ProWein 2019, International Trade Fair for Wines and Spirits, celebrated its 25th anniversary with record participation figures, excellent orders and confirmed its position as the world’s leading event for this sector: 61,500 trade visitors (2018: 60,500) from 142 countries (2018: 133) and 6,900 exhibitors from 64 nations took part. “When we launched ProWein 25 years ago, none of us could have imagined just how incredible it would develop. It’s taken a lot of hard work and strong support along the way from our partners to grow this exhibition step for step into the world’s largest and most important trade fair for wines and spirits. And we have many things planned for our future as well,” stated Hans Werner Reinhard, Managing Director of Messe Düsseldorf.
ProWein was officially opened by the German Minister for Agriculture Julia Klöckner. Prime ministers António Luís Santos da Costa of Portugal and Andrej Plenkovic of Croatia were also at the ProWein anniversary.
The trade visitors were from the retail and restaurant/catering sectors, with high decision-making authority: more than 80% are involved in purchasing decisions. The attendees had a strong interest in wines from Germany, Italy, France and Spain. After Germany, the majority of the trade visitors came from Great Britain, the Benelux, France and Italy.
The 64 exhibitor nations were clearly structured within ten exhibition halls based on winegrowing country and region. No other event offers a comparable scale and scope. The largest exhibitor nations at ProWein 2019 were Italy (1,654) and France (1,576), followed by Germany (978), Overseas (600), Austria (335), Spain (661) and Portugal (387). In addition, there were 400 exhibitors with spirits products.
Both exhibitors and visitors were very pleased with ProWein 2019. Santiago DiazHerrenschmidt, Head of Wines & Spirits Trade Department at Business France, commented: “France is very proud to be attending as a partner here on this 25th anniversary of ProWein. It is an essential annual rendez-vouz for the wine, spirits, beer and cider industry. There’s nothing better than being at ProWein! Santé — and we’ll see you again next year!” Monika Reule, Managing Director of the German Wine Institute, added: “From an exhibitor standpoint, this year’s ProWein was very positive. Trade visitors from Germany and abroad were particularly interested in the eagerly awaited 2018 vintage, which — from what I have heard – absolutely lives up to its high expectations. The white wines already presented themselves at this relatively early point in time as extremely ready to drink and captivate with their intense fruitiness. The exhibitors I talked to again praised the high level of professionalism of the trade visitors.”
Mindy Crawford, Wholesale Sales Director at Wölffer Estate Vineyard from the U.S. reflected the viewpoint of many visitors from overseas: “We see America as a very important site for wine production. And yet there’s no industry gathering in the USA with the same reach and importance as ProWein. The biggest events held at the home market tend to be special distributor fairs. This is why ProWein is so crucial for us.”
Carsten Schmidt, Managing Director at “Weinladen Schmidt” in Berlin, has attended ProWein since its first edition: “I’ve been in Düsseldorf for the trade fair every year since the ProWein premiere in 1994. The strictly industry-only concept and international offerings set ProWein apart from any other event. The trade fair is an absolute must for both myself and my entire team. We’re always here for the entire three days.” For New York-based importer Ricardo Castiblanco, ProWein is not only the most important, but also the most efficient trade fair: “Within two days I’ve already concluded seven strong deals and successfully expanded my portfolio.”
The focus of ProWein 2019 was not only on the new vintage of wine and spirits, but also on craft drinks. The “same but different” special exhibition, with over 100 selected suppliers of craft spirits, craft beer and cider attracted not only the attendees from the gastronomy sector but the majority of ProWein’s ‘regular’ visitors as well. Both exhibitors and visitors declared the innovative exhibition in hall 7.0 a great success: “There’s nothing out there like ProWein’s ‘same but different’ special exhibition, and it is by far the most important premium industry-only forum to reach the selling markets in Germany, Europe and abroad. The conceptual design for ‘same but different’ — the way the stands look, the way it’s integrated into ProWein — is unparalleled. We were here for the premiere a year ago and will absolutely book a stand again next year in 2020,” noted Raphael Vollmer, who manages the business of Siegfried Gin together with Gerold Koenen.
The four trend topics at ProWein also met with great interest: trend scouts Stuart Pigott and Paula Redes Sidore explored the topics “Wines from High Elevations”, “Wine in Cans”, the comeback of “Field Blends” and the renaissance of the varieties “Chenin Blanc & Gamay”.” Both their matching “Trend-hour Tastings” were in great demand. Other visitor favorites were the Champagne Lounge offering a platform for 50 renowned champagne producers to set their products apart from the other 180 champagne brands presented at ProWein, the organic wine area with about 300 exhibitors, the tasting zone with the winning wines from MUNDUS VINI, the Packaging & Design special exhibition as well as many individual events at the exhibitors’ stands and the ProWein Forum.
The next editions of ProWein will be held from March 15 — 17, 2020 and from March 21 — 23, 2021 in Düsseldorf, Germany. Due to the extensive renovation of the Düsseldorf fairgrounds ProWein 2021 will incorporate the new South entrance and new adjacent Hall 1. Other upcoming wine trade fairs in the Messe Düsseldorf portfolio include ProWine Asia from May 7 -10, 2019 in Hong Kong and ProWine China from November 12 — 14, 2019 in Shanghai.
For further information on visiting or exhibiting at ProWein 2020 and 2021, ProWine Asia 2019 or ProWine China 2019, contact Messe Düsseldorf North America; Telephone: (312) 781-5180; E-mail: info@mdna.com; Visit www.prowein.com, www.prowinechina.com, www.prowineasia.com and www.mdna.com. Follow us on twitter at http://twitter.com/FoodBev_MDNA
For Düsseldorf hotel and travel information, contact TTI Travel, Inc. at (866) 674-3476; Fax: (212) 674-3477; E-mail: info@ttitravel.net; www.traveltradeint.com
