Gnarled but not stubborn, tied to tradition and, when it came to something, also stubborn.

If you didn't know him, you probably know his name anyway.

Throughout his life, Günter Possmann stood for the topic of cider, as manager of the winery of his name, later as senior boss and advocate of the value chain for which it stands.

Now Günter Possmann has died.

Jacqueline Vogt

Department head of the Rhein-Main editorial team of the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung.

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Günter Possmann joined the Possmann family business, which his son Peter has been managing since 2004, in 1964 as the fourth generation.

The history of the company goes back to the 19th century and began with the young wine cooper Philipp Possmann, who pressed cider in an inn on Fahrgasse and also sold his product to other inns.

The Possmann winery, now the largest in Hesse, has been located in the Rödelheim district of Frankfurt since 1937.

The wines are stored in a natural stone cellar, in three submarine tanks, among other things.

In a newspaper interview, Günter Possmann once told how his father acquired it from the Americans after the Second World War, as it were as a basis for the reconstruction of the destroyed production facilities, and also why he, a seven-year-old boy at the time, remembered: The He was unable to follow conversations in English, but to keep him happy, the Americans gave him a red apple and a sausage sandwich.

It may have been the memories of times like these that prevented Possmann from taking off, even as he prospered and grew wealthy.

Throughout his life he remained down to earth.

And even if it sometimes seemed as if he was living with a wink: He was serious, even when he called for a cider museum in the new old town in Frankfurt.

At times, Günter Possmann was spokesman for an association founded to announce this concern.

Later, others also put forward this idea, various places were mentioned that would be suitable for such a museum, most recently the Ratskeller.

In recent years, however, there has not been social and political support or the financial strength to turn such a project into anything more than a well-thought-out idea.

Possmann also shaped the ups and downs of the generally small cider scene in places where he was not directly involved.

He was initially quite skeptical about changes like those that were triggered years ago by manufactory wine presses who work by vintage and type.

When a group of self-pressing cider taverns once presented a slim drinking vessel with style at an event, he was as skeptical as he initially judged this movement.

The Stöffche' belongs in the ripped, he postulated at the time, and he should be as right as he was wrong: both have become established.

As with the glasses, it is with what is poured.

For many years there have been a variety of ciders of all kinds, including sparkling wines and cider-cola mixtures. The Possmann winery was one of the first to produce such mixed drinks.

Günter Possmann was 84 years old.

As his family has now announced, he died on January 19.

He leaves behind three children and seven grandchildren.

Where he was is a gap in Frankfurt's local color.