Big waves in the small Weyher

Have you heard the saying, "What do I care if a sack of rice falls over in China?" This relaxed attitude is no longer appropriate—because in today's global world, even aspects that seemingly don't concern us at all can have quite striking consequences.

What happened? The Trump administration announced in the spring that it would impose new and significantly higher tariffs on numerous EU products. This particularly affected steel, aluminum, and cars. You might think that doesn't bother us winemakers much at first—but you'd be wrong!

The EU responded to this announcement with a similarly drastic tariff imposition – and added whiskey and bourbon to the group of affected products. This would have hit the US hard (and whiskey and bourbon fans here, too!).

Donald Trump then threatened to impose counter-tariffs of a whopping 200% on European alcoholic beverages.

And this was the moment when European winemakers got nervous. Really nervous. Because the USA has been the most important export market for German wine for years – at least in terms of value. According to the latest figures from the Statistical Wine Institute for 2023, the export value of German wines to the USA was 12.1% of total German sales. That's a whopping 139,000 hectoliters. Now, probably not all of you are familiar with the conversion to hectoliters, so we've converted that into standard 0.75-liter bottles – that's 18,533,333 bottles of wine.

We in Weyher also initially listened to the threat – even though we don't export any wine to the USA! Because those 18,533,333 bottles of wine have to go somewhere.

If German wine in the US is now priced at virtually the same level as a gold-plated bottle, the volume originally intended for export will remain in Germany... and fellow winemakers will (rather desperately) seek other markets. And what's the easiest (albeit painful) way to conquer new markets?

Right. With low prices that could flood the local market. That's where things come full circle... and the major upheavals in the global world are affecting little Weyher.

Caught, we caught you: You may have thought (very consistently): "Well, that's great for me. Then my favorite wine will be cheaper. Things couldn't be better!" That's true. But at the same time, it also means that more and more winemakers are giving up because the prices have to cover their costs. This would reduce the variety and the number of vineyards under cultivation.

But it's not quite there yet: International diplomacy has stepped in, because thank goodness someone remembered the kindergarten rule that pressure only creates counterpressure. A mutual 90-day tariff pause has been negotiated, ending on July 14, 2025. In the meantime, negotiations are raging like crazy... and the winemaking world is holding its breath.

Your counts, already slightly blue in the face, are waiting