1928

The company’s beginnings

The foundation stone for our company was laid more than 80 years ago in Wachenheim, at the heart of one of Germany’s largest wine-growing regions. In economically and politically troubled times, Franz Scharfenberger and his wife Katharina showed a great deal of entrepreneurial courage, setting up a metal workshop specializing in repairing viticulture appliances.

1949

Close connections to viticulture from the very outset

Over the years, Scharfenberger increasingly specialized in developing viticulture appliances for use in vineyards – adapted to the needs of our customers. For example, the company invented the so-called “Vintner’s Horse”, which could be equipped with either a plough or a sprayer, according to requirements.

1958

Grape processing systems

Building on the company’s experience in the area of viticulture technology, our own production unit for planning and manufacturing grape delivery, storage and processing systems was set up around 1950.

1963

Company relocation

Expanding production meant the company had to relocate within the town of Wachenheim, moving to the new buildings on Weinstrasse in 1963.

1971

The first "Europress" – a milestone in our corporate history

The development of our Europress grape press in the early 1970s expanded our range of grape processing systems. This press was the first fully automatic, electronically controlled press with an exterior spindle.

In retrospect, this marked an important step for the future development of our company. Even more than 30 years after it was introduced onto the market, the Europress still forms the vital heart of our activities. Our strong market position today is down to our customers’ trust in the constantly high quality and modern technology, our trusting relations to our customers and sales partners in all of Germany’s wine-growing regions and worldwide, and also our reliable customer service.

1976

Establishment of our own electronics department

As the controls are an essential and extremely sensitive element of every grape press, we set up our own electronics department in 1976. Our experienced and competent staff develop, program and produce our electronic control systems all year round.

1980

The dawning of a new era:
Braud grape harvesters

Our takeover of the general agency for Braud grape harvesters was another step towards rounding off our product family. We have now been exclusively distributing and servicing the grape harvesters in Germany, Austria and the USA for more than 25 years.

1981

The first pneumatic Europress with central in-fill

After a two-year development phase, we launched the first pneumatic Europress in 1981 – at that time the only grape press with central in-feed available on the market. The predecessor of today’s Europress in its mode of operation, this membrane press ensured outstandingly gentle processing of the grapes, even almost 25 years ago.

1988

The Europress comes of age

Our Europress finally reached adult size with the sale of the first 25,000-liter press to California, USA. The Europress is now mass-produced with a capacity of up to 32,000 liters.

1992

The first Europress tank press EHT

To grant our customers more flexibility in their selection of a press system, we have been offering the Europress as a closed system EHT since 1992.

1993

Relocation to Bad Dürkheim

Rising demand, particularly for large-scale presses, meant the company had to relocate its production plant, which had been based in Wachenheim for 65 years. In 1993, the new premises were complete, and on June 30th work began in the new, modern production facilities and offices on the Bad Dürkheim industrial estate – today’s corporate headquarters. In the course of the subsequent eight years, we increased our manufacturing figures to over 200 grape presses per year.

1995

Europress with intelligent controls

Another of Scharfenberger’s innovations with an enduring influence on the technologies of the grape press market is the Europress “intelligent control system” launched in 1995. Developed and manufactured entirely within our electronics department, this control system allows customers to adjust the press program individually to their specific needs and conditions, achieving an optimal press performance.

2001

R+S Kelterhaus und Kellereitechnologie GmbH

To meet rising demand for complete grape processing facilities, we founded a joint-venture winery technology company with Rieger Behälterbau, Bietigheim-Bissingen, in March 2001: R+S Kelterhaus und Kellereitechnologie GmbH.

Backed by the experience and expertise of two long-standing companies from within the industry, R+S projects, plans, implements and services all-round crush facility installations, covering all areas from grape delivery to wine storage.

2001

Technological innovation Europress EHS: two systems – one press

The launch of the Europress EHS type at the Intervitis 2001 trade show marked a further successful venture in the field of modern grape processing. The EHS model is a dual press system, i.e. customers can press using an open or closed system, depending on their requirements and preferences. The externally mounted juice channels can be quickly and easily removed, granting our customers maximum long-term flexibility in their selection of a press system. Thanks to its many advantages, the Europress EHS has since become our top-selling press model.

2003

75 years of Scharfenberger Maschinenbau

The year 2003 was a very special one for us: on March 21st, we celebrated our company’s 75th anniversary with all our staff and business partners!

2003

Belt de-stemming machine EuroSelect

The 2003 introduction of our innovative belt de-stemming machine EuroSelect added a high-quality appliance for gentle grape processing to our product family. We developed the de-stemming machine with a novel system of functions for gentle transport, de-stemming and selection of grapes, to support wineries in quality-conscious and sophisticated grape processing. The EuroSelect was awarded the Innovation Prize in Gold at the Intervitis Interfructa 2004 trade show.

2004

Extension of the product family

Alongside the innovative destemmer EuroSelect, our product range was extended in 2004 to include even more products for gentle grape processing, which we also presented at Intervitis for the first time. These include transport belts, selection tables, vibrating dosing hoppers, grape crushers and vertical presses.

2004

Premiere on the grape press market

A further highlight of 2004 was the production of two EHM 320 – the largest ever pneumatic grape presses with half-open drum anywhere in the world. The 32,000-liter-capacity presses are in operation at the cooperative Goldenes Rheinhessen in Bornheim/Germany and Smith & Hook in California/USA.