The db guide to ProWein 2024

This month sees the return of the world’s biggest drinks trade show. Here’s everything you need to know to make the most of ProWein 2024.

“FROM THE very beginning, we have focused on presenting the global industry in all its diversity and scope,” Peter Schmitz, director of ProWein, tells the drinks business.

“We not only show all relevant countries and regions. We also go deeper to offer a globally unique range of products.” It is precisely this effort to provide a comprehensive selection that has pushed ProWein Düsseldorf to the front of the global drinks trade.

This year marks 30 years of staging the show in Düsseldorf, during which time the event has become a one-stop shop for the drinks industry and a major fixture on the calendar for drinks professionals. Around 50,000 visitors are expected to attend across the three-day event this year, which Schmitz passionately describes as providing “a journey through the entire world of wines and spirits”.

Spanning an area exceeding 73,000 square metres, ProWein works hard to respond to and cater for the ever-shifting landscape in the drinks industry, which is why visitors this year will find new areas dedicated to no- and low-alcohol products, craft beer, spirits and cider, as well as fascinating wines from big-hitting and emerging wine-producing regions.

Perhaps the biggest change for 2024 will be the launch of ProSpirits, a brand-new area for spirits that will solidify the category’s standing at the show. The aim behind ProSpirits, explains Schmitz, is to unite hundreds of spirits producers in a dedicated space underneath one brand. Although the fair has long represented spirits producers, the new zone will give them a unified presence, and the new ProSpirits forum will enable exciting tastings and discussions to be held.

For Schmitz, the adaptation is necessary: “Wine consumption is currently declining in many countries, so we see good opportunities for new business, particularly in the spirits segment for the retail and gastronomy sectors,” he explains.

With demand for exhibitor stalls having outpaced the space available, ProSpirits will join the Champagne Lounge, urban gastronomy Lounge and Organic World (where more than 300 organic producers can be found) as one of the show’s most exciting areas in 2024.

The increased focus on spirits, however, does not take away from the substantial presence of wine producers at this year ’s show, with brands including Champagne Pol Roger, Bodegas Faustino, Henkell Freixenet and Zonin1821 all exhibiting their latest products and projects.

“Since the wine business is a people business, our team will fly the flag on the Primum Familiae Vini (Hall 9 -D 55) stand and seize the opportunity to meet with those who did not come to Wine Paris & Vinexpo Paris earlier this year,” says Pol Roger ’s managing director Laurent d’Harcourt.

“As Germany is a very important market for Champagne in general, it makes sense for us to come and support our German importer (Veritable Vins et Domaines (Hall 9 -B 60)) and have a presence on its stand too.”

Another area with increased presence is the growing no- and low-alcohol section.

“We have always seen ourselves as a partner of the wine and spirits sector, and picked up on the needs of the market – as we did with our ‘no-and-low’-themed special show, which debuted at the latest ProWein,” explains Schmitz.

ProWein 2023 was Europe’s first trade fair to give this trend a dedicated stage. In 2024, the ProWein Zero space in Hall 1 will be all about ‘no-and-low’.

The Düsseldorf show kicks off a string of global ProWein trade fairs taking place throughout 2024, bringing the world of drinks to the globe’s most important markets. There are ProWine shows in Tokyo (10-12 April), Singapore (23-26 April), São Paulo (1-3 October), Mumbai (8-9 November) and Shanghai (12-14 November), as well as one in Hong Kong in 2025.

“Many people tell us that ProWein is a kind of class reunion for them,” says Schmitz, “and has been a fixed date in their calendar for 30 years.” Though everchanging, the fair ’s global outlook and trade focus have kept it at the heart of the industry, year in, year out.