The Verband Deutscher Prädikatsweingüter(VDP) describes the situation in its Annual Report 2025 with declining wine consumption not as a crisis, but as a structural change. The market demands more presence, more explanation, and more relationship management. Sales happen less automatically; they must be actively shaped – for example, through travel, events, tastings, alternative sales formats, and more personal support for sales partners, as well as closer customer relationships.

Overall, VDP businesses sold 33.5 million bottles of wine in the previous year, down from 35.7 million bottles in 2024. This resulted in approximately 426 million euros in revenue, or about 2.1 million euros per winery – three-quarters of which were in the domestic market. The average price for a VDP estate wine currently stands at 11.50 euros (66 percent of the total VDP production), for a village wine 17 euros (17 percent), for a Erste Lage wine 22.50 euros (twelve percent), and for a Grosse Lage wine 42 euros (five percent). For comparison: The average price for a 0.75-liter bottle of German wine is 3.35 euros.

22 percent of the businesses report increasing and 31 percent stable revenues. Direct sales account for one-third. Nine out of ten VDP wineries now have their own webshop, generating about twelve percent of sales. External online retailers sell about five percent of the wines. One in five bottles goes directly to gastronomy. In the grocery retail sector, around six percent of VDP wines are sold, with discounters accounting for less than one percent.

Exports are becoming increasingly important as a counterbalance to the shrinking domestic market, despite political tensions. About a quarter of VDP wines are exported. 70 percent of businesses report increasing or at least stable export shares. The most important markets currently are Scandinavia, the USA, the UK, and Switzerland.

(al; Image: VDP by Peter Bender)

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