Germany's Vinum for sale

Germany's Vinum magazine and its Swiss counterpart are for sale.

At a December 2008 meeting in Münster the supervisory board made the decision to sell these two magazines and subsequently shut its Bordeaux office.

The parent company, Münsteraner Landwirtschaftsverlag, will publish until a suitable buyer is found.

‘In the face of an increase in the downsizing and closing of print media worldwide we made a small profit in 2008 so this comes as a disappointment,’ a highly-placed source told decanter.com.

The Swiss Intervinum operation is reported to have been hoping for a cash injection from its parent company which was not forthcoming.

Although still profitable the Mainz-based German title had seen steadily declining circulation.

At the time of Münsteraner Landwirtschaftsverlag’s acquisition of Vinum in 2002 the title was published not only in Switzerland and Germany but also in Austria, France and Spain.

The company, with turnover of over €100m, owns over 20 agricultural and rural titles.

Written by David Furer

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David Furer is a Californian wine writer, educator, consultant and speaker, who has worked for over 20 years in the wine trade. He has appeared in publications such as Decanter, Wine Business Monthly in the US and SommelierS Int’l in France. He formerly served on the Circle of Wine Writers’ executive committee and is a sommelier with accreditation from the Court of Master Sommeliers. In his book, Wine Places, he collaborates with photographer Charles O’Rear to capture some of the world’s vineyards, wineries and winemakers.