Lieblings Weine

What Lieblings Weine does

Lieblings Weine (legal entity: lieblings-weine.de GmbH) is a privately held German direct-to-consumer online wine retailer headquartered at Binsenbolstraße 90, Balingen, Baden-Württemberg. The business was founded in 2005 and formalized as a GmbH in 2016; it is owned by the holding company ZEITGEIST ARENA GmbH with founder Hardy Conzelmann continuing as owner-operator. The company curates and sells international premium wines and champagne through its own e-commerce storefront lieblings-weine.de, plus adjacent categories such as Feinkost (gourmet food) and Zalto/Denkart glassware. Selection is built around the founder's stated 15+ years of tasting discipline, with SKUs vetted against ratings from international critics including Robert Parker, Falstaff, Vinous (Antonio Galloni), James Suckling, Wine Spectator, Wine Enthusiast, Gambero Rosso, and Penín; the catalog spans red, white, rosé, sparkling, and champagne at retail prices roughly €6–€290+ per bottle.

The operating model is a self-serve DTC e-commerce stack: a WooCommerce-style storefront with JTL-Wawi for order processing and fulfillment, multi-carrier shipping (DHL, UPS, GO! Express with next-day-before-noon option), climate-controlled dark warehousing, and a broad payment-method localization (Amazon Pay, Klarna, Mollie, PayPal, SOFORT, credit card, EC card, Apple Pay, cash). Bottles ship to 14 EU countries plus the USA, with Switzerland served via border-near pickup points; a local pickup option at the Balingen warehouse is available by appointment Monday–Thursday. The company is bootstrapped and self-funded, with 1–10 employees, no disclosed funding, and no app, public listing, or M&A activity. Marketing is primarily content- and SEO-led (an editorial Weinwissen knowledge base, structured category pages, MailChimp newsletter with loyalty and birthday incentives) rather than performance-led, and the value proposition emphasizes transparent pricing, expert curation, and critic-validated quality rather than aggressive discounting.

Name

Lieblings Weine

Legal name

lieblings-weine.de GmbH

Website

https://lieblings-weine.de

Company type

Private

Founded year

2005

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

1–10 employees

Short description

Lieblings Weine is a privately held, founder-led German online wine retailer (lieblings-weine.de GmbH, Balingen) that curates and ships international premium wines and champagne to consumers across 14 EU countries and the USA.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Online Wine Retail

NAICS

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

akta.pro industry

PRIMARYCRANABAE

Fine Wine & Luxury Spirits Retail

Consumer Products & Retail/Tobacco, Alcohol & Cannabis Retail/Beer, Wine & Spirits Specialty Retail

SECONDARYCRANAAAJ

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

Consumer Products & Retail/Tobacco, Alcohol & Cannabis Retail/Alcohol Retail (Liquor Stores & Off-Premise)

SECONDARYCRANABAF

Alcohol Subscription & Wine Clubs (Retail)

Consumer Products & Retail/Tobacco, Alcohol & Cannabis Retail/Beer, Wine & Spirits Specialty Retail

Keywords

• Online wine retail
• Premium wine sales
• Champagne ecommerce
• Wine distribution
• Specialty wine shop

Headquarters

HQ city

Balingen

HQ country

Germany

HQ region

Europe

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2C

Offering type

Services

Cost components

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

Revenue model

1. Wine and Champagne Retail: Direct retail sales of international premium wines and champagne to consumers through the e-commerce website. Products are sold at fixed prices with shipping fees added. The company offers periodic promotions and discounts through the SMART-BUY section (up to 15% instant discounts) and bulk purchase incentives (5+1 and 11+1 promotions).

