How Austrian wine tackled the challenges of 2023

Last year was challenging for Austrian wine with inflation and high interest rates slowing down the market, but the wine marketing board explained how it responded to the situation.

Outlined in its annual report, Austrian Wine highlighted how it organised 160 events at which the board presented 9,613 Austrian wines from 921 different wineries.

Speaking about the headwinds, the body said: “It became obvious in 2022 that the end of the coronavirus pandemic would not automatically bring about a rapid market recovery.

“The war in Ukraine, together with rising inflation and high interest rates, is causing severe economic upheaval – particularly in terms of a steep increase in costs. Austrian Wine responded to this with well-targeted initiatives in both the domestic and international markets.”

Sales campaign

Referencing sales, it said that they “struggled” in 2023, both for the on-trade and the off-trade, and there was only “slight growth in wine revenue” (on-trade: +2.7%, off-trade: +2.0%, Q1–Q3 2023), while sales dropped slightly (on-trade: -1.8% off-trade: -2.5%).

Austrian winegrowers are feeling the effects of this sluggish market situation. Responding to this, Austrian Wine increased its activity in the domestic market in autumn and winter 2023, running promotional initiatives in the on-trade, off-trade and wine tourism industries, while also focusing advertising in western Austria, where a lot of domestic wine is sold during the winter season. They also ran a country-wide social media campaign, which drove demand for Austrian wine.

Exports

In a bid to stabilise the domestic market, Austrian Wine also focused their efforts on the international markets in 2023 with the market share of Austrian wine on the domestic market is traditionally very high.

Wine trips brought 406 international industry experts to Austria, it said, and 569 visits to wineries. These trips enabled visitors to experience the quality of Austrian wines first-hand and expand their professional network by connecting with local winegrowers, it claimed.

8,414 wines were presented around the world including the body targeting the German and American off-trade at ProWein Düsseldorf and ProWine China with representatives from hundreds of Austrian wineries. All in all, Austrian Wine organized 142 export activities in the international markets.

Prospect of recovery

After a 26.8% increase in value between 2019 and 2022 – despite the coronavirus – growth in 2023 is “expected to be small”, it said, with some markets such as Germany, Canada or Asia, experiencing growth, but others shrank.

It remained optimistic though, stating that it produced “high-quality, fresh wines that are produced with an environmentally conscious approach are just what many consumers around the world are looking for”.

In 2024 Austrian Wine said driving sales in the domestic market would be a key focus.

Austrian Wine CEO Chris Yorke said: “All of our activities are aimed at providing the best possible support for our winegrowers, in both the domestic and international markets. It is key that we consolidate all our energy and tackle these turbulent times together.

“After all, I’ve always believed that one of the greatest strengths of the Austrian wine industry is the way we pull together.”