First EUROVINO Day brings together industry expertise at Messe Karlsruhe and provides relevant impetus
Last Friday, 10 January 2025, Messe Karlsruhe celebrated the start of the EUROVINO year 2025 as part of the first EUROVINO Day together with numerous wine producers, marketers and buyers as well as other industry players.

The new talk and networking format, EUROVINO Day, was organised under the theme ‘The wine industry in transition: From tradition to the future. What remains? What's coming?’ provided exciting insights and impetus to help address current issues and challenges in practice and set the right course for the future. In two thematic blocks, high-ranking specialists from the industry shared their expertise and entered into discussion with each other.
The EUROVINO Day also provided a preview of EUROVINO on 9 and 10 March 2025 – more information here – and offered the opportunity for personal exchange and networking.

‘There are winners even in declining markets and market segments’
The first theme block focussed on the positioning of the German wine industry in a national and international context with questions about the positioning of wine in the various markets and in social perception.
Prof Dr Dieter Hoffmann, emeritus professor at Hochschule Geisenheim University, kicked off the event with his keynote speech entitled ‘Germany as reflected in the global wine market. A look at the current wine market situation and outlook for the future.’ He outlined that the current situation on the wine market is characterised by a steady and currently particularly strong decline in wine consumption, behind which long-term structural causes due to changes in the population structure and short-term economic causes can be identified. One of the consequences he drew from this was: ‘In addition to the most well-organised decline in wine production, it is therefore important to focus on gaining market share in known or newly conquered market segments. [...] Because even in declining markets or market segments, there are winners. The market is always on the move - e.g. through new brands, design in appearance and flavour, grape varieties and winemaker stories. Knowing the preferences of target customers is the key to success.’
The participants in the panel discussion following the keynote speech, moderated by Dr Hermann Pilz, Chairman of the EUROVINO Advisory Board, discussed the key question ‘Setting the course for the wine industry yesterday and today. What has proved successful, what has proved problematic and what can we learn from this for the future?’. On the one hand, they discussed how wine as a cultural asset perceives its position in society, and on the other hand, one of the focal points was the question of how the legal framework for the production and labelling of German wines affects marketing opportunities. Is the current law and the changes planned for the future suitable for giving German wines a higher profile? Are the legal framework conditions able to guarantee the product differentiation demanded on the market? The panel made it clear that the wine law regulations should give individual entrepreneurs more freedom. Further insights into the discussion round can be found in the full-length video on topic block I, including the outlook for EUROVINO 2025 with Britta Wirtz, Managing Director of Messe Karlsruhe, and David Köhler, Project Manager of EUROVINO. This can be found here at any time.

‘The wine industry is at a turning point’
The second theme block focussed on the current situation and the opportunities available to wine producers and wine marketers, but also to retailers in the various sales channels and markets.
To this end, Dr Larissa Strub, Institute for Wine and Beverage Management at Hochschule Geisenheim University, presented the latest findings on success-oriented corporate management from the Geisenheim company analysis in her keynote speech, together with the question ‘Where do wineries, wine cellars and cooperatives stand?’ in this context. Summarising, she explained: ‘The wine industry is at a turning point: changing consumer habits and demographic trends are forcing the industry to adapt production volumes to falling demand. Rising costs and stagnating prices require consistent business management monitoring in companies in order to remain future-proof.’
The panel discussion that followed the keynote speech focussed on companies in the wine industry, represented by participants from wineries and cooperatives as well as retailers. Under the title ‘Focus on the future’, the discussion centred on the challenges facing companies in the wine industry on the one hand and on the development opportunities that are opening up for wineries, winegrowers' cooperatives, wineries and the trade on the other. Among other things, it became clear that one of the key challenges for all those involved in the wine industry is to establish closer links between producers and marketers in order to better address and reach end consumers. Following on from the ‘consistent business management monitoring’ already mentioned by Dr Strub, the panel also emphasised the aspects of cost controlling and profit-oriented thinking as decisive factors for a successful future. Topic block II can be viewed in full at any time here.
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About EUROVINO
Located in the center of the four largest German wine-growing regions of Rheinhessen, Pfalz, Baden and Württemberg, EUROVINO is aimed at wine producers, marketers and buyers with a focus on the German-speaking and European sales market. Everything you need to know about EUROVINO is always available at www.eurovino.info/en and on the social media channels LinkedIn, Instagram and Facebook.
Information for visitors including tickets (identification as a trade visitor is required) can be found at eurovino.info/en/visit. Relevant information for (potential) exhibitors can be found in the overview at eurovino.info/en/exhibit.
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Click here to go directly to the recordings of the two thematic blocks of the EUROVINO Day:
Theme block 1: https://youtu.be/nF8U5MuMVlQ
Theme block 2: https://youtu.be/SKzxSxfxJ4M