Six key takeaways from the ProWein Business Forum
The Business Forum, co-organised by Enolytics, at this year’s ProWein trade show in Düsseldorf held in-depth discussions on a number of the hottest topics in the drinks industry, ranging from AI to the African market.
The value of certifications
“Sustainability” is a wine industry buzzword which can sometimes raise more questions than it answers. The growing popularity of certifications which assess how environmentally and socially sustainable businesses are does help to give the term some grounding, but it is not always easy to explain this.
Rob Symington, new joint-CEO of Port powerhouse Symington Family Estates, argued that the key to communicating certifications such as B Corp and International Wineries for Climate Action to the average wine consumer is “keeping it simple” and striking “the delicate balance between technical language and consumer-friendly marketing”.
Among the examples Symington cited which demonstrate this is Wildfarmed Regenerative Flour, which is flour made from grains grown on regeneratively-farmed fields.
He also noted that within Symington Family Estates there has been a “mindset shift” regarding the attitude towards certifications. Whereas it might once be seen as a case of “compliance and PR”, it is now considered as a “driver of positive change”.
As for the measures producers can take regarding their environmental goals, a session concerning decarbonisation offered some pointers.
“Wine is at the intersection of industry and agriculture, and needs to face both ways into improving our carbon mitigations through regenerative practices and measuring their benefits, as well as through packaging, reuse and emissions reductions throughout the value chain,” explained Regenerative Viticulture Foundation development director Anne Jones, who also advocated for the interaction of different sections of the supply chains and an approach based upon “measurement and data management, sharing and consistency”.
Selling a lifestyle
The discussion When Health and Wellness Are Top of Mind, between Studio Soif principal Courtney Cochran and wine business journalist Felicity Carter, looked at how alcoholic beverage brands can stand up under mounting pressure against the drinks industry due to concerns over the health risks posed by excessive drinking.
However, with these present challenges come opportunities.
“New consumers prioritise experience, social connection, wellbeing and ritual over tradition,” the accompanying presentation noted. “Wine culture is still often tied to formal, meal-based consumption, missing casual, lifestyle-led drinking trends.”
Among the ways that wine brands can modernise themselves suggested during the talk were embracing social media, exploring drinks styles which are growing in popularity (such as lighter styles, spritzes and lower-alcohol variants) and demonstrating “purpose beyond the bottle” with an emphasis on practices such as regenerative agriculture and ethical labour.
Wine tourists, or wine ambassadors?
Wine tourism is becoming a more enticing prospect for producers around the world who realise that selling wine as part of a lifestyle image also involves selling related experiences. However, doing so sustainably is another matter altogether.
The session Introducing the Wine Consumer of the Future looked at exactly this, with Veronika Busel, head of operations of the Wine Tourism Association (WTA) and communication media group Drinks+, hosting a panel which included Geisenheim University’s Professor Gergely Szolnoki and Fladgate Partnership CEO Adrian Bridge.
Szolnoki argued in favour of wine tourism as “an art of storytelling, where visitors crave a deeper bond with the land, its heritage, and its people”.
“Wineries that master this alchemy do not merely draw visitors; they inspire devoted ambassadors,” he said.
“The future belongs to those who see tourism not as a side activity, but as the heartbeat of their brand,” suggested Bridge.
Bridge concurred with Szolnoki’s idea of visitors becoming “ambassadors”: “I’d challenge the term ‘tourists.’ To me, tourists are those who visit places simply to take from them. I prefer to talk about travellers – people who seek new experiences, explore, and engage with different cultures and destinations. This group is especially valuable because travelers become the best ambassadors. It really makes you think about what kind of experience you need to offer them.”
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Elevating Artificial Intelligence (Preferabli)
The panel How to maximise AI (even when your company doesn’t budget for it) was chaired by db‘s editor-in-chief Patrick Schmitt MW, with panellists Pam Dillon and Andrew Sussman, the cofounders of AI-powered drinks recommendation software provider Preferabli, and Ron Scott, head of research and development at Enolytics, the latter of which was a co-organiser of the Business Forum.
“Companies at the moment aren’t budgeting for much more than production and staff to sell what they make; anything else is a luxury,” posited Schmitt. “The wine trade is a fragmented business, rich with smallscale operations, and it cries out for the support of outside expertise. Surely it is better to rely on the expert who has spent their life developing AI tech, leaving you to do what you do best, which is selling drinks?”
Whereas Preferabli’s software is designed to streamline the wine recommendation process for the consumer, Enolytics is aimed at the trade itself, offering producers and distributors “the complete picture of who’s buying their wine, where, and the demographic,” according to Scott.
In terms of cost-saving for businesses, Sussman cited an example of one restaurant chain in the US which adopted an AI-powered wine recommendation system, saving the equivalent of two pallets of wine each year on free tasting samples for diners.
The potential of the African market
Dr Christian Lindfeld, managing director of Africa Ventures Advisory, which encourages investment and entrepreneurship into Africa, suggested that there are many “misconceptions” about the continent: “Africa is experiencing significant population growth, urbanisation, and the emergence of a growing middle class with distinct consumer desires and behaviours.”
“By 2035, Africa will have the world’s largest labor force potential, with eight out of the twenty fastest-growing economies located on the continent,” he continued.
At present, just 1.5% of global wine exports go to Africa, mainly to high-end hotels and restaurants used by expatriates – the bulk of these exports come from France.
However, the demographic shift that Lindfeld noted will have major ramifications when it comes to the desire for wine: “With net population growth expected to come from Africa until the end of the century, and no significant wine production planned on the continent, every country will need to import wine. This presents a substantial opportunity for the global wine industry.”
“The current sales approach is still geared towards a minority, and most African end consumers are ignored,” he continued. “Evolving tastes, increasing experience-oriented alcohol consumption, and a focus on quality and status symbols are key factors to consider.”
Cautioning against a “One-Size-Fits-All” approach, Lindfeld argued the importance of being “on the ground”: “Familiarity with customs duties, taxes, levies, and import conditions is essential, as the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) is changing trade dynamics on the continent.”
Making the most of ProWein
The question of what value trade shows pose in the 21st century, when emails and Zoom calls have become necessities of modern business, is a valid one.
Speaking on the panel How to Make the Most of Prowein, Erica Nonni of Nonni Strategic Marketing, which handles clients including Ferrari Trento, Wines of Chile and Francis Ford Coppola Winery, said: “ProWein is primarily about meeting people, not about tasting products. Do not treat ProWein like a walk-around tasting; it’s far too big.”
Nonni also suggested that having fellow wine professionals all gathered in Düsseldorf at the same time is a key asset of going to a trade show, even if you don’t meet with them within the actual show itself: “Some of the best conversations happen off the fairgrounds. Book dinners or other extracurricular meetings with the people you most want to see. I find a morning or pre-dinner exercise class or run (for those so inclined) to be a surprising and effective way to connect with other wine industry people in a more memorable context.”
Also part of this panel was Joyce Guo, marketing director of ASC Wines, China’s leading wine importer.
The 2025 edition of the show marked Guo’s third ProWein visit, and she offered pointers for those coming to Germany from long way away: “Arrive in Europe two days earlier to minimise the impact of jet lag, use the days to visit wineries, for example.”
When at the show itself, Guo advised: “Leverage Deepseek to map the walking route every day to minimise the walking and save time between each meeting. Focus on two-to-three halls per day or per half day.”
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