Etienne Hugel, married to Kaoru Hugel, is the winemaker for Hugel & Fils, a 100 percent family-owned and fully self-financed winery with winegrowing roots that date back to 1639. The Hugel family comes close to royalty in the wine world, with wine cellars under 16th century buildings and barrels that are more than a century old. Hugel works with the famous S. Caterine cask (dated 1715), which is the oldest working cask according to the Guinness Book of World Records.
Etienne is the 12th generation co-proprietor for Hugel & Fils, and makes it a point to travel around the world to support his international distributors.
The international acclaim of the winery has flourished under Etienne with 90 percent of their wine exported, and in fact, Hugel sales in Japan top sales in France.
Although their winery is known for their Riesling and Gewurztraminer, Etienne states that he is a Champagne drinker. He enjoys Pol Roger and Bollinger, and also collects Bordeaux, Burgundy and Rhone wines. He states that he also enjoys German wines, such as Egon Muller, JJ Prum and Dr. Loosen.
Etienne’s family has devoted generations to establishing the Alsace region, Riquewihr (where Hugel & Fils was first founded) and promote high-quality wines from the noble grape varieties. He is on track to making Alsace wine the white wine of the century.
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