A survey carried out by German magazine Focus and Vinexpo has shown that when buying wine, German women focus more on origin and grape variety than on the price.

The typical female German wine consumer appreciates wine as a cultural product, and preferably enjoy wine with friends. This is the conclusion of an international study that has for the first time analysed female consumer behaviour with regard to wine in five different countries. Together with consumer and trade media, the world's largest wine trade fair, Vinexpo, has analysed responses from more than 4.000 women questioned in Germany, France, England, the USA and Japan with regard to their preferences and customs with regard to wine. The German partners in this survey were the magazine Focus, and Focus Online.

Six of ten women stated that they drink wine at least once a week. Germany is in second place, at 66.1%, behind the USA at 92.5%. Questioned as to the reasons, why they drink wine, 79.3% of all respondents replied that they enjoyed the taste; in Germany, this figure was a high 82.2%. In France, the connection between food and wine is the most decisive factor for consuming wine. According to 87.8% of German women questioned, there is no problem in combining the consumption of wine with a healthy, balanced diet.

Women are very focused and conscious of what they are looking for when buying wine. The German female wine lover prefers to buy wine in a specialist retail shop (56.4%) rather than in a supermarket (49.6%). 48.2% of respondents buy wine directly at the estate. The Internet play a minor part - 21.1% of sales internationally, and only 7.7% in Germany.

As far as the Female German wine lover is concerned, origin is a decisive criterion in selecting a wine (65.3%), followed by grape variety (57.6%) and finally the price (35.7%). In the other four countries, women declared price was the most important criterion - 56.7% said so. Incidentally, red wines are more popular than white wines: Among all women questioned, 60.1% prefer red wine, in Germany the figure is 52.2%. (WF/press release)