ProWein expands to meet demand

As exhibitor and visitor numbers continue to rise, ProWein 2015 has moved into new halls, giving the Düsseldorf wine and spirits fair 20% more space.

Building on the growth of last year’s fair, the 2015 event, which runs from 15-17 March, will see a further 10% increase in exhibitor numbers to around 5,500 companies.

Michael Degen, executive director of Messe Düsseldorf, confirmed that the fair would occupy a new larger area in halls 9-17 for the next five years at least. “We had to deal with a space that was not large enough for the demand we had,” he told the drinks business. “If we couldn’t give that demanded space to the industry then some other fair organisers would have come in.”

Much of this year’s exhibitor growth comes from generic organisations, especially from within France, and producers in other European countries. However there are also new faces from further afield with Wines of Bolivia bringing eight wineries to the fair for the first time.

Having seen a 7% increase in visitor numbers last year, the fair’s organiser Messe Düsseldorf anticipates a further rise in 2015, drawn largely from European countries but also much further afield. “We’re targeting very much Great Britain, North America and Asia – China Korea and Japan,” confirmed Degen.

Highlighting the success of the first ever ProWine China, which took place in Shanghai last November and will now be followed by ProWine Asia in Singapore next April, Degen suggested that this enhanced Asian presence could provide a boost for Chinese visitors at the German fair too.

“Knowledge of the show has increased a lot after that,” he said of ProWine China. “It’s very good for our visitor marketing.”

The new hall layout for 2015

Alongside this growth, ProWein 2015 will feature a number of new or revised themed areas. These include the “Same but Different” zone, where 10 producers will be invited to present their original marketing concepts to the international trade.

Among the exhibitors in this section will be Pfalz winemaker Lukas Krauss with his Blauer Portugieser/Dornfelder blend called “Pornfelder”, as well as Dutch couple Ilse and Roelof Visscher, who will show their Netherlands-made wine together with their new crowdfunded winemaking project on the Caribbean island of Curaçao.

For those producers with smaller stands, the ProWein Forum area has been reconfigured to create separate spaces that are available to hire for tastings and masteclasses.

Meanwhile the fair’s spirits-focused FIZZZ Lounge returns in 2015 with a new theme of “Drinks of Tomorrow.” This will see bartenders turn to the kitchen for inspiration, showing how to prepare drinks using sous-vide preparation, smoke infusion and ingredients such as fruit or spices.

Reporting growth in spirits exhibitors at ProWein, with nearly 400 taking stands at this year’s fair, Corinna Steffens, manager of the Merre Düsseldorf press department, acknowledged that this category was likely to remain a relatively small part of the show and largely focused on smaller producers.

As a result, she noted: “It’s a really nice opportunity to find those small, specialist, unique products. It’s important for the on-trade to have these specialised spirits to present.”

Despite the competing attentions this year of both a recently revamped London Wine Fair and Vinexpo Bordeaux, Degen maintained that Prowein’s success meant it was no longer affected by these other events. “There was a Vinexpo influence until five years ago,” he recalled. “In a Vinexpo year we had stable numbers and in other years we had steady growth, but now there is no difference.”

For more information about ProWein 2015 visit www.prowein.com.