After years of hearing the buzz, Robert Smyth finally made it to what until recently has been the wine world’s biggest playground: ProWein. Armed with a notebook in one hand and a tasting glass in the other, he dove headfirst into the chaos, the chatter, and the clinking glasses of Düsseldorf.
The air was thick with excitement and foreboding, what with talk of impending US tariff hikes, as other visitors and I made our way off the U-Bahn and into Düsseldorf’s Messe trade fair complex. However, at 10am on Sunday, on the first morning of ProWein 2025 on 16th March, it was more of a steady stream of wine people flowing in, rather than the flood I had anticipated. This would ultimately be accurately indicative of the drop in visitor numbers reported promptly by the end of proceedings on the following Tuesday. However, the not-quite-so-dense crowds meant all the more comfortable conditions for those who did attend.
Like a child visiting Disneyland, struck by the myriad of magic attractions on offer, it soon sank in that I’d only be able to go on a limited number of rides. Or in more of an adult sense, it reminded me of attending an epic music festival like Glastonbury or Reading, with the bill jammed with great acts, with some of my favourite bands playing at the same time. “You need a strategy,” I said to myself. The organisers had thought of that, offering sessions on ‘How to ProWine’, but I reckoned by attending that, I would be putting further time pressure on myself. My main goal was to get back into the wine game and get up to speed with both trends and tasting after going through a serious illness — though not so much a Bucket List kind of thing. I figured on a mix of masterclasses to provide some focus, and wandering around, going where the wine wind would take me.
Despite the decline in visitor numbers, masterclasses were generally very well attended, with many full up well before they kicked off. Indeed, I did sometimes wonder just how busy ProWein used to be given the popularity of these. The masterclasses were generally run on a first-come, first-served basis, although some could be registered for ahead of time. However, pre-registering was no guarantee of a spot as the seats soon filled up. Having just missed out on the session on ‘Loire Chenin Blanc: A terroir grape variety’, a grape I had been grappling with in a tasting sense, my initial disappointment turned to delight when I happened upon a walkaround tasting zone of wines from across the Loire Valley, where I could not only check out plenty of Chenin but also all the other key varieties, alongside each other, at my own tempo, with all the key info a barcode away. Time well used!
Having arrived in the nick of time for ‘Tempranillo expressions from different Terroirs in Spain’ with Pedro Ballesteros Torres MW, I managed to grab the last available spot with the full complement of four glasses (in the standing room at the back). Incidentally, I liked the way that when masterclasses filled up, the organisers would still pour the wines to interested visitors as long as they had them. This would involve tasting the wines one by one, without the opportunity to look back at the previous wines, but was still a good way to taste. Some visitors smartly chose to drift in and drift out.
Hoping to get a firmer grip on the nuances of the most important Spanish black variety, Ballesteros Torres’ observation that the grape is a “chameleon of a grape variety with no clear Tempranillo character and no strong varietal presence, that changes its colours according to its place of growth” was very much in line with my previous experiences — for what is, for me, an elusive grape, and especially hard to nail in blind tastings, for example. However, his tour of Tempranillo in various terroirs, all the way from the cooler, tauter (yet still pronounced in alcohol) style of Somontano in the foothills of the Pyrenees, to the intensity of Toro, with Rioja, Navarra, (the new DO of) Arlanza, La Mancha and Ribera del Duero in between, was highly informative and inspiring.
Right after the tasting, I ran into Christina Fischer, sommelière and author from Die Genuss Werkstatt Cologne, who had earlier presented ‘Riesling and climate change’. I asked her what the main takeaway was, and she told me that German Riesling growers will have to be much more active and less reactionary in the vineyard in future, carrying out canopy management, shading and other methods.
Among other highlights on the first day, I dropped into a welcoming-looking booth in the Southern Rhône wine area and learnt that Laudun, which is well reputed for its white wines, became the 18th cru of the Rhône Valley from the 2024 vintage. I tasted Château Courac’s impressive first cru release of its 2024 white, which comes predominantly from 100-year-old Clairette vines, blended with some Grenache, Roussanne and Bourboulenc.
On the second morning of ProWein 2025, the premier of the 2022 vintage by Union des Grands Crus de Bordeaux jumped out of the list. I managed to get there five minutes early and join the eager crowd assembling at what appeared to be a starting line, and then the tape was lowered and the tasting marathon ensued, for what is widely considered a hot yet outstanding vintage.
