The Invisible Crisis in Germany's Wine Industry

WINE TALK
41

Maybe expand this a bit to $22-28, and you could buy 2023 Kabinett from Steinmetz and Richter from Panzer and/or Lyle on release in late 2024.

K&L currently shows several 2022 and 2023 Kabinett bottlings on its website in or below that range. One Richter marked down from $26 to $19 and then regularly priced bottles between $20 and $28 from Selbach-Oster, Donnhoff, Richter, Loosen, and Zilliken (with a Haag at $30).

Certainly, JJP and WS left the sub-$30 Kabinett market (in the US) a few years ago, and likewise MG, but among those I follow, there are still as many in that range as now above it.

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42

$20 in fall 2002 is $35 now just based on inflation.

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43

Hey David, I am sure you are correct. I’m no math expert nor an expert on inflation rates (although it appears there’s lots of opinions on the topic).

Maybe it’s a matter of my total financial picture looked different in 2002 than it does in 2025. So that, for me, $20 then does not equal $35 today. In 2002 I was living in a small East Village studio and probably paying $800/month in rent with minimal life responsibilities. Today, with a mortgage, two stepkids, increasing medical bills, taxes left and right, car insurance, trying to save for retirement, yadda, yadda, it’s not a matter of the math underlying inflation. It’s a more basic can I afford this wine at this price given the household budget?

Without getting deeply into economics (and any adjacent politics), there’s plenty of folks for whom salary (total remuneration) has not kept up with inflation. As a result, one can look at a $35 wine today and it’s an easy pass. I just hope this point does not get overlooked in the conversation. I do believe it is a factor in the struggles of wineries across the globe (among many other factors). And a factor not limited to the wine industry per se.

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44

I agree that the wine budget has to exist in context. I just don’t want it to be seen that producers are greedy. The vast majority are not.

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45

Agree on availability but it can come down to where and final cost to acquire. If it’s a $22 bottle of wine where the costs to acquire make the final price substantially higher then it’s moot (to me). I am not in NYC much and can’t pop into a store to grab a couple of bottles. For shipping to work there has to be an economy of scale (usually 6 or 12 bottles). So one might end up spending more money in the form of extra bottles ordered than realize any savings on a given affordable wine.

I am sure this is felt by many participants here who do not have easy access to a variety of wines. I was in Wine Library this weekend where I got the Pieropan and looked at the German section and nothing was a must buy so I didn’t. I looked at Chablis and Sancerre too, at the prices asked same result. I did buy an entry level Schloss Gobelsburg GV for $19 though. And some cheese.

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46

Certainly not and I tried to take pains in my first post in this thread to emphasize that every winery has a right to a nice profit. I don’t think there is any gouging (unless via the gray market for certain wines). But at the end of the day one has to pass on wines one would have snatched up under past circumstances. I am lucky to still have a nice quantity of aged Riesling from back in the day (same for many types of wine I don’t buy today either).

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47

Doesn’t this timeline pretty much perfectly line-up with the explosion of the internet, bringing worldwide commerce into folks’ laps worldwide? In other words, in addition to Inflation, now we have worldwide internet commerce, which equals more demand, which can support higher prices. … just a guess, but I feel pretty good about it.

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48

What you are describing is the ongoing disappearance of the middle class in our country, and the consequences of it. Things get pretty political pretty fast from here, so … yeah.

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49

I agree, here in Germany too that we notice a crumbling of the middle-class.

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50

CPI is 1.8 x 2001 prices, so if your salary hasn’t at least doubled, you’re falling behind.

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51

Like in 90% of areas that have vines planted in Europe but my point was more like it’s really hard to make decent or any amount of money if you are very small producer selling wines without premium wine price tag (50+ eur/bottle) and certain hype like many of these producers especially in Mosel still does. It’s maybe easier in some areas in Europe but Germany is not exactly a cheap country to live. There are lots of recent examples when new generation has took over small estate, making really good wines but is still working full time elsewhere because total amount of production is just too small and wine is way too cheap for that amount of bottles.

