works in the business. Ottoheinrich Sander pioneered natural viticulture as early as the 1950s. He wanted to do something against humus depletion and soil erosion in his vineyards and reduce the negative consequences of monoculture. The ladybird on the label is the emblem and symbol of environmentally friendly agriculture. This includes organic fertilisation, the promotion of beneficial insects through cover crop and the preservation of hedges and slopes, as well as environmentally friendly control of fungal diseases through plant extracts, net sulphur and mild copper.
Today, the farm is considered to be the oldest vineyard in Germany to be run according to ecological principles. The vineyards cover 25 hectares of vineyards in the single vineyards Michelsberg and Schlossberg (Mettenheim), as well as Aulerde (Westhofen). They are planted with the white wine varieties Riesling, Pinot Blanc, Sauvignon Blanc, Silvaner, Müller-Thurgau, Kerner, Scheurebe and Gewürztraminer, as well as the red wine varieties Pinot Noir, Blauer Portugieser, Dornfelder, Schwarzriesling (Pinot Meunier), Merlot and Cabernet Sauvignon. Grapes from another two vineyards working according to DEMETER guidelines are processed from six hectares. More than 90% of the wines are vinified dry. Bottle-fermented sparkling wines and noble brandies (yeast) are also produced. The winery is a member of the organic associations DEMETER and Naturland, as well as the winegrowers' association Message in a Bottle..
