Innkeeper Ignatz Schweickardt produced sparkling wine from the 1833 and 1834 Hochheim vintages, after learning how to produce effervescing wines in the Champagne region. The experience he gained with these vintages showed that the wines from Hochheim were an excellent basis for producing sparkling wine. After the process, these wines, called Hock in English, were sold as “Sparkling Hock” - a name that would become famous throughout the world.  The sparkling wine town Hochheim was born.

Together with Carl Burgeff,  Schweickardt founded the sparkling wine company “Burgeff & Schweickardt” in 1836. After weathering through an initial difficult phase the company grew very quickly.

Among their customers during this time were  P. A. Mumm in Frankfurt, A. Henkell & Co in Mainz, and J. Graeger in Mühlhausen – the future names of famous sparkling wine companies.

Export played an important role right from the onset. In 1841, Carl Burgeff initiated the global success of the company in London and the Burgeff's Sparkling Hock, especially the fresh “Burgeff Grün“ became world-famous.

The company, which was renamed Burgeff & Co., Hochheim am Main in 1857, continuously extended the cellars in order to keep up with the growing demand. Many successful, but also very difficult, years followed under the management of Family Hummel, until the company was taken over by the Canadian corporation Seagram in 1978. Apart from the brand Burgeff Grün, which was discontinued in the 1990s, the company produced sparkling wine for the brands Mumm and Jules Mumm.

In 1984 the sparkling wine company Matheus Müller in Eltville was taken over by Seagram, who then moved their administration from the Geheimrat-Hummel-Platz 1 in Hochheim to Eltville in 2001. One year later, the Rotkäppchen-Mumm sparkling wine group took over the German  organisation of Seagram and the production sites in Eltville and Hochheim.

In 2006, Gunter Künstler and Norbert Gruner bought the old company premises and cellar that had belonged to Burgeff,  Today the wine estate Künstler resides in the buildings of the oldest sparkling wine producer along the Rhine and one of the most important in Germany. A portion of the old premises is now being used again to produce Cuvées for the sparkling wine brands Mumm and Jules Mumm. The sparkling wine tradition lives on…