From 18th to 20th March 2018, anyone who is anyone in the Wines and Spirits industry was heading to “ProWein”, the Worlds No. 1 International Trade Fair for Wines and Spirits at the trade fair of Dusseldorf in Germany.
This year africon GmbH, the foreign representative of Messe Düsseldorf for East Africa, was given the great opportunity to recommend an east African journalist and wine blogger. Mrs Jean Wandimi from Kenya, our journalist of choice, then was invited by Messe Düsseldorf together with 19 other exclusive international journalists to visit “ProWein” and take part in an additional 3-day press trip to Nahe and Ahr Region.
Jean Wandimi was thus given the great opportunity to see over 6,870 exhibitors from 64 countries around the globe and walk the fair along with 60,000 other visitors, of which approximately 50% come from abroad. “I have never been to such a grand fair in my life. I have attended Cape Wine in 2015 but this was like that in the concept but scaled to 100 in size.” she commented absolutely stunned by the size and style of “ProWein”.
When it comes to attendance, the quality of each booth as well as the level of expertise were outstanding. All exhibitors visited by Jean were very open and keen to explain about their products to their east African visitor. But for any person in this industry, not only east Africans, the quality of leads and networking options afforded by this gathering were phenomenal.
“I tasted a total of 383 Wines during my 1 week in Germany. I remember a fellow Wine & Spirits Journalist mentioned that this was like speed dating.” Jean told africon, smiling from ear to ear, when we met to say good-bye at the airport.
