Wine Consumption in Germany Reaches All-time High
By: DWIMAINZ, Germany. Wine consumption in Germany from August 2006 through July 2007 reached a new all-time high: 20.6 liters per capita. Every year the German Wine Institute/Mainz commissions the German Wine-growers’ Association/Bonn to provide a balance sheet of stocks and depletions during the last fiscal year – from which per capita consumption can be calculated.
In all, there was a turnover of 16.9 million hectoliters of domestic and foreign still wines. Compared with the same period the year before, per capita consumption increased by half a liter. During the past decade, annual wine consumption has increased by 2.5 liters per person.
The balance sheet includes data about on-premise consumption, such as in restaurants (ca. 20%), as well as household wine purchases (ca. 80%) during the fiscal year. The German Wine Institute’s managing director, Monika Reule, welcomes this positive development, particularly the fact that German wine is increasingly popular in the domestic market – its “home.”
Sparkling Wine Consumption is Stable
Sparkling wine consumption hasn’t changed since 2005/2006, when it had already reached 3.7 liters per person.
In all, the current balance sheet shows that the combined per capita consumption of still and sparkling wine lies at 20 million hl, equal to 24.3 liters per person.
This volume of demand puts the German wine market in fourth place among the world’s largest consumer markets for wine. France is first (ca. 33 million hl), followed by Italy (ca. 28 million hl), and the USA (ca. 24 million hl).
