3,400 exhibitors from 63 nations presented their products during 15-17 March 2026 when 31,000 trade visitors from 105 countries used the trade fair as a platform for concrete commercial and distribution decisions. A special focus was on buyers from top import markets such as Germany as well as Belgium, the Netherlands, Scandinavia and the USA. This approach was supported by a revised and well-received Hosted Buyer programme.

Also Read : ProWein Business Report 2026 for wine industry in transformation

Realignment of exhibitor space

It was already announced and known that the number of halls would be reduced to 7 this year, keeping it compact but the emphasis was on efficiency. With slightly lower participation by space, by countries like Germany and Italy and several other countries and a general slow-down in the global wine and spirits industry, generally considered to be around 15%, the budget restrains from the exhibiting countries and also the ongoing wars had its impact both on the exhibitors and visitors. But there appeared no lack of passion and enthusiasm levels of the exhibitors or the visitors and with the Masterclasses throughout the Show seemingly full and busy thanks to the matching software installed in the previous years, the 3-day frame was still short unless one fixed the appointments judiciously.

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ProSpirits at ProWein

Part of the reduction in wine companies was filled up by around 500 Spirits companies from 50 countries including India, which had distinctly more presence with the whole of Hall No 5 and 7.0 (Hall 7 was divided into 7.0  assigned to Spirits as ProSpirits and 7a assigned to Portugal which looked very impressive.

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Hall realignment

Majority of Hall No.3 was full of Italian pavilions buzzing with visitors while ‘Europe’ occupied less than half of the hall with Azerbaijan, Bulgaria, Georgia, Kosovo, Croatia, Lithuania, Moldova, Montenegro, North Macedonia, Poland, Romania, Serbia, Slovenia, Czech Republic, Turkey, Ukraine, Hungary and Cyprus constituting the exhibitors. Germany, Austria (Hall 1) and France had their own pavilions. Greece was squeezed in Hall 6 along with Spain which has always had a huge participation but the New World seems to have shrunk a bit.

Tightening the halls to only 7 definitely meant less walking and tiresome for visitors.

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Prowein Zero

Prowein Zero was a popular pavilion in Hall 5 where one could taste the ever-increasingly popular no alcohol wines and a few low alcohol versions. As in the previous editions, one could find sparkling and white wines with better flavours but red wines still needed improvements. There was an increasing discussion of why one should indulge in the no-lo wines (pregnancy and driving being the most common reasons by the pro no-lo consumers), especially because they cost more than the regular wines (except cheap bulk wines).

There was also a feeling that soft drinks companies could also be working soon to take away a chunk of the market with spicing of their drinks with herbs and concoctions to make them closer in flavours and more acceptable to the consumer at the fraction of the costs. Interesting times for the segments that could take a huge size if the costs became more reasonable bringing in a huge population. There were also several variants of no-alcohol sparkling tea which has taken off in recent years in the no-alcohol category.

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Sparkling Visions

Sparkling Visions was another interesting addition in Hall 4 where, besides champagne, many sparkling wines were available for tasting with free seating and no registration. There was an area specifically designed for Masterclasses on subjects related to sparkling wines, on the side of an open bar. A bit too compact and uncomfortable, it was a very interesting Masterclass that I attended on how to sell sparkling wine (especially champagne) by the glass by using a Coravin. Led by Patrick Schmitt MW, editor of Drinks Business,Lambert Manden of Coravin tasted champagne from a fresh bottle  and opened it with Coravin 4 weeks ago for comparison. They tasted as good as the freshly opened bottles. With the selling price of champagne by the glass being almost as much as their bottle buying price, it offered a lot of opportunity to sell the Champagne and expensive bubbly by the glass or even drink in the house.

Agora Seminars

AGORA –The relatively new concept at Prowein, based on the old Greek system where the specialists would gather in the center of town for various discourses, seems to be gaining in importance in Hall 6 where a plethora of topics were subjects of  fast moving but important topics of international importance. For example, I attended a very interesting program from a lady from the USA, who presented the behavior of Gen X (following the Baby boomers and preceding Millennials)- generally defined as people born from 1965 to 1980 and who are parents of Gen Z. These are well established people who indulge in wine in a big way.

Of course, different country pavilions had also organised their own Masterclasses. For instance Austria (Hall 1) had organised excellent Masterclasses. I attended one by the Austrian Master Sommelier Stefan  Neumann MS. He had chosen the topic – The Hero and unsung Hero under the subject The Art of Wine. Down to Earth.  He had us taste 8 wines in 4 flights from Styria, Lower Austria, Burgenland and Vienna. It was an excellent presentation with high quality delicious wines- from various stands in the Austrian pavilion.

There were a multitude of such opportunities including Tasting on your own, making it a worthwhile visit to ProWein 2026.

Next edition of Prowein will be on 7-9 March, 2027. Planning of the next steps in this multi-year development process is underway and results will be presented by Messe Dusseldorf in late May. So watch this space.

Subhash Arora