Giuseppe Kettmeir, the founder of the Kettmeir Wine Company, was born in 1886 in Rovereto, Italy, near Trent. From 1545 until 1563 Rovereto was the site of the "Council of Trent." The Council was the site where the highest prelates of the Roman Catholic Church studied how to halt the Protestants' founding of newly reformed churches. When Giuseppe was a young man, Trent was a part of Tirol in the Austrian-Hungarian Empire. At the end of World War I in 1918, the Empire was dissolved and Trent and Bolzano (Bozen) passed over to Italian control.

The area surrounding Trent lies in the upper side of the Adige Valley. The Valley is named such after the river that flows through this area, the Adige River. Agriculture in this area consists of vines and apple trees, making wine production the main economic activity in the early 20th century. Also a factor in the success of wine production in the Adige area was the demand of good quality wines from the Austrian-Hungarian Empire.

Giuseppe decided to become a specialist in winemaking techniques due to a strong market in wine production at that time. His parents financed his studies in Vienna, first in Klosterneuburg and then at the University of Agricultural Sciences (Institut für Bodenkultur) where he became an enologist, the highest scientific and technical level at that time.

Giuseppe, however, quickly realized that real success would only come through distributing wines of the Trentino-Alto Adige area (at the beginning of the century they were called Tirolean wines) on a large scale. He traveled to Vienna several times to market his wines. He met a young lady there, Carolina, whom he married in 1911. Three years later, in 1914, the First World War broke out and work in the wine business in Austria became nearly impossible. As a result, he transferred his family to Zurich, where he founded his own company, the G. Kettmeir Wine Company. From Zurich he managed to develop his wine trade all over central Europe. In order to reinforce the company, Giuseppe founded his own cellars in the Alto Adige region, first in Bolzano in 1919 and then in Caldaro some years later. The cellars developed quickly and became some of the most important of the Alto Adige wine panorama.

In 1912, Giuseppe and Carolina had a son, Guido. Guido developed the wine company year by year and managed to introduce the Kettmeir wine bottles in the German-speaking world. In time, Kettmeir was also introduced in the United States, Canada, Japan, and England. Guido's main contribution was building up the trademark name "Kettmeir," which became world renowned for fine Italian wines.

In 1938, Guido had a son, Franco Kettmeir. In 1967 Franco became the company's General Manager and then owner, and continued the work of Giuseppe and Guido. Franco also specialized in the winemaking process and was very aware of the importance of building up a strong distribution for bottled wines. Franco concentrated his efforts into producing more fine wines and increasing their exports (mainly to the United States and England), while still maintaining strong business relations in Italy and within other German speaking countries of Europe.

In 1986, Franco realized that in order to reinforce the company, it was time to look for a solid business partner in the Italian wine world. He found it in Santa Margherita Wine Group of Portogruaro.

In the last 14 years, Kettmeir has grown steadily, increasing its production of bottled wines year by year. The wines are produced, aged, and bottled with the finest wine preparation techniques in Caldaro, believing in the commitment of the company slogan, "Progressio in traditone."