Jérôme Poisson, technical director at Château Giscours, a third growth from the 1855 classification, hailed an excellent vintage, while describing how the very small berries could survive the heatwave. “We used leaves like umbrellas over the canopy,” he said. “We learnt how to manage low yields of five to 27 hectolitres per hectare.” To combat the heat, Château Giscours uses cover crops to protect the humidity in the soil, which improves organic matter, enabling it to act like a sponge, soaking up water and nutrients, according to Poisson. “Cover crops also provide shade for the soil, keeping the roots cool,” he said. The Merlot was picked on 1st September, which is the earliest date in the history of the château.
Overall, the many reds I tasted from the 2022 vintage were very enjoyable, with juicy fruit and smoother tannins than I’d have expected. One seasoned campaigner took a more measured approach, however. “The best vintage is always the current vintage,” he quipped.
Having not managed to find it on the first day, for lunch on the second day, I managed to seek out the Press Centre, which offers very good lunches, with main courses priced at just 4 euros (a meat and vegetarian option), as well as a quiet environment for getting some work done. By the way, and a note to members, on applying for a press pass for ProWein, I was told that members of the Circle of Wine Writers are always welcome at ProWein.
Suitably fuelled up after lunch, I was just in time to attend (standing room only) the exciting ‘Discover the Indigenous Varietals of Türkiye!’ with Wojciech Bońkowski MW, and taste eight (including Emir, Narince, Kalecik Karası, Öküzgözü and Boğazkere) of the nearly 70 varieties used in modern winemaking in the country. Then it was on to another dose of indigenous varieties, this time from Greece, where Demetri Walters MW expertly showcased some spectacular modern takes on the traditional styles, which included a Retsina with stunning rosemary aromas. “The pine resin should go in before the end of fermentation,” opined Walters.
Düsseldorf dancing
I heard that Monday is the night of the after-parties. Not expecting anything like this, it was a real experience to wind down the day dancing to 80s classics with a Hungarian wine colleague who knew exactly where to find the best party. It was hosted by a delightful DJ, who played up in style to the German stereotype with his marvellous mullet hairstyle. However, while the wine flowed and Nena’s 99 Red Balloons went by, along with loads of Brit bangers in the mix, I didn’t hear any tracks by Düsseldorf natives Kraftwerk played. In fact, I had also made it my mission to make the pilgrimage to the site of the former Kling Klang Studio, where the German electronic music pioneers recorded their legendary work, which is close to the main train station — but the wine ultimately won out.
About the tariffs, those winemakers I asked essentially told me that they’ll cross that bridge when they come to it, and that they had plenty of other issues to deal with in the present moment.
Exhibitors started to head home in droves fairly early on the final afternoon, leaving thousands of bottles open to taste, which was a great opportunity for some speed tasting. Some did more than taste and swooped on the defenceless bottles, many of which were unopened, with a number of people taking away enough with them to open a bar.
Speaking to a Hungarian importer of foreign wines at the gate at Düsseldorf Airport the following morning, who had attended ProWein for the umpteenth time, he expressed total satisfaction with the event, which enabled him to sit down for valuable face-to-face meetings with winemakers from across his portfolio. Being based in Budapest and specialising in wines from Hungary, I was happy to see a strong Magyar showing from Wines of Hungary, from a strikingly designed tasting-cum-meeting area.
The numbers
The words ‘Wine Paris’ indeed loomed large among those I spoke to who were ProWein regulars. The rapidly expanding wine trade fair in the French capital reported 52,622 visitors for its 2025 edition, held in February. The organisers of ProWein themselves were upbeat.
“In difficult sales times, ProWein shows it is the industry’s go-to trade fair where producers can successfully plan their business year. ProWein’s long-standing international profile and expertise is impressive proof of this and underpins its outstanding position in the highly competitive global trade fair market,” said Marius Berlemann, Chief Operating Officer of Messe Düsseldorf.
Around 42,000 visited this year’s edition of ProWein, compared to 45,082 in 2024 and 49,304 in 2023. “A total of around 4,200 exhibitors from 65 nations presented their wines and spirits in eleven exhibition halls,” said ProWein in a press release.
A more intimate ProWein appears to be on the cards in future. Was it worth going? Definitely. Would I go again? Ditto.