Successful Marketing of German Wine in Export Markets

Geman Wine Institute Plans Comprehensive Package for 2007

28 July 2006

During its international export workshop on 12 and 13 July 2006, the export advisory board of the German Wine Institute (DWI), Mainz, discussed current and future marketing strategies in the most imortant export markets for German wines. It was agreed that the DWI will retain its 12 foreign offices in North America, Europe and Asia. More than 70% of the budget for export marketing will be invested in the four largest markets, i.e. Great Britain, USA, The Netherlands and Japan.

Clearly Defined Target Groups and Wine Sectors
Budgetary constraints continue to preclude the DWI from dierctly reaching European and overseas consumers via traditional advertising. As such, the number one goal is to convince opinion leaders and promulgators in the media, trade and restaurant business of the merits of German wines. DWI marketing efforts will focus exclusively on building image and fostering sales in the middle and premium price segments.

According to Steffen Schindler, DWI’s director of foreign marketing: “In supporting the premium segment, we are primarily building image; by increasing sales volume in the mid-price range, we’re supporting wines of good to above-average quality.”

Foreign supermarkets with high sales volume are often frequented by customers with little knowledge about wine. To draw their attention to German wine it’s important to make use of attractive visual effects, easy-to-understand designations, and to offer the wine at a reasonable price.

Carpe Diem: The Riesling Renaissance
The worldwide communication campaign will continue to focus on Riesling in the coming year. “Considering that Riesling is ‘hot’ at the moment, and given the fact that more than 60 percent of the worldwide area planted with Riesling is in Germany, one of the DWI’s most important foreign marketing strategies is to establish German Riesling in all ripeness levels and styles as the worldwide benchmark against which the quality and price of Riesling produced by suppliers elsewhere is measured,” emphasized Steffen Schindler.

The strategy is promising, as evident in the USA where it was first implemented in the 1990s. Across the nation, Riesling is one of the white varietals in vogue today – with outstanding growth rates. In the slipstream of this success, interest in other grape varieties is also burgeoning in the USA. Other varietals, particularly Grauburgunder (Pinot Grigio/Pinot Gris) and Spätburgunder (Pinot Noir), are grabbing interest, which creates new marketing perspectives for German wines.

Measures to Promote Image and Sales
During the past few years, young German wine-growers have caused quite a stir in the domestic market. This is reason enough to take these growers – dubbed “Generation Riesling” by the DWI – on the road to add a new dynamic to the image of German viticulture in European and overseas markets.

To reach its most important target group, the media, DWI has developed a solid outreach plan. DWI will continue to offer nearly forty study trips through the German wine-growing regions, focusing on themes such as wine and wellness, wine and tourism, women and wine, and wine in the restaurant business.

In addition, the DWI will continue to

organize joint presentation booths for German wine exhibitors at leading trade fairs, such as the world’s largest wine fair, Vinexpo in Bordeaux, and
arrange auxiliary programs for groups of visitors from around the world to trade fairs, such as ProWein in DÜsseldorf, and
present a showcase for German wines in a “Riesling Room” during the London International Wine & Spirits Fair.

The successful series of wine presentations with up to 70 German exhibitors – “Riesling & Co. World Tour” – will also continue, to create awareness of German wines among professionals from San Francisco to Tokyo. All initiatives will be accompanied by PR measures – press releases, conferences, and Internet info pages in numerous languages.

Continuity Pays Off
“Export growth figures of recent years confirm that the continuity of our foreign marketing strategies have paid off. They have – in conjunction with the modified wines on offer of our producers – led to a much stronger demand for German wines in general, and to a return to wine lists of top restauranteurs worldwide,” according to Steffen Schindler. He is equally pleased that the various branches within the German wine industry show increasing success in foreign markets – a common goal – despite differences on how to reach this goal.

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