Winner of 31 Days of German Wine announced - Dining and Cooking

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By Oliver Catchpole

Published: 02 September, 2026

Bristol- and Plymouth-based Le Vignoble has come out on top of Wines of Germany’s 31 Days of German Wine promotion, achieving the highest score out of all participating merchants and restaurants.

This was the campaign’s fifteenth consecutive year. Those that took part made a variety of efforts to promote German wine across July, hosting launch parties, masterclasses, in-store promotions, German-themed tastings and social media campaigns.

Le Vignoble’s campaign was judged to be the best due to its combination of new listings and customer-facing activity – achieving 400% sales growth in German wines over the month.

Its team brought in 16 new wines and showcased its entire range by-the-glass at both its venues, while also providing wine clubs, guided tastings and food pairings.

Maja Syska, the manager at Le Vignoble Bristol, said: “What a pleasure it’s been to showcase the range and depth of German wines. We champion German wines all year round, but it’s been a real treat to be able to extend our range over July.

“Seeing all our regular (and new) guests enjoying all kinds of German wines has been wonderful. We really look forward to next year, and it’s going to be interesting to see how the wine regions in Germany develop with climate change, consumer preference changes and hopefully it evolves into a bigger variety of wines being exported to the UK!”

The MD of Wines of Germany UK (which runs the promotion), Nicky Forrest, added: “Congratulations to our winners and runners up! 31 Days continues to be a brilliant showcase for the quality, diversity and versatility of German wine.

“We’d like to thank all our participants for their enthusiasm and creativity in bringing these wines to consumers across the UK. It’s encouraging to see such strong engagement year after year, and we’re excited to build on this momentum as more drinkers discover Germany’s exceptional wine regions and styles.”

This year’s first runner up was The Grape Escape in Cheltenham, which showcased 18 German wines and added 13 new listings in a multifaceted campaign which increased its sales of German wine by 500% across July.

The second was Fourth & Church in Hove, which introduced 14 new listings and put on weekly pairings, a changing by-the-glass selection and two sold-out Riesling masterclasses, helping to increase sales of German wine by more than 400%.

Commenting on the campaign, The Grape Escape’s manager, Zoe Davies, said: “We love 31 Days of German Wine because, even though we support German wine all year round, having a specific month dedicated to it gives us a laser-sharp focus – just like a great German Riesling!”

Paul Morgan, the manager at Fourth & Church, added: “July is one of our favourite months at Fourth and Church, we had an amazing time celebrating German Wine. We have ploughed through an absurd quantity of German wine over July! Although we didn’t win this year (many congratulations to Le Vignoble), the saying ‘it is the taking part that counts’ couldn’t be truer here.”