Ministers want to strengthen winegrowers in wine crisis at meeting

The first meeting of all responsible ministers of the federal states with viticulture is to focus on strengthening the industry in the midst of the crisis. On Thursday and Friday (20/21 November), the heads of department from eight federal states want to discuss legal and economic improvements for winegrowers in the Rheingau region of Hesse. Rising costs, less consumption, overproduction and international competition are putting winegrowing under pressure.

According to information from the German Press Agency (Deutsche Presse-Agentur), the topics to be discussed at Eberbach Monastery near Eltville include reforms to wine law and more comprehensible bottle labeling. The aim is to improve orientation for consumers and thus marketing for winegrowers.

Half of all federal states involved

Invited - apart from Hesse - are ministers from Rhineland-Palatinate, Baden-Württemberg, Bavaria, Saarland, Saxony, Saxony-Anhalt and Thuringia.

The meeting is also about reducing bureaucracy. Currently, the state and the wine industry make extensive regulations on how a wine must be in order to receive a certain designation. According to dpa, Hesse would like the industry to give itself a higher profile and for the growing regions to increasingly define for themselves what characteristics their wines should have.

Temporary halt to the re-designation of vineyards?

In addition, winegrowing businesses could also take on more responsibility for advertising and controls in the future, it was said before the ministerial meeting. It is the task of the federal and state governments to support this system change towards more self-administration and to develop sustainable financing concepts with the wine industry.

According to dpa information, the federal states would also like the federal government to lobby the EU for a regionalized, temporary halt to the designation of additional vineyards.

The inviting Hessian Minister of Viticulture Ingmar Jung (CDU) repeatedly emphasizes that for every ten bottles of wine consumed in Germany, only four come from domestic production - more than half are imported from other countries. According to Jung, German viticulture must become more visible. Improved marketing would strengthen the cultural landscapes of the wine-growing regions and thus ultimately also tourism.

"Independent platform beyond the Agriculture Ministers' Conference"

The ministerial meeting on Thursday and Friday is to develop guidelines for wine-growing policy. According to the Hessian Ministry of Viticulture, the meeting is a new "independent platform beyond the Conference of Agriculture Ministers". The almost 900-year-old Eberbach Monastery is a tourist magnet and at the same time the Hessian state winery, which is currently running at a loss. It wants to raise its profile.