Prowein celebrates 30th anniversary as Vinexpo comes up behind

By Jo Gilbert

Published: 15 March, 2024

Prowein closed its doors on its 30th show this week, having welcomed thousands of visitors to the 17 well-trodden halls of the Messe Düsseldorf.

So how do those visitor numbers compare with other years, particularly with Wine Paris & Vinexpo Paris’s yearly numbers in the ascendancy?

The total tally of Prowein trade visitors reached a hefty 47,000 this year, just shy of last year’s 49,000, with around 6000 exhibitors showing both years.

Read more: Prowein 2024 – Wine industry needs to professionalise to survive

It’s certainly an improvement from 2022’s 39,000 – the show’s ‘first year back’ after Covid. Ongoing restrictions caused trouble for show, which was then forced to move to May, causing a clash with the London Wine Fair.

As the spittoons are washed and cleared away for another year, Prowein is praising a ‘high degree of international visitors with decision-making powers’ at this year’s fair, which was also impacted by a second year of local transport strikes organised to coincide with the show’s dates.

Despite the transport headaches, which scuppered many plans to attend on the last day, “No other trade fair offers as wide a range as Prowein”, director Peter Schmitz insisted.

“We are delighted to not only register top quality on the exhibitors’ part but also see top-notch people travel to Düsseldorf from all over the world, including an increased number of executives with decision-making powers.”

As time goes by, Prowein has a major challenger in its midst. Wine Paris & Vinexpo Paris reported a bumper show earlier event this year, with both exhibitor and visitor numbers up, including those from overseas.

Now in its fifth year, the three-day February event saw visitor numbers rise by 14% to 41,253 – four fifths of Prowein’s 49,000.

Exhibitor numbers are also rising quickly, standing at 4,074 this year up from 3,400 in 2023.

Prowein has traditionally seen a large number of both German and international visitors touch down in its long-term home at the Messe. This year, for example, visitors hailed from 135 countries and 5,400 exhibitors presented their wines from 65 countries for its 30th edition.

However, Wine Paris & Vinexpo Paris is also receiving increasingly international attention thanks to its central Paris location. Paris is well serviced with air, domestic rail and Eurostar links, while Prowein has been impacted by the decision of German airline Lufthansa to change its main transfer hub from Düsseldorf to Frankfurt in recent years, thus limiting the number of direct flights to Prowein.

Still, Prowein lives up to its status of the world’s ‘largest and most relevant trade fair for wine’ in its 30th year, with much optimism to be felt in the Messe’s halls, despite a challenging global trading environment.

Looking to evolve and maintain its relevance, this year’s show also extended its spirits ranges to include a Prospirits section. Touching down at the show for the first time, Hall 5 was dedicated to the presentation of brandy, vodka, liqueurs, agave spirits and AI-RTD cocktails among others, with 420 exhibitors showcasing products from 40 countries.

The ‘extremely high internationality’ of its wine – and now spirit – ranges continues to be Prowein’s ‘absolute USP’, the fair said in a statement.

Monika Reule, general manager of the German Wine Institute (DWI), also added her voice in praise of this year’s show.

“The German exhibitors have pronounced a positive verdict on this year’s Prowein. They have particularly benefited from the presence of numerous international trade visitors taking great interest in the wines from German regions and great pleasure in the quality of the new vintage. They also highly praised the high professionalism of the experts who had travelled from all over the world. With this, Prowein has confirmed its position as the world’s most important wine trade fair once again,” she concluded.

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