Cellar door prices have not doubled in the last 10 years or so especially if we are speaking of small estates with no hype or VDP stamp. I’d say what was ~€8 bottle 10 years ago is now ~10-12€ bottle. So around 20-30% would be about average imo.

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52

Quite a few producers have already expanded significantly. Often more at the basic end of things.

The logistical challenges of many parcels along the Mosel shouldn’t be underestimated.

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53

Expansion is not the right answer. Quality is the way to go. Julian and Nadine Haart, Falkenstein and many others have zero problem selling their wine. But it takes a lot work. And don’t get me wrong I am not saying they are getting rich it is a tough business.

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54

Yes, this is correct. I am falling behind. And believe I am very much not alone in this. Again, no boo-hoo. But this macro context should be considered in the multiple threads about wineries (and the industry as a whole, in which I work) hurting. It’s hard to imagine this not being a factor, albeit most here are insulated from it.

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55

I live in Baden/Germany. Lots of vineyards are for sale. Nobody is interested in buying. Result: a lot of ragged plots. Not nice to see and this is only the beginning. With a few exceptions (the big and well known names) most of the vintners are in trouble. That is a problem for the tourism too.

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56

A ton of wine in the world (too much). A ton for all manner of preference/taste/lifestyle-matching.

You can work with a strong national importer/strong regional distributor, but this still only (maybe/hopefully) gets the wine on a list or on a shop shelf - there still has to be interest for someone to sell these bottles, and interest for someone to buy/drink.

German Wine is not the only wine category where this applies/will apply in the future.

The more that can be done to help provide ‘experiences’ that shine a favorable light to why these wines might matter to any one individual, the better.

Inflating the hype balloon on particular vintages/producers doesn’t seem a sustainable solution (though in small/measured doses, this has up-side). Short vintages won’t ‘reset the market/re-balance demand’. And producers jumping ship to big national suppliers, prices going up 20-30% - that doesn’t really help anything much either.

Take it to the streets, open rad bottles for friends and strangers (and hopefully all involved think this a worthwhile bit of a shared ‘marketing budget’).

Young-ish folks (say, 21-35) just don’t get to interact with bottles that might become a raison d’etre for getting into wine, and making it a part of their life/lifestyle - be it Mosel, or otherwise (Burgundy/Champagne/Barolo/Napa/etc - all ‘not cheap’ categories, and what becomes of their ‘market’ when current drinkers/collectors age out? Cool, if you’re a ‘big name’ - but what if you’re just another producer with expensive bottles?).

There will probably always (maybe) be dudes for those Keller G-Max bottles. But if a thing like Verde from Eva Fricke becomes (or did become, and now maybe not) a $33.33 wholesale bottles of wine (so nearing $50 on a shop’s shelf, and a whole lot more on a bottle list) - that’s tough. Money is real on both sides (producer/‘consumer’). And while there is likely no better QPR in all of wine, there’s just not any baked-in/set-in-stone demand for singular/specific German wine. It takes effort, and partnership, and awareness. Or something like that.

** worth noting, there’s a dude interacting in this thread who very much ‘takes it to the street’. Thanks for that, Robert.

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57

It is similar to the Mosel where you are required by law to rip up a vineyard if you are not using it? I know of a few instances where vineyard owners have allowed newer winemakers to use their vineyards so they did not have to spend the money to rip the vines out. Crazy!

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I’m hesitant to wade in amongst the true experts but I love Lauer Barrel X in the < $24 tier.

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59

I am not sure if a law like this (Mosel) exists in Baden. If so nobody care.

We have some of those " start up garage wineries" in Baden too. But this trend can not compensate the amount of vintners who give up the business.

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Great wine and it can easily age 7-10.

Also the entry level Weiser-Künstler.

I could be very happy drinking these wines only for the rest of my life

Lauer Barrel X
Wei-Ku Blue label
Stein Weihwasser
Stein Blausschiefer
AJ Adam Hofberg Kabinett
Loewen Herrenberg (I see some at Binnys for $16!)

All can be found for under $25

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