ProWein 2025 – three takeaways as a smaller but still impactful show wraps

Roughly 42,000 people from 128 countries descended on Düsseldorf, Germany for one of the larger trade exhibitions in the wine and spirits global calendar. While the jury is still out on whether Wine Paris or ProWein will reign supreme – there were still some great takeaways from the three day fair. 

Quality vs Quantity

While visitor numbers did fall for the third year in a row, the quality of the visitors of the fair still remained high, with buyers from several of major multiple grocers, larger distributors and international buyers were all still in attendance. 

“The show was quieter in terms of visitors, but still very dynamic and energised. Critically, the brand owners and key people were all there, highly engaged and keen for new business,” said Gregor Mathieson, Director of Spirits at Ferovinum.  

That sentiment was heard throughout the show. 

“Several of the producers I spoke with did mention that the quantity of visitors seemed to be back, but several also mentioned that they still held a number of quality meetings throughout the show. It may have been quieter – but it was still seen as valuable,” said James Moorhouse, the Head of Business Development at Ferovinum. 

Max Noble, Head of Growth at Ferovinum, agreed: “Footfall was significantly down on last year, but that did not necessarily impact the value that people we spoke to got out of the show. It even meant for some smaller brands, it provided an opportunity. For those that came without a plan, it may have been tougher.”

Ferovinum, is a fintech company that supplies funding and logistics support to the global wine and spirit industry, and they had a larger presence this year with their own stand, but also supported some of their clients, like Whitebox Cocktails by hosting them as well. 

Ben Iravani, co-founder of Whitebox Cocktails, said: “ProWein is one of the biggest wine and spirits trade shows, and it does attract several international and European buyers. We had teed up quite a few meetings before heading to Germany, but even the day before we were still booking people in. We were introduced to people at the show as well, which meant we had even more people than we had expected on the stand. Just being at the show with a hub is such a big part of expanding our network.”

Ferovinum provided a platform for a handful of clients that wanted to participate. For Iravani, it was a real boost to have a stand over just attending the show. “Having the stand was great – it was really amazing! The key thing – having visibility and the opportunity to properly present the brand to buyers was great. We could properly taste with the buyers and show a larger part of our range. It allowed us to showcase the products, marketing materials and the serves for key contacts to enjoy the product.” 

This was the first time Ferovinum experimented with hosting partners on the stand and in a small way were able to further support growth for those brands that were interested in capitalising on the opportunity. 

“We really see our clients as partners, and it was great to demonstrate that in a physical way with the stand take-overs. Helping promote and generate growth for the brands and businesses we work with is a genuine win-win.” said Mitch Fowler, co-founder and CEO of Ferovinum. 

ProSpirits continues to expand

With over 500 exhibitors spread throughout two halls, ProSpirits continues to be an attractive offering for visitors and brands alike. 

“It really was buzzy! And markedly different from some of the wine halls! Spirits have the freedom to identify a place on the shelf, then create an engaging and differentiable proposition with more capacity to address developing markets and consumer trends –  like lower abv, lower calorie products and consumer demand for purity and less additives,” said Mathieson.

Further he added: “A high-end closure provider said last year there was virtually no NPD, but this year it has picked up and so brands are improving the packaging, the proposition and adding new SKUs.” This is what was driving some of the buzz that was seen in the halls at ProSpirits.

Noble agreed: “The spirits halls just felt busier than wine halls. I am not sure if it was because of design, but it felt busier.”

Tariffs cast a shadow

The threat of US tariffs were one of the most frequently mentioned challenges that producers and brand owners mentioned as casting a long shadow over the global drinks trade. 

“Tariffs were undoubtedly the universal topic of worry for almost everyone we spoke to,” said Mathieson.

“Tariffs were probably one of the more frequently mentioned challenges in the market and that could just be that it represents the uncertainty in the market at the moment,” said Noble. Moorhouse agreed, saying, “Roughly 80% of the people I spoke to seemed to be concerned about tariffs.”

Trading is tough with tariffs adding additional uncertainty, forcing brands to continuously evolve just to stay in the race. “I think the general sentiment was that a lot of brands were working hard to remain flat against last year. Companies with more diversified revenue streams or companies that can pull more levers were more positive than single brand owners,” said Noble. 

While there is a large amount of uncertainty in the global drinks trade, ProWein was still able to deliver a show with quality visitors even if numbers were back, and ProSpirits helped by offering an attractive draw. The big question still remains however, was it enough to slow the momentum of Wine Paris – and only time will tell on that front.

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