No, this is not the new season of an international Netflix series, but the almost incredible success story of German wine in this Nordic country. On January 4th, 2021, the Norwegian alcohol monopoly Vinmonopolet has already published its sales figures for 2020 - their statistics office is obviously doing an incredible job!

German white wine is more popular than ever

And the great news is that German white wine is not only market leader, but it could even extend its already amazing market share from 27.5 to 28 percent. Due to the corona crisis and the fact that sales in the gastronomy were very limited in 2020, white wine sales at Vinmonopolet grew by no less than 44 percent, and German white wine grew even faster by +47 percent. No surprise that the second and third most sold white wines in Norway were German: Wongraven Morgenstern Riesling from the Pfalz region and Dr. L Riesling from the Mosel. Wongraven Riesling alone sold more than 1 million litres - also a new record for this brand founded by Norwegian rockstar Sigurd "Satyr" Wongraven (Read the interview).

It is not only Riesling

Even more impressive is the progress of German red wine, even though from a very low base. Sales tripled with an increase of +224 %, thus doubling the market share from a very small 0.2 percent to 0.4 percent. But there is more to come, and Villa Wolf Pinot Noir from the Pfalz region is now one of the top 100 red wines sold in Norway. Also something never heard of before.

In the smaller but quickly growing segment of rosé wines, sales of German rosé wines grew by 155 percent, thus raising Germany's market share from 3.1 to 4.5 percent, the bestselling German rosés coming from wine estates Gysler in Rheinhessen and Leitz in the Rheingau region.

Finally, among the 1,000 most sold wines in Norway - which the monopoly calls its "bestselgere" - its bestsellers - there is also a Rivaner from Reh-Kendermann's Black Tower brand and a Silvaner from wine-estate Dreißigacker in Rheinhessen. So it is not only Riesling any more. The love story might get even more fascinating.

source: Deutsches Weininstitut / The German Wine Institute / www.germanwines.de