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The situation of the VDP wine estates in 2022 has "clearly normalised and recovered". This is reported by the association in its "Report on the Situation". After the pandemic with closed gastronomy as well as slumped export business, it assesses the time as "well overcome". The winegrowers are currently reporting a continuous increase in demand.
However, the consequences of the pandemic and the Russian war of aggression on Ukraine are still causing problems for the wineries: Supply difficulties, such as for glass bottles, but also the cost increases in wine production as well as higher wage costs are causing problems for the wineries.
According to the published figures, the total turnover of the VDP wineries in 2022 has risen to around 489 million euros after the slight decline in turnover in 2021. Per estate, this corresponds to a sales volume of around 2.45 million euros.
In 2022, VDP estate wines cost an average of eleven euros, estate wines 14 euros, wines from "Erste Lagen" 20 euros and from great sites around 37 euros. The prices were "on average no more than one euro" more expensive than in 2021. Nevertheless, the association expects "that many wineries will be forced to raise prices again in 2023 in order to keep up with the cost development".
73 percent of VDP wines were sold in Germany in 2022, compared to 79 percent in 2021. This means that the export share will increase from 21 per cent to 27 per cent. The VDP's most important export markets include Scandinavia, above all Denmark and Norway, as well as the USA. The Netherlands, Belgium and Switzerland are also important export markets. In addition, the VDP winegrowers see good opportunities again for Great Britain "in the premium segment after years of weakness".
Domestically, 40 per cent of the VDP wineries were able to sell more wine. According to the VDP, the wineries were thus "less affected by the difficult market situation and the associated savings in consumption". On average, farm-gate sales were around 30 per cent in 2022, although the share of sales varied greatly from one estate to the next - according to VDP figures, the figures range from three to 80 per cent. However, almost half of the wineries were able to increase their ex-farm sales again last year.
One in three wineries in the VDP expects sales via the specialised trade to increase, even though the situation has become more difficult for the specialised trade due to cost increases and the comparability of prices on the net.
80 percent of the wineries in the VDP operate their own web shop, through which they sell an average of 12 percent of their wines. 64 per cent of VDP wineries work with online retailers and market about one tenth of their total sales through them on average per winery. The future role of online trade is assessed very differently by the winegrowers: While one in five wineries "expects further dynamic growth", the majority observe stagnation to a slight decline in online trade after the pandemic at an overall higher level than before 2020.
(uka / Source: VDP)