(Claude Auguste / Manfred Klimek – Editorial team / Photo: Messe Düsseldorf)
It begins with a figure that seems like an omen in the world of wine, though it need not be one: between 2023 and 2026, Prowein has shrunk from 13 to 7 halls. And even these seven halls no longer look as they once did – two of them are now occupied by spirits. The world’s largest wine fair – as it was still known just a few years ago – has now visibly shrunk. The crowds of visitors were also kept to a minimum this year. No throngs, no jostling or shoving, no longer the feeling of being part of an oversized funfair.
And yet. Perhaps this is precisely where a new chapter begins.
Anyone walking through the halls quickly sensed that the absence of the crowds is not a void, but a space. A space for conversation. For glances that don’t have to move on straight away. For what wine has always been – an exchange.
For the first time in years, there were no longer crowds gathered around major winemakers and associations. I struck up conversations without having to queue – without having to wait. I was able to ask questions – and received answers that went beyond the usual repertoire, not as part of a group but as an individual. It wasn’t just about vintages and scores, but about decisions, doubts, directions. About wine. About wine, about wine, about wine. Without any whingeing about the undoubtedly unpleasant state of the industry.
Suddenly, something happened to me that hadn’t been experienced at this fair for a long time: having time. Time to stop and stand still. Time to listen. Time to ask questions. Time to make connections that were more than just 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 taking the time again. For retailers, for restaurateurs – and increasingly also for interested end customers who sense this new openness and appreciate it.
It was a different Prowein. A quieter one. A more focused one.
We were more among our own kind. And that, in particular, opened new doors. Conversations with people you would never have met in previous years, because the flow of the crowd would simply have carried them on. This year, people stopped. Met up. Talked for longer.
And yes – this, too, is part of the truth: the infamous ‘Almauftrieb’, that evening spectacle of the industry, often characterised by a sense of revelry, seemed significantly subdued. Less noise, less posturing, less self-promotion. But more substance. Prowein may be losing some of its grandeur. But it is gaining a sense of closeness.
This is its future: no longer a trade fair for grand gestures, but for those who take wine truly seriously. For winegrowers who want to tell their stories. For merchants who listen. For restaurateurs who are on the lookout. And for wine drinkers who want to understand what they have in their glass. A bitter pill to swallow: many small winemakers, who could no longer afford Prowein, stayed away. And so did many foreign winemakers, for whom Prowein had arguably offered too little in recent years. The days of packed halls and quick deals may well be over. Something else has taken their place: a sense of intimacy that has long been missing from this industry.
If that is the price to pay for the loss of scale, then it is a fair price.
With that in mind: keep it up!