(Claude Auguste / Manfred Klimek – Editorial team / Photo: Messe Düsseldorf)
It begins with a figure that seems like an omen in the wine world, but need not be one: between 2023 and 2026, Prowein has shrunk from 13 halls to 7. And even these seven halls no longer feel as they once did – two of them are now occupied by spirits. The world's largest wine fair, as it was still called a few years ago, has visibly become smaller today. Visitor numbers were also limited this year. No crowds, no jostling and pushing, no longer any feeling of being part of an oversized fairground.
And yet. Perhaps this is precisely where a new story begins.
Anyone walking through the halls quickly sensed it: the absence of the masses is not emptiness, but space. Space for conversations. For glances that do not immediately have to move on. For what wine has always essentially been – exchange.
For the first time in years, there were no longer crowds even around major winemakers and associations. I got into conversations without having to queue – without waiting. I could ask questions – and did not receive answers in a group, but as an individual, answers that went beyond the usual repertoire. It was not just about vintages and scores, but about decisions, doubts and directions. About about wine. About wine, about wine, about wine. Without complaining about the unquestionably unpleasant state of the industry.
Suddenly, something happened to me that had not been experienced at this fair for a long time: having time. Time to stop. Time to listen. Time to ask follow-up questions. Time to make contacts that were more than a quick handshake.
Email addresses were exchanged – not as a formality, but as an invitation. And the astonishing observation: replies came. Often within 24 hours. Winemakers who are once again taking the time. For merchants, for restaurateurs – and increasingly also for interested end consumers, who sense and appreciate this new openness.
It was a different Prowein. A quieter one. A more focused one.
There were more of us among ourselves. And that, precisely, opened new doors. Conversations with people whom one would never have encountered in previous years, because the flow would simply have carried them onwards. This year, people stopped. Met. Talked for longer.
And yes – this too is part of the truth: the notorious “Almauftrieb”, that evening spectacle of the industry, often featuring people staggering about, seemed noticeably subdued. Less noise, less posing, less self-dramatisation. More substance instead. Prowein may be losing in size. But it is gaining in closeness.
That is its future: no longer a fair for grand gestures, but for those who truly take wine seriously. For winemakers who want to tell their stories. For merchants who listen. For restaurateurs who seek. And for wine drinkers who want to understand what they have in their glasses. A bitter pill: many small winemakers who could no longer afford Prowein stayed away. And so did many foreign winemakers, for whom Prowein had probably brought too little in recent years. The days of overcrowded halls and quick deals may be over. Something else is taking their place: a form of intimacy that has long been missing in this industry.
If that is the price for losing size, then it is a good price.
In this spirit: keep it up!