Unique line-Up Worldwide
18 to 20 March saw the international wine and spirit industries get together at their No. 1 trade fair, ProWein in Düsseldorf. Over 6,870 exhibitors from 64 countries provided a unique global overview of the current wine and spirits ranges. Over 60,000 trade visitors made use of this platform to place orders and gather information. With these figures ProWein 2018 again hit new top scores. “Whoever has made their passion for wines and spirits their profession simply cannot afford to miss ProWein in Dusseldorf,” says Hans Werner Reinhard, Managing Director at Messe Düsseldorf, summing up the phenomenon ProWein.
Visitors Prowein 2018
ProWein especially convinced the audience with its high international attendance and quality. One in two visitors came from abroad this year – travelling from 133 countries in total to Düsseldorf. Over 70% of visitors, very qualified,come from top or middle management. To all of them ProWein is indispensable. Just under 85% of visitors regard ProWein above all as an order platform, 90% appreciate the intense networking and to 95% ProWein is a key source of information. This year most visitors were especially interested in the new vintages from Germany, France and Italy. There were also top scores for the trade fair overall: one in two visitors confirmed having found new suppliers. Two thirds returned home with helpful information on trends and innovations. Just under 95% stated that they had fully achieved their objectives at the trade fair.
Altogether 6,870 exhibitors from 64 nations were presented at ProWein this year giving trade visitors the opportunity to explore the complete line-up of wines and spirits worldwide over three days. The major wine-growing countries such as Italy (1,700 exhibitors), France (1,550 exhibitors), Germany (990 exhibitors) were represented alongside producers from overseas (700 exhibitors) hailing from the USA, South Africa, Argentina, Chile, Australia and New Zealand. Forming a focal theme this year was the wine country Germany. Released in time for the trade fair was among other things the special publication “Wine made in Germany” featuring all 13 German wine-growing regions and the German exhibitors complete with their tasting programme.
Commenting on this Monika Reule, General Manager of the German Wine Institute (DWI) said: “At this year’s ProWein trade visitors from at home and abroad took an avid interest in wines from German wine-growing regions.
Newly Staged: Craft Drinks
The craft theme was completely re-staged under the heading of “same but different” at ProWein. Craft drinks are fully in line with the current trend in the food service sector and ProWein offers an ideal platform for them. In a trendy atmosphere 76 exhibitors from 15 countries presented hand-picked beers, extravagant spirits and ciders in their own Hall 7.0. "Our new offering was received extremely well. This shows we have our finger on the pulse of the industry here and have succeeded in staging the theme right to the point. We are on the right track here and look forward to expanding the concept even further,” says Marius Berlemann, Global Head Wine & Spirits and Director of ProWein.
The ranges on offer in the organic segment were also broad-based and generated a lot of attention. Here trade visitors were able to meet with all relevant organic growers’ associations from Germany, Italy and France as well as numerous individual exhibitors from all over the world – approximately 300 producers in total.
ProWein as a Trend Platform
Which themes will play an especially prominent role in the future? This question was also addressed at this year’s ProWein. The ranges showed that there is a trend towards light, uncomplicated wines with a focus on terroir as well as on wines from climatic regions where only 20 years ago growing wines of an appealing quality was impossible such as Denmark, Poland and the UK. These and other trends had also been defined by ProWein’s new trend scouts who shared them with trade fair visitors at he Prowein Forum.
Where do we go from here?
Right after ProWein in Düsseldorf 24 to 27 April will see ProWine Asia 2018 being held in Singapore. ProWine China 2018 in Shanghai will follow from 13 to 15 November. The next ProWein in Düsseldorf is scheduled from 17 to 19 March 2019.
Daniele Toni