|
|
In 2020, winegrowers in Germany produced 8.41 million hectolitres of wine including must. As reported by the Federal Statistical Office (Destatis), wine and must production thus increased by 187,500 hectolitres or 2.3 percent compared to 2019. Compared to the six-year average from 2014 to 2019, however, wine and must production in 2020 was 4.8 per cent lower. The forecast of the German Wine Institute (DWI) from October 2020 was 0.2 per cent higher.
67 percent and thus about two thirds of the wines produced in 2020 were white wines, 33 percent were red wines including Rosé and Rotling. Converted into 0.75-litre bottles, the wine and must production of 2020 amounts to about 1.1 billion bottles.
According to Destatis, one reason for the below-average vintage quantity is that 2020 was the third year in a row with a very dry summer. The precipitation was also very unevenly distributed. In 2018, the lower precipitation could still be compensated for by the fact that the vines had rested in the following year after the exceptionally small 2017 vintage and there was still sufficient groundwater available. In addition, the fruit set was high and there was no reduction in yield due to rot.
Of the total wine and must production in 2020, the share of Prädikat wine was 32 percent (2.72 million hectolitres). In addition, 5.36 million hectolitres of quality wine (64 per cent) and only 326,300 hectolitres of quality wine or Landwein (4 per cent) were produced.
The two large wine-growing regions of Rheinhessen (2.53 million hectolitres) and Pfalz (1.75 million hectolitres) together produced more than half (51 percent) of all German wine and must. The Mosel wine-growing region followed in third place with 1.42 million hectolitres (17 percent), but its results are influenced by large commercial wineries located there. They also process grapes from other wine-growing regions into wine in larger quantities. In fourth and fifth place are Baden with 1.09 million hectolitres (13 per cent) and Württemberg with 744,200 hectolitres (9 per cent).
(uka / Photo: German Wine Institute)