Wine in Black

What Wine in Black does

Wine in Black GmbH is a privately held German online wine retailer founded in 2011, headquartered in Mainz, operating the curated direct-to-consumer storefront wine-in-black.de. The company positions itself as an online sommelier, with every wine in its portfolio of more than 1,000 SKUs tasted and approved by an in-house expert team before listing. It targets wine enthusiasts and collectors across five European markets — Germany, Austria, Switzerland, France, and the Netherlands — served via country-specific sister storefronts, with senior buyer Alexander Jansen as a public-facing brand voice through Verkostungsvideos (tasting videos) on YouTube.

The underlying platform is a Shopify-based e-commerce storefront with product catalog, customer accounts, and order management, complemented by native iOS and Android applications. The site supports browsing by wine type, country, region, grape variety, international critic scores (Robert Parker, James Suckling, Vinous, Luca Maroni, Falstaff, Decanter), and price, and is supplemented by an editorial layer (Wine in Black Magazine covering regions, food pairing, and lifestyle). Logistics run via DHL and DPD within Germany, and the company holds Trusted Shops certification with ~6,000 verified reviews at 4.76/5.0 stars.

The business model is straightforward D2C transactional wine retail with unit pricing and bundle pricing on themed wine packages (e.g., Bordeaux Tasting Set, Brunello di Montalcino Package, Parker Package), with no subscription or recurring payment structure. Prices range from under €10 for entry-level bottles to over €850 for premium and collector wines, with a €35 minimum order, €4.90 flat shipping within Germany, and free shipping above €90. The company is privately held with no disclosed institutional funding or parent entity; Managing Director Christian Fricke leads the business.

Name

Wine in Black

Legal name

Wine in Black GmbH

Website

https://wine-in-black.de

Company type

Private

Founded year

2011

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

11–50 employees

Short description

Wine in Black GmbH is a privately held German online wine retailer operating a curated D2C marketplace of 1,000+ expert-tasted wines across Germany, Austria, Switzerland, France, and the Netherlands, serving individual wine enthusiasts with critic scores, tasting notes, themed packages, and editorial content.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Online Wine Retail

NAICS

Beer, Wine, and Liquor Retailers (445320), Beer, Wine, and Liquor Retailers (44532), Beer, Wine, and Liquor Retailers (4453)

SIC

Beverages (2080)

akta.pro primary industry

Wine Retail (Bottle Shops & Wine Merchants) (CRANABAB)

akta.pro secondary industries

Fine Wine & Luxury Spirits Retail (CRANABAE), Premium, Rare & Collectible Alcohol Retail (Fine Wine/Spirits) (CRANAAAJ)

Keywords

• Online wine retail
• Curated wine selection
• Wine e-commerce
• Wine packages
• Fine wine sales

Headquarters

HQ city

Berlin

HQ country

Germany

HQ region

Europe

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2C

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Supply Chain, Marketing or Sales, Operations, Personnel, Technology or R&D

Revenue model

1. Direct Wine Sales: Wine in Black generates revenue through the direct sale of wines to consumers via its online storefront. Revenue is realized on a per-transaction basis, with customers purchasing individual bottles or curated packages. The company sources wines from international wineries and producers, offering products across a wide price range from budget-friendly options (under €10) to ultra-premium fine wines (up to €850+ per bottle).

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels1 record

Marketing channels6 records

Core offering

Wine in Black is an online wine retailer operating as a virtual sommelier, selling a curated portfolio of over 1,000 hand-selected wines from international wineries. Each wine is tasted and approved by in-house experts before listing, with detailed tasting notes, critic ratings from major international wine critics, and food pairing recommendations. The platform offers individual bottles, themed wine packages, and a premium Fine Wines collection aimed at enthusiasts and collectors.

