Winegrowing summit calls for more visibility for German wines

According to the Rhineland-Palatinate Minister of Viticulture, the eight federal states with wine production have agreed on targeted improvements in the midst of the crisis in this sector. According to the head of the department, Daniela Schmitt (FDP), they agreed on a joint paper at a winegrowing summit in Rheingau, Hesse. It is about stable framework conditions, less bureaucracy, stronger origin and quality profiling and more visibility for German wines at home and abroad.

Rising costs, less consumption, overproduction and international competition are putting winegrowing under pressure. Hesse's Minister of Viticulture Ingmar Jung (CDU) had invited representatives from Rhineland-Palatinate, Baden-Württemberg, Bavaria, Saarland, Saxony, Saxony-Anhalt and Thuringia as well as from the Federal Ministry of Agriculture to the first meeting of its kind at Eberbach Monastery near Eltville.

Minister Schmitt emphasized: "German wine is one of the best in the world." Its current market share of only 42 percent in the Federal Republic does not do justice to this. The many other bottles of wine on the German market are imports.

Wine Minister wants more guidance for wine buyers

According to Schmitt, even clearer guidance is needed for consumers: "Anyone buying a bottle of wine needs to know what's inside - and what they can expect in terms of taste. That's why we want to focus the predicate system on sweet wines in the medium term." The predicate system is a classification into higher wine quality levels.

Hesse's Minister of Viticulture Jung is also calling for more visibility for German viticulture. Improved marketing would also strengthen the cultural landscapes of the wine-growing regions and thus ultimately also tourism, emphasizes the winemaker's son.

His Rhineland-Palatinate counterpart Schmitt also referred to the Green Week from January 16 to 25, 2026 in Berlin: "There we will showcase our winegrowers, their innovations and their distinctive regions of origin in the best possible light."