More and more small winegrowers in Saxony are giving up

The number of small winegrowers in Saxony continues to decline. As the State Environment Agency announced in Dresden on Friday, more than 2000 of them have thrown in the towel in the past 20 years. While there were 3652 small winegrowers in 2007, by 2023 there were only 1301. One reason for this is the ageing of the winegrowers. In addition, increased production costs made cultivation unprofitable.

Including full-time and part-time winegrowers, there were 1381 winegrowers in Saxony last year. In 2022, there were still 1468.

According to the state office, Saxony's wine-growing region includes 519 hectares of vineyards in Saxony, Saxony-Anhalt and Brandenburg. At 81 percent, the majority of the land was used for the cultivation of white wine - primarily the Riesling, Müller-Thurgau, Pinot Blanc and Pinot Gris varieties. Among the red varieties, Pinot Noir and Dornfelder were cultivated in particular.

2023 was a rather good wine year. The total harvest amounted to 29,609 hectolitres - a yield of 57 hectolitres per hectare. In 2022, winegrowers had been able to harvest 50 hectoliters per hectare.