New Zealand Winegrowers created a fresh new look for our stand, with 29 wineries exhibiting with us, although there was demand from many others. Sadly we were restricted with space this year. Around the fair it was great to see many other New Zealand wineries either taking space with their distributors or on their own.
Our friends and colleagues at NZTE kindly assisted us by hiring four London based Ngati Ranana performers to provide Maori cultural performances, which brought a loud dose of Kiwi culture to the event. NZTE also funded an important Cool Climate Wines From New Zealand seminar and tasting, led by respected German journalist, Richard Grosche, who presented (in German) a range of New Zealand wines on the stand of the leading German publishing house, Meininger Verlag.
Once again we were involved with the Flavours masterclass and tastings theatre in collaboration with four other New World regions, (Argentina, Chile, California and South Africa). Three leading sommeliers/wine personalities; Andreas Larsson MS (Sweden), Caro Maurer MW (Germany) and Ronana Sayburn MS (UK) conducted tutored masterclass sessions each day which showcased the versatility of New World wines when matched with food. All these sessions were sellouts and attracted an excellent cross section of international trade and media. Each participating New World region had a slot for their own country and Brent Marris presented a sell-out Road Trip around New Zealand Pinot Noir.
The importance of ProWein is clearly demonstrated by the fact that it has reached its current limits and so from next year, the layout will change and two new halls will be added. The New World countries will be given greater emphasis with their own hall by a new entrance to the fairground. This means we will be able to accommodate many more wineries than before, so please let us know if you would be interested in being involved next year. The dates are March 24 – 26 2013. ν
