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At the same time and continuing the trend of recent years, consumers were prepared to spend more on wine.

Thus the average price per litre of wine sold in the total food retail sector (where three-quarters of all wine is purchased) rose by two percent to €2.97 / litre and by three percent to €3.23 / litre for wines from Germany´s wine regions.

For wines purchased directly from the producer (cellar door sales), consumers paid an average of €6.23 / litre.The importance of German food retailers – especially the full-range suppliers - for sales of German wine has risen significantly in recent years.

In 2015 alone their market share increased from 61 to 65 percent. The traditional supermarkets (less than 5,000 sq. m) in particular are becoming increasingly important as a distribution channel for German producers. By expanding their range with regional and higher-quality wines, their market share in sales of domestic wine has grown from 10 to 17 percent since 2012.

In the same period however, cellar door sales have fallen from 30 to 27 per cent.DWI managing director Monika Reule sees two main reasons for this development: “On the one hand we have noticed an increased shifting of wine distribution - even from smaller producers - to the more competitive food retailers. Furthermore, the demographic change with an ageing society has an increasing influence on wine consumer behaviour.

Especially with older consumers we have noticed a decline in cellar door sales, which could not be offset by gains in the middle-aged groups."The decline in cellar door sales has essentially also led to the decrease in sales and turnover of German wines in the market as a whole, each falling by five percent last year. However, with a 45 percent share of the domestic market, German producers are still by far the market leaders in their own country.

Italy takes second place with a market share of 16 percent, France with 13 percent and Spain eight per cent.

The shares of red, white and rosé wine in household purchases in 2015 remained unchanged. As in the previous year, red wine accounted for 48 percent, white wine 42 percent and rosé 10 percent of wine sales in Germany.

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