Product overview

Wine in Black operates as an online wine marketplace and virtual sommelier service, offering a curated portfolio of over 1000 hand-selected wines through its main e-commerce platform. The core product is the Wine in Black Online Wine Shop, supplemented by themed wine packages and sets (Wine Packages/Sets), a premium Fine Wines Collection for collectors, and editorial content via the Wine in Black Magazin. The platform features expert tasting notes and critic ratings, customer account management, gift shipping services, and mobile apps for iOS and Android. Key wine categories include red, white, rosé, and sparkling wines, with special collections for VDP-classified German wines and fine collector's items.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Wine in Black Online Wine Shop Core e-commerce storefront offering a curated selection of over 1,000 hand-selected wines from around the world, with expert tasting notes, critic ratings, food pairing recommendations, and personalized recommendations for wine enthusiasts and collectors.
• Wine Packages / Sets

Quantifiable outcome

• Nearly 6,000 verified customers on Trusted Shops with a 4.76/5.0 star rating
• +1 more outcomes

Named customers1 record

Segments1 record

Ideal customer profiles1 record

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Feature3 records

Partnerships

Four partnerships are on record, tiered core and minor.

• Karl Pfaffmann (Weingut)coreStrategic or Co-development PartnerWine in Black features Karl Pfaffmann as a featured winemaker on their platform, offering an extensive selection of their wines. Karl Pfaffmann is a renowned German winery from Walsheim in the Pfalz region, producing premium Riesling, Grauburgunder, Weißburgunder, and other varietals. The partnership provides exposure for the winery while enriching Wine in Black's curated German wine selection.
• Ruinart ChampagnecoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerRuinart, the oldest active Champagne house (founded 1729), is featured as a key winemaker on Wine in Black. The partnership allows Wine in Black to offer prestige cuvées including Dom Ruinart, Blanc de Blancs, and Rosé variants to German consumers.
• Feudi di San GregoriocoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerFeudi di San Gregorio is a leading Campanian winery (Irpinia region, Italy) featured on Wine in Black, known for Aglianico-based Taurasi and Greco di Tufo wines. The B-Corp certified winery represents Italian fine wine excellence in Wine in Black's curated Italian selection.
• Cune (Compañía Vinícola del Norte de España)minorStrategic or Co-development PartnerCune (Cvne), founded in 1879 in Haro, Rioja Alta, is a historic Spanish winery featured on Wine in Black. The partnership expands Wine in Black's Spanish wine selection with classic Rioja Reserva and Gran Reserva wines.

Scale indicators2 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Direct peers

• Flaschenpost: Flaschenpost is a major German alcohol e-commerce and rapid-delivery operator (now part of Oetker Group), offering beer, wine and spirits online with strong logistics — competing for the same online wine basket in Germany.
• Weinfreunde: Weinfreunde is a German DTC wine subscription club delivering curated boxes of sommelier-selected wines; it overlaps directly with Wine in Black's curated positioning and targets the same German enthusiast buyer.
• Wine.com: Wine.com is the largest US online wine retailer with curated assortment, critic scores and logistics, providing a direct US analog for Wine in Black's curated e-commerce model.
• Vivino: Vivino operates a global wine marketplace and discovery app combined with e-commerce checkout, directly competing with Wine in Black on curated online wine discovery for enthusiast consumers across European markets.
• Naked Wines: Naked Wines is a UK-headquartered DTC wine retailer with a curated/independent-winery funding model; it competes in the same curated online wine space, particularly in the UK and parts of continental Europe.
• Ludwig von Kapff: Ludwig von Kapff is a long-established German fine-wine mail-order specialist with expert-led curation, very closely comparable to Wine in Black's sommelier-curated model and DACH customer base.

Broad incumbents

• Hawesko Holding: Hawesko is Germany's largest specialist wine mail-order group (Jacques', Wein & Co., Vinos), with a much broader portfolio and physical/online reach than Wine in Black; it competes across the same DACH fine-wine retail segment.

Emerging players

• 8Seasons: 8Seasons is a smaller German curated wine club / online retailer with a sommelier-led concept targeting the same German enthusiast segment as Wine in Black, though at a meaningfully smaller scale.
• Decanter (Fine Wine & Retail): Decanter combines authoritative wine editorial with curated retail offers, overlapping with Wine in Black on the critic-ratings + curated-selection angle, primarily in the UK market.

Regional players

• Majestic Wine: Majestic is a UK specialist wine retailer with both stores and online, serving a similar enthusiast/fine-wine customer but in a different geography from Wine in Black's core DACH+ footprint.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat3 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights6 records

Customer concentration

• Xx.com/WineInBlack
• Facebookfacebook.com/WineInBlack
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/wine-in-black

Compliance3 records

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles1 record

Funding overview

Funding rounds3 records

Investors6 records

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Wine in Black