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels2 records

Marketing channels3 records

Core offering

Lieblings Weine operates a direct-to-consumer online wine shop at lieblings-weine.de selling a curated selection of international premium wines (red, white, rosé, sparkling) and Champagne from renowned producers worldwide. The company also offers related specialty items such as fine foods (Feinkost) and wine glasses (Zalto/Denkart), backed by climate-controlled storage and shipping across multiple EU countries plus the USA.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• International Premium Wine & Champagne Online Shop Curated online retail of international premium wines and Champagne (red, white, rosé, sparkling) from renowned producers, with critic ratings from Robert Parker, Falstaff, Vinous, James Suckling, Wine Spectator, Wine Enthusiast, Gambero Rosso, and Penín. Targeted at discerning individual wine consumers in German-speaking EU markets and the USA.
• Feinkost (Delicatessen / Fine Foods) Complementary fine food and delicatessen items sold through the lieblings-weine.de online shop, intended to pair with the wine assortment for individual consumers.
• Wine Glasses (Zalto / Denkart) Specialty wine glasses (notably Zalto Denkart) sold through the lieblings-weine.de online shop as accessories for wine enthusiasts purchasing from the wine assortment.
• SMART-BUY Promotions (Limited-Time Wine Specials) Time-limited discounted wine offers and bulk-purchase bundles (e.g., 5+1, 11+1) featured on lieblings-weine.de, targeted at individual consumers seeking value-priced premium wines.

Segments2 records

Ideal customer profiles2 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Integration15 records

Partnerships

Eight partnerships are on record, tiered minor.

• DHLminorOthersPrimary shipping partner for standard deliveries within Germany and internationally. DHL Paket GmbH handles package delivery for wine orders.
• UPSminorOthersAlternative shipping option for customers preferring UPS delivery services.
• GO! ExpressminorOthersExpress delivery partner offering next-day delivery before 12:00 noon for orders within Germany (Monday-Thursday).
• PayPalminorOthersPayment processing partner offering PayPal, credit card via PayPal, direct debit via PayPal, and purchase on invoice/rate payment options.
• KlarnaminorOthersPayment service provider for flexible payment options including purchase on invoice.
• Amazon PayminorOthersPayment option allowing customers to pay using their Amazon account for streamlined checkout.
• MollieminorOthersEuropean payment service provider handling various payment methods including iDEAL, credit card, and bank transfers.
• SOFORTminorOthersKlarna-owned payment method enabling instant bank transfers for German and Austrian customers.

Scale indicators2 records

Recent moves5 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Emerging players

• Laithwaites: UK-based online wine merchant with strong wine-club and subscription mechanics, sourcing directly from producers. Comparable curation model and relevant as a benchmark for evolving Lieblings Weine's newsletter/loyalty base into a structured subscription business.
• Naked Wines: Subscription-driven online wine merchant connecting consumers with independent winemakers, with strong presence in the US and UK. Comparable premium-curation positioning and represents a potential business model evolution for Lieblings Weine toward a formal wine-club structure.

Regional players

• Tannico: Italy's leading online wine retailer, offering a curated assortment of Italian and international premium wines with critic-rating emphasis. Highly comparable curation and premium-positioning model in another major EU wine market.
• Wine.com: Largest US online wine retailer, offering a curated assortment of premium and critic-rated wines with direct-to-consumer shipping. Highly comparable assortment and D2C model, though US-only and at much larger scale.
• Bodeboca: Spain's leading online wine retailer with a curated assortment of premium Spanish and international wines. Comparable model in another major EU wine-producing market, though focused on Spain and France.
• WEIN & CO: Austria's leading specialty wine retailer with a strong curated assortment of international premium wines, online store, and physical outlets. Highly comparable curation-led model in the neighboring DACH market, though primarily Austria-focused rather than EU-wide.

Broad incumbents

• Rewe Group: Major German grocery retail group with a sizeable online wine assortment and strong German logistics footprint (Rewe Lieferservice). Represents the broad-incumbent competitive threat: a much larger player with wine as one category among many, able to compete on price and convenience.

Direct peers

• Hawesko Holding AG: Germany's largest specialty wine retailer, operating multiple brands (Hawesko, Jacques' Wein-Depot, Vino, Wein & Vinos) in online and offline wine retail. Directly comparable in assortment focus on premium international wines, multi-channel distribution (D2C + retail), and DACH-centric customer base — but at significantly larger scale.
• Jacques' Wein-Depot: German specialty wine retail chain (a Hawesko subsidiary) with a depot-style store network plus online presence. Closely comparable assortment strategy (premium and curated international wines), customer segments (wine enthusiasts and collectors), and DACH geographic focus.
• Vivino: Global wine marketplace and app combining crowd-sourced critic-style ratings (60M+ users) with e-commerce. Direct peer in online wine retail and in using ratings/reviews as the core value proposition, though Vivino's scale and proprietary app-based technology are vastly greater.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat3 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights6 records

Customer concentration

• Xx.com/lieblings_weine

Compliance2 records

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles1 record

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

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 Lieblings Weine