A German wine and must production of 7.75 million hectoliters was recorded in 2024, the lowest in 15 years. According to the Federal Statistical Office (Destatis), the wine and must production in 2024 was 841,800 hectoliters or 9.8 percent lower than the previous year. Compared to the average of the years 2018 to 2023, 1.06 million hectoliters or 12.0 percent less wine and must were produced.
The 2024 wine year was marked by a wet spring, which favored the occurrence of diseases such as the false powdery mildew (Peronospora) in some regions. In addition, extreme weather events like late frosts, hail, storms, or heavy rain damaged the grape harvest in many places.
About two-thirds (69.4 percent) of the wine produced in 2024 were white wines and nearly a third (30.6 percent) were red wines (including rosé wine and red wine blends). Converted to 0.75-liter bottles, the wine and must production in 2024 amounts to around one billion bottles.
The share of quality wine in the production of 2024 was 16.1 percent (1.25 million hectoliters), which is significantly lower than in the previous year, when 23.7 percent of the produced wine could be classified as quality wine. In addition, 6.0 million hectoliters of quality wine, 344,600 hectoliters of wine with a protected geographical indication, 11,400 hectoliters of varietal wine without a protected designation of origin and without a protected geographical indication and 132,600 hectoliters of wine without a protected designation of origin and without a protected geographical indication were produced.
The two largest wine-growing regions, Rheinhessen and Pfalz, together accounted for more than half (54.5 percent) of the total German wine and must production. The Mosel region, with 1.14 million hectoliters (14.7 percent), came in third, with its results largely influenced by the large commercial wine merchants based there, who also take in grapes from other wine-growing regions to process them into wine. The Baden region came in fourth with 954,600 hectoliters (12.3 percent).
In the two regions of Rheinhessen and Pfalz, the development of wine production was almost unchanged compared to the previous year, with the produced quantities being 0.4 percent higher than in the previous year. In contrast, wine production decreased in all other regions compared to the previous year.
The decline in wine production was particularly strong in Baden and Württemberg, in Franconia and on the Mosel. In Baden, wine production decreased by 25.1 percent to 954,600 hectoliters and in Württemberg by 18.5 percent to 667,600 hectoliters. In Franconia, the produced wine quantity decreased by 26.5 percent to 302,200 hectoliters and on the Mosel by 7.9 percent to 1.14 million hectoliters.
The decline in wine production was particularly pronounced in some small, area-based wine-growing regions. For example, wine production in Saxony decreased by 68.9 percent to 9,000 hectoliters, in Saale-Unstrut by 63.8 percent to 17,600 hectoliters and on the Ahr by 54.5 percent to 22,400 hectoliters. The three mentioned wine-growing regions have an area of less than 1,000 hectares, according to Destatis.