Germany Flashcards
What is the current state of vineyard ownership and plantings? How is this changing?
In 2016, Germany had just under 16,000 growers, with roughly half owning vineyards of 3ha or less.
The number of growers has fallen by over 20% since 2010, despite a slight increase in area under vine. The increase has mainly been on flatter, valley sites where vineyards continue to be planted for bulk wine production.
For vineyards on steep slopes in particular, the high costs of labour and low yields, especially for sweeter wines, coupled with vintage variation results in high production costs. Although these wines command higher prices, for some, the cost of farming the land is unsustainable against the cost consumers are willing to pay, hence the reduction of growers in recent years.
What is the current state of estates in Germany?
The best wines are mainly produced by estates that grow and vinify their own grapes.
Estates vary enormously in size, from over 100 ha to 5 ha and under.
Some were established many centuries ago by the church (Schloss Johannisberg, Kloster Eberbach), aristocratic families (Schloss Vollrads) and charitable organisations (Bürgerspital and Juliusspital).
There has also been an emergence of estates run by a new breed of highly skilled and knowledgeable winemakers.
What did the GWI introduce to help young winemakers promote their wines?
The German Wine Institute initiated Generation Riesling in 2005 to give young winemakers (under 35yrs) in Germany a national and international promotional platform.
What role do merchant houses and co-operatives play in Germany?
Many wine growers still sell their grapes to merchant houses (Weinkellerei), which are one of the main sources of higher volume wines, or process them through a co-operative.
Germany was one of the first wine producing countries to establish co-operatives and, although the number has been falling slightly, they remain a very important part of the German wine industry.
Co-operatives receive the crop from about 39% of total German vineyard area, and over 75% of production in Baden and Württemberg.
Many co-operatives are quality focused with considerable growing and winemaking expertise and technology. In particular, despite being one of the biggest co-operatives in Germany, the Badischer Winzerkeller in Baden has been developing a range of small-volume bottlings of high-quality wines.
What is the state of the domestic market?
It has always been very significant, and the shift to drier styles and the increase in red production were heavily influenced by changing tastes amongst German consumers.
Despite being very much a beer drinking country, Germany is the fourth largest consumer of wine in the world at approximately 20 million hL in 2018.
This cannot be sated by domestic production alone, and routinely imports 14-15 million hL annually.
What is the state of exports?
Volume has almost halved this century.
In the first decade of the 2000s, Germany regularly exported 2m hL annually (20-25% of production). By the 2010s, exports had fallen to around 1m hL (10% production) and have since remained there.
In the same time, the average price had risen from below €200 to €300 per hL, influenced by a reduction in the shipping of bulk wine and an increase in bottled exports, as part of the strategy of the Deutsches Weininstitut.
The top 5 export markets by volume are the USA, the Netherlands, the UK, Norway and Sweden.
The USA and Norway are particularly important in terms of value, whereas the average price of exports to the UK and the Netherlands is considerably lower due to the continued, but shrinking, presence of inexpensive wines: liebfraumilch ons supermarket shelves.
What is the German wine industries promotional body? What do they achieve?
The Deutsches Weininstitut (DWI, or German Wine Institute) seeks to promote the quality and dales of German wines in the domestic and export markets.
Most notably, they run a ‘Riesling Weeks, campaign in 13 countries that encourages retailers and restaurants to promote German wines for a defined period (from a week to a month) each year.
