Esslingen (dpa/lsw) - The cooperative winegrowers in Württemberg are expecting a good vintage in 2022 - but with an average harvest. "The dry and sunny summer provided the best conditions for ripe and healthy grapes," said the President of the Baden-Württemberg Cooperative Association, Roman Glaser, on Monday in Esslingen. With around 75 million liters read in Württemberg, the yield is significantly higher than in the weak previous year (61.5 million liters) and is satisfactory in a multi-year comparison.
The winegrowers' cooperatives in the Baden wine-growing region had previously forecast a harvest of around 90 million liters and thus around 40 percent more than in the previous year. In both growing areas, around two thirds of the vineyards are cultivated cooperatively.
Despite general reluctance to buy, sales of cooperative wine and sparkling wine from Württemberg amounted to 31.1 million liters in the first half of 2022, 2.8 percent more than in the same period of the previous year. Sales, on the other hand, fell slightly and, at EUR 92.9 million, were 0.9 percent below the first half of 2021.
The background is that in the long term, despite increased production costs, there have hardly been any price increases, said Glaser. In view of the galloping costs, there must now be a moderate price adjustment. He did not say exactly how high this could be - but the companies would have cost increases of 10 to 20 percent.
Overall, the cooperatives are more robust than the entire wine market, it said. The association referred to a survey by the market research institute Nielsen, according to which Germany-wide wine sales fell by 15 percent and sales by 12 percent in the first half of the year.
