Quality German wine finding favour in the UK

UK wine drinkers are getting a taste for premium German Rieslings. While sales of German wine in general have been falling steadily in the UK for around five years, sales of higher-priced wines have soared – and it’s mainly Rieslings that consumers are reaching for.

In the past two years sales of wines in the £6 to £7 bracket have risen 66 per cent and the number of wines selling for more than £10 have doubled, although, admittedly, this is from a small base of around 6,300 bottles in 2004.

Wines of Germany, the generic body, explained that overall sales are dropping because German wine is still suffering from its historical image of being cheap rubbish. However, premium-priced wines are finding fans because a lot of younger people don’t have the prejudice and connoisseurs like it because it’s a bit different - and not Chardonnay! In fact, when Harrods promoted German wine last year and listed some top-end estate wines, sales escalated by some 3,000 per cent.

The next step is to combat prejudice with the mainstream consumer, Wines of Germany told ThirtyFifty. To this end, a promotional campaign is being planned through Tesco for later this year, designed to get exposure on a large scale for the country’s quality wines.