By James Wells, reporting from ProWein
The number of exhibitors and visitors to the world's largest wine and spirits fair, ProWein in Düsseldorf has increased following a record Australian attendance.
Over 55,000 trade visitors attended this year’s ProWein to visit over 6,200 exhibitors from 59 countries including 1500 from Italy, 1300 from France, 1000 from Germany, 550 from Spain, 320 from Austria, 300 from Portugal as well as a record attendance by over 100 wineries from Australia and 90 wineries from New Zealand.
This represented a six per cent increase in trade visitors, with a high increase in Asian buyers.
“ProWein remains the best show in the world. If you are going to come to one show then ProWein is the show to come to,” said Barossa-based Elderton Wines co-managing director, Cameron Ashmead.
“The falling dollar has made people more interested in the category again and as a result Barossa wines and Australian wines in general are on the up and bringing export dollars back to Australia.”
Wine Australia hosted 46 wineries and over 70 brands on its stand according to general manager, Stuart Barclay.
“This is the largest contingent of Australian brands in one spot in over a decade and allows us to tell a very powerful story. On the Wine Australia stand alone, we have 30 per cent extra space this year providing more space for the wineries to do business.
“You can’t deny that the dollar has certainly re-ignited international interest again, but the interest was already there – this has just strengthened it. It takes us back to a position where we are very competitive in that $15 pricepoint and above. This is a natural pricepoint where Australian wine resonates and where you can talk about regionality, and varietals, the winemakers, the stories, the history and the authenticity of our wine industry,” Barclay said.
“I can honestly say that ProWein for our European office is the most important wine trade fair of the year because it is held every year,” said Penfolds global ambassador, Jamie Sach.
“This way we can sit down with our customers on a yearly basis and we have our entire European distribution team here and all of our sales and marketing people based in our UK office, and all of our regional managers – they are all here. So we get a lot of business done at ProWein because the buyers are here. We have people on our stand who have flown in from Asia and America, so this is not just a German or European show – it is a global show.”
The ProWein exhibition in Germany will be followed next month by the premiere of ProWine Asia from 12-15 April in Singapore and the fourth annual ProWine China exhibition in Shanghai from 7-9 November 2016.
Next year, ProWein 2017 in Düsseldorf will be held from 19-21 March and ProWein 2018 will be held from 18-20 March.