In February 2022, the European Parliament agreed on a far-reaching package of measures to regulate alcohol consumption in its vote on “Strengthening Europe in the fight against cancer”. This article therefore elaborates on the most important positions and directions of current European alcohol policy and discusses possible effects on the German wine industry based on existing literature. It can be shown that the attitudes towards alcohol consumption sometimes differ considerably within the European Union, but that there is increasing harmonization of consumption-regulating measures in the course of European integration. However, alcohol policies in the EU are limited by an unclear scientific assessment of “moderate” consumption. This is supplemented by moderate social awareness and the scientific discourse on the effectiveness of alcohol policy measures, as well as a lack of government initiative and legal barriers. Ultimately, the German wine industry finds itself confronted with new scientific findings, associated political demands and creeping changes in social attitudes towards alcoholic beverages.

Non-alcoholic alternatives are gaining growing significance within the German beverage sector. In this context, the German wine industry is increasingly focusing on non-alcoholic wines, whose market has developed dynamically in recent years. While the technologies used, the sensory characteristics and the marketing of the products are frequently addressed in the literature, the consideration of sustainability impacts has so far been largely neglected. This applies in particular to the view of all three dimensions of sustainability. These are examined more closely in this review with regard to tradeoffs, which indicate that positive aspects in one dimension go hand in hand with a loss in the other. It can be shown that tradeoffs in the production and marketing of non-alcoholic wines arise both within and between the three sustainability dimensions. Exemplary of this is the increased use of resources in the course of alcohol removal. At the same time, an emerging market segment holds positive aspects from an economic perspective. Ultimately, the consideration of social sustainability is marked by the health science and political debate around the reduction in alcohol consumption and the simultaneous increase in the consumption of non-alcoholic alternatives.

In the German beverage market, a shift in consumption has become apparent in recent decades: away from alcoholic beverages and towards non-alcoholic alternatives. This indicates a tradeoff between two important and nutritionally relevant substances: alcohol and sugar. This review, therefore, addresses the question of the significance of these developments to the German wine industry, where non-alcoholic wines and sparkling wines are becoming increasingly important. The production of these products is accompanied by a reduction in alcohol content with a simultaneous increase in sugar. Furthermore, these products could also become the focus of health policy efforts when it comes to accusations of possible “alibi marketing”. Here, parallels with the handling of tobacco products become clear, while the tradeoff between alcohol and sugar recedes into the background.

Non-alcoholic wines have become increasingly important in recent years in Germany. A constant stream of new market players and products is evidence of a dynamic market development and for the creation of a new branch in the highly competitive wine sector. Thus, the central aim of this article is to provide a first analysis of the structure of the German market for non-alcoholic wines in order to derive implications for industry competition and possible competitive strategies of individual market participants. An explorative research approach has been applied including in-depth interviews with experts from various companies along the value chain (n=24). Results show that competition in the market for non-alcoholic wines must be regarded as dynamic due to strong external market forces. A high risk of new companies entering the market can be emphasised as well as the high bargaining power of the retail and a high threat of substitutes. Within the industry, however, rivalry is currently con-sidered to be low, resulting in low profitability and a tendency towards high fluctuation of market participants. With regard to possible competitive strategies it becomes clear that especially for smaller wineries, a long-term successful survival within the market can only be realised with strong differentiation. Ultimately, the transfer of the products into an own category which departs from the classic image of non-alcoholic wine represents a promising approach in order to address entirely new target groups.

Zusammenfassung: Der Beitrag überträgt die Theorie der Eigentümerkompetenzen (Foss et al., 2021) auf den genossenschaftlichen Kontext und untersucht, wie gemeinschaftliche Strukturen individuelle Wertschöpfung beeinflussen. Am Beispiel der BÄKO Hessen-Rheinland eG wird gezeigt, dass Genossenschaften nicht nur ökonomische Effizienz sichern, sondern auch institutionelle Rahmenbedingungen schaffen, welche die individuellen Eigentümerkompetenzen ihrer Mitglieder fördern. Damit erweitert die Studie den traditionellen Förderauftrag von Genossenschaften um eine kompetenzorientierte Dimension und interpretiert Förderung als Prozess, der ökonomische, soziale und organisationale Aspekte integriert.