Germany is a large player in the global wine market as indicated by the following:

  • In 2010, Germany was the world’s largest importer of wine (14.46 million hl in 2009)
  • Imported wine accounts for 78 per cent of wine consumed in Germany
  • 78.7 per cent of imports are from the three countries France, Italy and Spain
  • Approximately 20.3 million hl wine consumption in Germany in 2010 (Source: Deutsche Wein Statistik 2010/11)
  • The per capita consumption of wine in Germany has been generally decreasing steadily over the last years and has now reached a similar consumption as Australia with 20.7 litres (24.6 litres wine and sparkling wine) in 2009. As a comparison, per capita consumption of beer has been steadily decreasing and currently amounts to 111 litres
  • Consumption remained relatively stable despite the global financial crisis
  • In 2009, German households spent €11.1 billion on alcoholic beverages. Within this category, wine and sparkling wine together accounted for 41 per cent of expenditures, followed by beer (29 per cent) and spirits with 25 per cent
  • German households tend to favour red wines over white wine. In 2009, 63 per cent of households purchases at retailers consisted of red wine, 29 per cent of white wines and 8 per cent of rosé wines. (Source: Datamonitor 2011)

  • 78.7 per cent of wine imports to Germany still come from old world wine countries such as Italy, Spain and France. The majority of imported wine is red wine (60 per cent), compared to 25 per cent white wine and 7 per cent rosé (Source: Weinwirtschaft, 1/10, p.12).
  • New World wine imports are led by South Africa with a value of €72 million followed by Chile and USA – Australia ranks fifth after Austria. Looking at the price of EUR per hectolitre (EUR/hl), Australia is clearly leading the New World wine imports by charging on average 134 EUR/hl compared to 101 EUR/hl for South Africa.