The original wine thinker Robert Joseph was at hand to lead the morning sessions to ‘Market updates’ and reflect on whether it was Time for a change and Boy! The conference organised by Meininger Verlag could not have been timelier, especially with Prof. Dr. Simone Loose, of Hochschule Geisenheim University talking about the Shifting Dynamics and ‘Will Emerging Markets Compensate for the Decline in Established one’ as a lead topic on everyone’s lips and palates for the next 3 days at Prowein 2025 held at Messe Dusseldorf.

Dr. Christian Lindfeld, Founder of Africa Venture Advisory, who has been living in Africa for around 15 years, talked about opportunities for the Global wine industry. It connected well emotionally with Arora since the Indian market seems to be in a similar frame as Africa even though we have only half the States to deal with (each State being an independent country due to our federal nature) as compared to 54 countries in Africa.

Reliable figures are as difficult to get, but 10 countries account for nearly 2/3rd of wine imports into Africa, making it about only 1.5% of global exports. Clientele is mostly hotels and restaurants, the local white population and expats being the biggest customers, according to Dr. Lindfeld who is well acquainted with the market where France is the biggest country of origin. Other important countries are grossly under-represented and have a significant export potential-similar to the Indian market.

African consumer preferences are generally ignored and there can be no one fit-for-all policy that can be employed in Africa but with the exploding wine drinking potential, producers must explore the potential for exports expected during this century. It is quite similar to the current Indian market which offers a wide scope despite higher scope of potential for domestic production. One must pay attention to the wine culture & tradition and customer preferences have to be kept in mind while promoting.

Current approach is still geared towards a white minority and most African end consumers are ignored. Evolving tastes and consumer demands are not analyzed or considered. There is still increasing, experience-oriented alcohol consumption where it is still a Status symbol with increasing purchasing power of the middle and upper classes.

“Find me an importer and distributor for Africa to grow my business” does not work in Africa just like in India though finding the right importer is nevertheless an arduous task though not the simple solution.

Several other speakers followed with clockwork precision with Dr. Anja Zimmer, Editor-in-Chief of Meininger’s International being the Symphony Director. Each Speaker with 20-25 minutes at his/her disposal had a lot of interesting data to share keeping delegates on their toes. Even the question/answer sessions were short and precise. Questions from the Audience were collected at a common point and a deputed person would ask the questions with the speaker expected to give condensed answers. This helped check any overage of time. This made sense as the 12 speakers spoke about their subjects in 4 blocks-‘Market Update’, The Consumer of Tomorrow (before lunch); ‘Trade out of the Box’ and ‘Beyond the Horizon’ (post lunch).

What Drives Gen Z- is a question everyone would like to find a rational answer for-their Characteristics, values and consumption? Dr. Stephanie Rumpf, tried to elaborate on that in 20 minutes while Christian Miller talked about The Key factors and Cultural and Gender Experiences, suggesting that based on evidence that that is the no.1 reason why people are drinking less wine  that they are drinking less alcohol. There were several other Speakers who talked on different topical subjects. Claudia Burgdorf looked through her crystal glass to talk about the shape drinks would take in the future and the future perspectives as she saw them.

Post Lunch sessions interesting topics in the Category of Trade out of Box.  That included The Art of Selling Wine and How Design Drives Wine Sales, Swedish Monopoly Insights discussing Trends in Wine, RTDs and Non-alcoholic wines which was elaborated and demonstrated during ProWein the following days.  As always, Panel Discussions are always on a lighter note and cover wider topics relating to increased wine sales. (We shall select some of the topics in the for future editions).

This was an excellent wine conference to be a part of and I am happy I was able to attend it. A few of the people I met agreed with me that they were of very high standards and the organisers needed to be complimented. So, here it goes:

Jai Ho Meininger Verlag for a wonderful job of organising and the theme along with Speakers who could relate with the latest research! One more reason for anyone like me- thirsty for wine knowledge as much as the liquid with all its intricacies and complexities to have visited Prowein 2025!

Subhash Arora