Germany returns to normality: Italian wine flies, average price struggles

Germany, a bit like all the countries of the world, is once again looking with confidence at the present and at the future, and, despite the fact that the number of positive Covid-19 tests is on the rise again, driven by the Delta variant, the desire to return to normality is not going backward. A normality made of aperitifs and dinners out, but which brings with it small changes and adjustments in everyday habits that months of lockdown and restrictions have brought to everyday life. And from which wine has benefited, because, as recalled by the “Germany Wine Landscapes 2021”, signed by Wine Intelligence, in 2020, the frequency of wine consumption has increased compared to the previous year, a momentum that, both for domestic and imported wine, has continued in this beginning of 2021. It is no coincidence, in this sense, the growth of shipments of Italian wine, which, in the first four months of 2021, marked a +4.1%, to 359 million euros, as told by the latest Istat data analyzed by WineNews.
If the general sentiment is positive, with the desire of going back to travel, there is one thing that should make us think: compared to one year ago, the purchasing power of German consumers has decreased, and wine purchases are also affected by this trend. In this sense, the expenditure of the off trade channel, out of home, is still flat, despite a slight increase in the average price per bottle. This price, however, remains very low when wine is given as a gift: under 10 euros. The average expenditure is a constant in Germany, a fundamental market, but one that is always very attentive to the quality/price ratio, especially when compared to all the main consumer countries. To give another example, the average expense for a bottle at dinner out is just 17 euros, still 2 euros higher than in 2016.
Good news, as well as for Italian wine, numerically objective and unexceptionable, are especially valid for the domestic wine industry, to which German consumers are increasingly turning to, even increasing their spending, in the search for more and more quality, a dynamic that the pandemic has contributed to accelerate. In particular, younger consumers do not mind spending a few more euros in order to buy a bottle that is interesting and good, an aspect that the most innovative German wine brands are well aware of, accrediting themselves among wine lovers with the strength of history and innovation. Buying habits are changing as well, and with them the decision making processes which lead to the choice of a bottle: the profile, portrayed by Wine Intelligence, is that of a multi-channel consumer, who makes purchases in supermarkets, in wine shops and online, especially the youngest ones, drinkers on average very involved, who look for continuous contact points with the world of wine in the purchasing process.