When in a few weeks the wine will be flowing at Christmas dinner and the corks will be popping on New Year’s Eve, a marathon will come to an end in the cellars of the sparkling wine producer Rotkummel-Mumm. The German market leader for sparkling wine, wine and spirits traditionally generates around 20 percent of its annual turnover from business around the holidays, even – or especially – in times of crisis.
“People are looking for support,” said Christof Queisser, chairman of the board at Rotkäppchen-Mumm, on Thursday. The occasion was the presentation of a trend study on consumer behavior that the company had commissioned at the end of October. The result: in uncertain times, traditional celebrations become even more important – and with them, toasting together. “We saw this trend during Corona and it has intensified even further this year,” said Queisser.
“Glass is energy intensive”
The sparkling wine maker has also struggled with supply chain issues and increased costs this year, particularly for glass bottles. “Glass is energy intensive. Such a heavy glass bottle will quickly become twice as expensive in a year like 2022,” said Queisser. In the meantime he was worried that the glass bottles might not be enough for the Christmas business. “It looked very critical in the year,” said Queisser. The wineries are still under pressure: “It’s damn close and I’m sure that we’ll produce until December 23rd so that the bottle can be opened on New Year’s Eve”.
Although the costs for production and transport have risen sharply, the CEO is confident. “As a family company, we have a very long-term orientation and are solidly positioned, so we can cope with it,” said Queisser. Nevertheless, sparkling wine and wine lovers would have to reckon with the fact that their favorite brands are likely to become more expensive next year. “We expect that the price of a bottle of sparkling wine will rise by between 50 cents and one euro.”
“49 percent of Germans do not want to save on enjoyment”
The results of the trend study also show that despite inflation, Rotkummel-Mumm does not have to worry about customer demand. “49 percent of Germans do not want to save on enjoyment,” reports Queisser. Most consumers would rather book a cheaper vacation or cancel unused subscriptions than forgo the champagne to celebrate the day. “Purchasing reluctance is not quite as pronounced for luxury products as for other products,” says Queisser. convinced. In addition, 80 percent of the sparkling wine and wine drinkers surveyed stated that they particularly trusted the brands they had known for a long time.
However, the CEO does not expect large growth. In the summer, gastronomy benefited from the fact that many consumers wanted to make up for missed celebrations such as birthdays or weddings, which had a positive effect on the sparkling wine business. In contrast, however, demand in autumn was subdued.
“So far we have had stable business overall,” Queisser is confident. The balance the company can draw at the end of the year will only become apparent in the final days of the season. For this year’s public holidays, however, the CEO expects slightly weaker income than usual because Christmas falls on a weekend. As a result, many employees had fewer days at home with their families – and therefore fewer opportunities to toast with a glass of wine or sparkling wine.