Is Wine Paris the Death of ProWein?

Before ProWein even opened its doors in Düsseldorf this March, murmurs had already begun — whispers trailing in from the glowing reviews of Wine Paris. The question many in the trade were asking: Is this the end of ProWein? The verdict, some said, was already in.

Having walked the floors of both fairs, it’s clear that Wine Paris brought an energy and optimism that was hard to ignore. The halls were buzzing. Every producer I visited had back-to-back meetings. One even called it “the best thing that’s happened to the industry this year.” Bold words for only February — but the excitement was real.

Meanwhile, ProWein arrived with something to prove — and the added pressure of Trump’s untimely tariff threat on EU wines made it all the more intense.

Attendance was down compared with last year: only 4,200 exhibitors and 42,000 visitors over three days, according to fair data. And when you spread that foot traffic across 11 sprawling halls, it only made the contrast with Wine Paris more jarring — where 52,000 visitors were packed into just six halls, making for a much livelier visual.

The comparison clearly weighed on Peter Schmitz, ProWein’s director. “Yes, competition is competition, but from my point of view, it doesn’t make sense to keep repeating and dwelling on the competition between Paris and us,” he said.

“I think we need to focus on our strengths. What we offer is a truly international narrative. We’re welcoming exhibitors from 65 countries and visitors from 130 countries.”

“We need to maintain a healthy balance between exhibitors and visitors, and I think we’re on the right track.”

At its peak, the fair attracted over 6500 exhibitors. According to Schmitz, the ideal number of exhibitors should hoover between 4,200 and 4,500 — enough to retain scale without sacrificing quality connections.

That sentiment was shared by some exhibitors, who appreciated the calmer pace and better buyer engagement at ProWein compared to the frantic energy of Paris.

“Wine Paris was so crowded, and people don’t want to stay in the queue and wait, but this time there’s more time to chat and talk, so it’s great,” said Maximilian Grimm, Regional Manager for Europe at Delicato Family Wines. “For us it is still a very good fair. More importers and distributors from Germany came, and the quality of clients are better.”

Fighting Back

ProWein, it seems, is far from giving up. The organizers are pulling out all the stops. One of the fair’s strongest cards is what it calls the “loyalty program” among international buyers. This year, they flew in over 50 top wine buyers from Asia — including Japan’s Liquor Mountain, South Korea’s Naracellar, China’s Vinehoo, ASC Fine Wines, Singapore’s Octopus Group, Le Vigne, Hong Kong’s Watson’s Wine, and India’s Sonarys and Aspri.

For the first time, ProWein also launched a dedicated Business Forum, designed to deliver market insights and solutions for global players navigating today’s challenges.

These efforts have not gone unnoticed.

“It’s not the death of ProWein,” said Ivan Aquino, Asia Pacific & Eastern Europe Sales Director for Spain’s ARAEX, when asked directly about the fair’s future. “We had two quite busy days. You can see our stand is full again this morning,” he told me on the final day of Prowein on March 18.

Other exhibitors echoed similar satisfaction — especially those focused on European markets.

“It can be a very good success for all the sales managers in charge of Europe. It looks like ProWein is starting to be a regional fair,” observed Guillaume Bladocha, Asia Pacific Export Director at Barton & Guestier S.A.S.

“I had many meetings with buyers from all over the world — Nordics, Asia, Russia, South America too. It’s a pretty good fair and I have good impression of it,” said Alejandro Hoffmann, Export Manager at Chile’s VSPT.

One Fair or Two?

For larger producers, attending both Wine Paris and ProWein is still feasible — even strategic. But for smaller wineries, it’s often a choice between the two.

“We value every customer who participates. It just has to make sense for them to be here,” said Schmitz when asked whether the fair would shift its focus more toward large wine groups.

“As I mentioned earlier, what you find here is international reach. But if we’re talking about very small wineries, this might not be the right place — because they can’t really serve such a broad international audience. They’re more focused on regional sales and often rely on subsidies from their home countries, but those are shrinking.”

To help smaller producers succeed, ProWein has introduced workshops focused on buyer engagement and business building.

“I get it — sometimes the owner of a small winery is also handling marketing, and that’s a lot to juggle,” said Schmitz.

As for Wine Paris, Schmitz believes its growing pains are inevitable.

“They’ll face the same problem we had in the past with growth. If they grow the way we did, they’ll need to change venues — and that would mean moving to the outskirts. It’s about an hour and a half away by public transport.”

But according to Rodolphe Lameyse, CEO of Wine Paris, the fair will remain firmly in the city and can handle the growth ahead.

The Trump Cloud

Beyond the Paris vs Düsseldorf rivalry, there was another hot topic swirling through the aisles of ProWein: Donald Trump’s proposed 200% tariff on EU wines.

If imposed, it would be devastating for European producers. The mere threat was enough to darken conversations on the fair floor.

For some, it’s yet another reason to look East.

“Many wineries hope to sell a lot of wine to China, but that puts a lot of pressure on importers,” said Minjie Wu of Pudao Wines, one of China’s leading wine retailers.

“This requires coordination between the wineries and importers. They need to invest more in promotion. The Chinese market has huge potential, but we need to spend money on branding and marketing. You have to help your importers with this.”

Despite geopolitical uncertainty, ProWein still delivered for many buyers.

“I have picked quite some wine and made connections with wineries we work with,” Wu said. “I might organize another trip with our own buyers for next show.”

For Joel Paterson, executive director of  Paso Robles Wine Country Alliance (PRWCA) in California, the fair proved a strong debut for the region. “This is our first time attending ProWein. We’ve been involved with California wines for years, and this year, we finally had enough brands to come together under the Paso Robles banner. It’s an impressive fair,” he said.

“As a region, we didn’t really know what to expect, but we had buyers, students, and distributors stop by — and plenty of great conversations with people from across the industry. For us, it’s been a valuable experience to build those connections.”