(Jacqueline Dolati in Paris / Manfred Klimek editorial team / animated pic: Runwayml)
Ask the winemaker? We did just that. Martin Tesch on his and Hanspeter Ziereisen’s bistro evening in the French capital, the importance of Scandinavian customers – and ProWein and its problems now having to compete with Wine Paris:
WP: Martin, during Wine Paris you spent an evening in a bistro with Hanspeter Ziereisen, where you presented your wines. What was that like for you?
Martin Tesch: It was the first time we had done it that way. And of course, at first you are simply glad when people turn up at all. Paris is not Düsseldorf. There is a huge choice of events in the evenings. You spend the day at the trade fair – and in the evening you are competing with countless events.
So was it a gamble?
To some extent, yes. In Düsseldorf, a German winery has the home advantage. Many visitors come to the German hall simply out of courtesy. You know what you are going to get: a broad range of German wines. You might discover a wine in a restaurant in the evening and find it again at the trade fair the next day. That connection is absent in Paris.
It wasn’t your first time there, though.
No, I went to Paris for the first time two years ago and liked it very much. Last year I wanted to organise an evening like that myself – rather than spending three days at the trade fair, I wanted to hold a specific evening for existing customers and leave again the next day. It didn’t work out organisationally. Then the Ziereisens approached me. They had done it successfully the year before and said: If you are planning something like that, why not join us? It was ideal.
Who came to the bistro?
There were a few Germans, but above all Northern Europeans: Denmark, Norway, the Netherlands, Sweden, Belgium. Precisely the markets that are important to us.
Why there in particular?
Because the cuisines think along similar lines. The foundations are comparable: butter, onions, bacon, wine, winter vegetables. The flavour profile of our wines suits them. This is not a Mediterranean setting, but Northern European DNA.
If you compare Wine Paris and ProWein – which trade fair suits you better?
Paris has by now become a must for many of our customers. France is, after all, the strongest wine country in the world. The Italian presence in Paris is enormous. Customers have a full three-day programme there.
And Düsseldorf?
ProWein is noticeably suffering because of Paris. You can see that in the announcements of its own reforms, too. Düsseldorf is strong internationally, though – if you take France out of the equation, there are several large international halls there.
But in recent years some halls have seemed alarmingly empty. That was particularly noticeable last year. What is the reason for that?
That depends heavily on who is walking through the halls. If buyers from the USA or England are out and about with large budgets, you do not need many visitors for it to pay off. The sheer number of visitors is not everything. What matters is who comes – and what purchasing power they have.
