ProWein Media Summit 2023: all you need to know

The Drinks+ and WTA team was invited to take part in the virtual ProWein Media Summit 2023. This year, our media resources traditionally became the Information Partner of ProWein while ProWein got engaged in the WTA as its Exhibition Partner. So, we would like to shed light on some issues presented by the ProWein Press team in an-hour conference moderated by Monika Kissing. 

The ProWein Media Summit began with the presentation of the press conference participants – Prof. Dr. Simone Loose, Head of the Institute for Wine and Beverage Business at Geisenheim University, Executive Director of ProWein Michael Degen, new Project Director of ProWein Peter Schmitz. They gave their review and conclusions on the post Сovid-19 ProWein 2022 and their rather positive evaluation of the results.

As Mr Michael Degen mentioned in his introduction speech, the focus of this year’s ProWein is going to be on alternative packaging, sustainability, rising costs on the glass and bottle production, impact of the alternative packages on the wine taste, design, low and the non-alcohol wines – the “World of 0” was specially created at ProWein.

Following ProWein Project Director Peter’s Schmitz presentation, Dr. Simone Loose, Geisenheim University, brought the Current ProWein Business Report 2022 to the table. The industry reaction, trends and a long list of challenges caused by rising costs and disrupted supply chains were among dominant topics.

Commissioned by ProWein, Geisenheim University polled experts from throughout the world across the entire value chain of the wine industry in late 2022, for the sixth time now. Participants include wine producers from the most important wine-growing countries in the Old and New World. Those are exporters, importers, specialist wine merchants as well as representatives from the food service, hospitality and hotel industries.

The ProWein Business Report 2022 follows on from ProWein unique, regular “Marktbarometer” (Market Barometer) for the international wine industry produced since 2017 and assesses the significance of the challenges facing the industry during the current economic crisis. This year, again 2,500 international experts from 47 countries have shared their insider knowledge.

Prof. Dr. Simone Loose commented: “Interesting to note here is that industry leaders are proactively responding to the economic crisis. They tap into new markets with their products and react to traders’ and consumers’ needs with very innovative solutions. These include – according to the survey – alternative wine packaging and low-no alcohol wines.”

The most important results
The industry entered 2022 with positive expectations. Producers and traders hoped for a recovery from the negative impact of Covid-19.

Like in the previous year, rising costs and disruptions to supply chains rank top in the list of threats and challenges for the wine industry. The degree to which the industry is affected has clearly increased. 

The global economic upturn after Covid-19 already led to a greater demand for energy and rising energy prices in 2021. With the war in Ukraine and sudden collapse in energy supplies in 2022, prices in many parts of Europe have therefore often more than doubled compared to 2020. Due to their higher energy consumption, producers are significantly more affected by this than wine traders.

Almost all producers were affected by transportation issues and supply chain disruptions. From the industry’s perspective, transportation and supply issues will continue to present a major challenge for their business

Further information as well as the complete ProWein Business Report 2022 can be found on the website of ProWein at www.prowein.de

Drinks+ & Wine Travel Awards continue their fruitful cooperation in the field of information partnership with the world’s leading trade fair for wine and spirits ProWein 2023, which opens its doors in Dusseldorf again to thousands of wine professionals from all over the world from 19 to 21 March 2023. 

Do you fancy discovering Ukrainian wines? Join the wine tasting of 6 WTA nominees – Family Winery SHABO, Beykush Winery, 46 Parallel Wine Group, Stakhovsky Wines, Villa Tinta, Big Wines (Ukrainian branch of Vinos de La Luz) – at ProWein on Tuesday, 03/21/2023 – 16.00 pm/hall 13 (Forum 13.2).

Moreover, the Wine Travel Awards Guide Special Edition (print & digital) will be distributed at ProWein exhibition hall and at the newly online trade press stand, a new digital platform of Messe Düsseldorf with extending the presence using the ProWein Portal.