Fruit mulled wine continues upward trend - fruity hot drinks are a permanent fixture in the range

As Klaus Heitlinger, Managing Director of the Association of the German Fruit Wine and Sparkling Fruit Wine Industry (VdFw), explains, annual domestic sales of cider and mulled fruit wine were relatively constant until the coronavirus pandemic relatively constant at 9.4 million liters and then collapsed in 2020 due to the cancellation of the Christmas markets and the discontinuation of private celebrations to 6.8 million liters. Already in 2021 however, the fruity winter specialties achieved a result of 9.5 million liters again above the pre-corona level and were able to increase strongly again in 2022 to 11.7 million liters (+23,6%). Fruit mulled wine and fruit punch are now an integral part of the beverage shelf. without them. "With or without winter weather in the run-up to Christmas, the apple and fruit wine fruit wine producers are confident that they will continue to build on the success of their specialties in the coming mulled wine season," says Klaus Heitlinger.

The top 3: Cherry, blueberry and apple mulled wine
Unlike classic mulled wine, these fruity hot drinks are not made from grape wine, but from apple wine. of grape wine, but made from apple or fruit wine and flavored with spices such as cinnamon, cloves spices such as cinnamon, cloves, ginger or chili. The ready-to-drink products only need to be heated. The top sellers in this segment are cherry mulled wine, blueberry mulled wine and apple mulled wine. But also popular are elderberry, sloe and berry mulled wines are also popular. Apple and fruit mulled wines in organic quality round off the range.

Domestic sales of mulled cider and mulled fruit wine:
2017: 9.2 million liters
2018: 9.4 million liters
2019: 9.4 million liters
2020: 6.8 million liters
2021: 9.5 million liters
2022: 11.7 million l
2023: 10.9 million