DWI-director Monika Reule emphasized that the total amount of vineyards in Germany had not changed since 1999 despite termination of wine businesses: "We have been experiencing an enormous concentration process in the wine industry, which is increased even more by new generations. Successful wine businesses with young, qualified junior vintners thankfully take over left behind vineyards. Thus, the number of businesses with more than five hectares of vineyards has increased by 1.5 percent to about 6.000 in the past 10 years. This change also reflects the increasing professionalisation of wine businesses", says the DWI-director.
The wine-growing regions Middlerhine, Rhinegau, Moselle, Palatinate and Rhinehesse saw the largest concentration processes with business terminations as high as about 40 percent. In terms of winery numbers, Saale-Unstrut developed against the trend. The number of businesses in the Eastern wine-growing region increased by 146 to a total of 679; it is important to add that parallel to this, the vineyards have increased by about 90 hectares since 1999 as well.
The average winery sizes depend on how good mechanisation works on vineyard cultivation on the one hand and on the structures of wine businesses on the other. In Rhinehesse and Palatinate for instance, where many work processes can be done by machines due to the high amount of flat areas, the business sizes amount to about six to eight hectares.
In the wine-growing regions Moselle and Middlerhine, which are dominated by work-intensive steep hills, the average vineyard size per business is only about 2 hectares. In Baden and Württemberg 80 percent of wine businesses are organized in co-ops. In many cases, viticulture is acted out also in sidelines, which explains the rather small size of about one hectar per business. The average size of 0.2 hectares per business shows that there is wine-growing is more of a hobby for people in Saxonia, with only few exceptions. (red.yoopress)
The following chart shows a summary of the winery business development since 1989 in business size and vineyards in wine-growing regions:
Winery sizes in hectares | All Wineries | Diff. 09/99 in% | |||
2009 | 1999 | 1989 | Diff. 09/99 | ||
below 0,2 | 16.547 | 23.473 | 21.620 | -6.926 | -29,5 |
0,2 to 0,5 | 10.904 | 17.156 | 20.365 | -6.252 | -36,4 |
0,5to 1 | 5.660 | 9.072 | 12.039 | -3.412 | -37,6 |
1 to 2 | 4.130 | 6.298 | 9.220 | -2.168 | -34,4 |
2 to 5 | 4.784 | 6.706 | 9.118 | -1.922 | -28,7 |
5 and more | 5.984 | 5.898 | 5.026 | 86 | 1,5 |
Total | 48.009 | 68.603 | 77.388 | -20.594 | -30,0 |
Source: Federal Statistics Office | |||||
Amount of Wineries and Vineyards in relation to wine-growing regions in Germany
Wine-growing region | All Wineries | Diff. 09/99 in% | Vineyards Region in hectares | Ø Vineyard per Winery in hectares | ||
2009 | 1999 | Diff. 09/99 | ||||
Rhinehesse | 3.451 | 5.631 | - 2.180 | -39 | 26.480 | 7,7 |
Palatinate | 4.165 | 6.890 | - 2.725 | -40 | 23.467 | 5,6 |
Baden | 14.056 | 19.918 | - 5.862 | -29 | 15.836 | 1,1 |
Württemberg | 10.831 | 14.138 | - 3.307 | -23 | 11.435 | 1,1 |
Mosel | 4.415 | 7.371 | - 2.956 | -40 | 8.976 | 2,0 |
Franconia | 4.901 | 6.586 | - 1.685 | -26 | 6.104 | 1,2 |
Nahe | 783 | 1.074 | - 291 | -27 | 4.163 | 5,3 |
Rhinegau | 814 | 1.384 | - 570 | -41 | 3.062 | 3,8 |
Saale-Unstrut | 679 | 5.33 | 146 | 27 | 704 | 1,0 |
Ahr | 637 | 7.00 | - 63 | -9 | 557 | 0,9 |
Saxonia | 2.559 | 3.213 | - 654 | -20 | 461 | 0,2 |
Middlerhine | 245 | 4.29 | - 184 | -43 | 458 | 1,9 |
Hesse Bergstraße | 454 | 703 | - 249 | -35 | 427 | 0,9 |
Total: | 48.009 | 68.603 | -20.594 | -30,0 | 102.186 | 2,1 |
Source: Federal Statistics Office | ||||||
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