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I notice an ad that is being leaked to me by a confused algorithm: A German discounter is promoting a bottle of Württemberg Dornfelder for 0.99 euros - a three-quarters of a liter of wine for less than one euro.

First of all, I think that I don't have to fear the algorithms take over power as long as they, like this one, misjudge me gigantically.

But then I ask myself: how does it work?

One can assume that this bottle of Dornfelder was bought by the discounter for 80 cents.

The empty bottle alone, the cheapest quality, costs at least 30 cents.

That can not be!

Now this Dornfelder is a special case because it is an absolutely rock-bottom price and this wine is probably the wine of a cooperative that was unable to sell it in the usual way.

It is also clear that such a low price for German wine can not please even plurre manufacturers, who unfortunately still exist in abundance in Germany.

But such a wine finds its buyers in a country that has been in first place in Europe for sales of cheap wines for many years.

The majority of German consumers do not want to spend more than five euros on a bottle of wine, and the average price for a liter has been around three euros for around two decades.

Needless to say, one liter is more than the standard 0.75 liter bottle contains.

You have to want to afford good wine

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Yes: it is a question of culture.

And yes: this is a cultural criticism.

And of course that has to do with the greed-is-cool mentality, which is nothing typically German, as is always claimed.

But mainly it has to do with the fact that German wine consumers do not know and do not want to know the life and works of the winemakers, regardless of where they do their work.

Germany is the only leading wine nation in Europe where the work of winemakers is not appreciated by a wide range of wine drinkers.

It is completely different in Italy, France or in Austria, the country I was born in.

Yes, I know that there are people who simply cannot afford a ten euro bottle.

But I am talking about those who do not want to afford such a bottle.

Above all, this has to do with - and that only exists in Germany - the mistrust of wine drinkers towards winemakers.

In my Berlin environment, even in my Prenzlauer Berg high-earning environment, I often heard the objection, raised with a shake of the head, that a bottle of wine can have a maximum cost of five euros.

And the money I pay on top of that is only paid marketing.

This is complete nonsense, but it persists in a country where the majority of consumers always feel that they are being taken advantage of.

Germany is the country where everyone can buy the world's cheapest hand-made estate wines.

Some may like that.

But this also ensures that German winemakers can hardly build up reserves for bad years, as occurs two or three times a decade.

Many German quality winemakers can only dream of the lifestyle of most of their consumers who arrive in luxury SUVs when selling from the farm.

And I know from many, also very good, vintners that they often want to throw everything away.

Because you don't value what they do.

Yes: it is a question of culture.