Please put more effort into the wine!

The quality here is excellent, and you can tell by the price. And I'm the last person who would refuse to pay that. I buy two steaks for two people, and my gaze falls on the wine shelf. The bottles on offer have fun labels, but they're nowhere near the same level as the meat. It's mass-produced, off-the-shelf stuff: I wonder why soulless material is being sold as high-quality food here.

Anyone can sell wine in this country, and many retailers take advantage of this to generate additional revenue. However, my recent visit to a high-end butcher shop left me rather frustrated. It's not that I specifically go there to buy wine. But, with all due respect, the additional wine selection simply doesn't fit with the overall look and feel of their product range. If I'm going to buy wine, I want to find something that's just as distinctive and unique as everything else. But I rarely see that.

Unfortunately, the butcher isn't the only pseudo-wine merchant; this problem is common throughout Germany. At the fishmonger's, I often find a similarly lackluster wine selection alongside my freshly caught sea bass or monkfish. Whether I'm buying artisan cheese or biodynamically grown vegetables directly from the farm, almost everyone also offers wine.

I'm missing a clear statement and a commitment to quality: The wine should fit the retailer's philosophy and selection. They would be doing themselves a favor by doing so. It doesn't have to be an expensive, high-end wine, but it should be something chosen with care and expertise. There are countless excellent wine pairings, especially for seafood and cheese.

That it can be done better is shown by examples abroad. Have you ever been to the cheese shop "Paxton and Whitfield" in London? There you'll find handmade cheeses and carefully selected wines, port, and craft beer to complement them. The department stores "Harrods" and "Selfridges" also complement their fish counters with excellent wines – while "KaDeWe" in Berlin serves its customers bland Pinot Gris or other uninspiring wines. In Lisbon's "Time Out Market," you'll find several shops that understand that the wine should match their selection. My tip: "Sea Me," a combination of brasserie and fish shop.

In our society today, we pretend to be so enlightened and supposedly value good food and sustainability. But washing down vegetables from an organic farmer and meat from a trusted butcher with industrial wine doesn't fit with that image. I'm speechless at such ignorance. I wish there were more commitment. Because unfortunately, most offerings still focus on the first level of enjoyment: the effect of drinking.