Following on continuous growth in the past three years, value sales of wine in Germany declined by six per cent in the first half of 2010. Spanish wines as well as rosé wines have grown in popularity.

Based on GfK data, the German Wine Institute reports wine sales in volume terms have declined by two per cent in the first six months of this year. "Faced by economic uncertainty, it seems consumers have again paid greater attention to prices in the first half of the year", explains DWI chief executive Monika Reule. "If you look at the different distribution channels separately, you can see that it is particularly the direct sales by producers as well as sales by specialist wine retailers that have been hit hardest in both volume and value terms." The average price of a bottle of wine there is around 6 Euros, significantly higher than in supermarket chains including discount chains, where consumers spend on average only 2.47 Euros per liter of wine.

In terms of the origins, French and German producers suffered the largest declines, down by 11.5 resp. 7.6 per cent in volume terms and 13.4 resp. 10.6 per cent in value terms. Wines from Spain gained market share, posting an increase in value terms of 15.8 per cent. German producers still have a value market share of 52 per cent, far and away the market leader ahead of Italy and France.

Rosé wines have gained in popularity in the first half of this year, with a current market share of 9.8 per cent. (WF/press release)