Trade shows: why size does matter…
As wineries prepare to put their 2025 marketing budgets to bed, which wine shows to exhibit at is a question on everyone’s mind. Andrew Lofthouse, who is soon to embark on his first winemaking venture, considers whether being part of the international wine trade show circuit will ever be a game he can afford to play.
I was at Wine Paris and Prowein earlier this year, two of the largest international wine trade shows. Wine Paris perfectly situated in Paris, is a centralised travel hub for exhibitors and visitors alike, with affordable hotels and flexibility to attend with cavernous halls dedicated to more ‘traditional’ winemaking countries.
ProWein, out towards the airport in Dusseldorf, with a smaller centre than Paris and less amenities, tailors itself to a wider audience with greater international presence not least from the up and coming ‘newbies’ within the global geographical sphere of wine.
Despite their differences both have become hugely successful with large importer, exhibitor and delegate attendance and a healthy rivalry between the two making each work hard every year to achieve the edge.
The bustling streets of Prowein's Düsseldorf.
International wine trade shows showcase some of the finest wine producers in the world and attract some of the most powerful buyers and influential figures in wine. That being said, something’s not quite right, something’s missing: where are all the little guys? Where are the smaller producers, the unrivalled and raw winemaking talent, ‘the next big consumer movement’, the space where the start-ups, the innovators, the micro-producers, the big-thinkers-with—the-little-wallets, are in full view?
Let’s look at the detail…
The cost to exhibit is extremely high! At ProWein, the minimum sized stand is 9m2, at the lowest end of the scale costs between €2,547.70 and €3,150.70.
WineParis & VinExpo declined my request to publish their charges to exhibit, but sources that took part have shared that they are not dissimilar.
Getting there: air travel, general transfers and subsistence costs. Hotels near Prowein €250+ per night.
Before you factor in the hidden expenditure - including the opportunity cost of utilising your time elsewhere, the missed-opportunity cost of being in a low footfall area with low-impact visibility and the financial and marketing weights of large producers and regions - you’ve spent €5,000 before you’ve opened a sample bottle. In a low margin industry like wine you’ve got to sell a lot of bottles to recoup that cost, let alone pay yourself. Can small producers afford to play this game?
Wine Paris attracts more than 41,000 visitors.
Paso-Primero are a small UK owned husband and wife flying-winemaker business making wines from a vineyard in Somontano, northern Spain. Owner and winemaker Tom Holt has been vocal about the problems faced by small wine businesses wanting to expand into the international wine scene and the lack of affordable options available to them. Holt explains:
‘The large shows are massive and scary in equal measure for a small producer. They are integral to the wine trade calendar and so the opportunities these trade shows have are almost make or break for producers looking beyond their immediate network. The 101 sales playbook tells you to exhibit at these shows, but they are just not viable for small producers.’
Holt goes on to say: ‘The DO system is your first port of call in Spain, but if you are not in one of the largest DO’s in the country, it’s difficult to look at expansion. The shows appear now to be a reaffirmation of viability for large producers rather than opportunities to form new business. In fact, we had a number of meetings with importers recently that looked very positive but once we mentioned we were not attending the fairs in Paris or Dusseldorf, we were seen as somewhat less viable.”
Paso-Primero's Tom Holt, and family
So what can be done?
Large and small wine businesses alike want and need an equal footing at the table and if organisers like Prowein and Wine Paris are willing to listen there’s much more they can, and should do, to nurture future talent and reward young businesses.
Consider the music industry, where large festivals (e.g. Glastonbury) support young artists and fledgling bands in smaller tents. And the ‘BBC Introducing Stage’ whose MO is to announce bands looking to garner support. Could this model be transferred to further develop independent talent in the wine world with collaborative, destination stands that wine buyers, much like music talent scouts, would make an intuitive bee-line for.
One idea from Paso-Primero’s Holt was to ‘have a discovery area with, say 50, producers who have earned the right to be there because of maybe an [up-and-coming-talent] competition that they have won, and therefore gain a free pass to the shows.’
Holt’s vision of a competition to ‘win a place’ on a talent-style stand would offer much needed visibility and increased brand awareness for small producers and businesses. Done well, an initiative like this would also give organisers the annual edge for innovation, the added advantage of investing today in the big-players of tomorrow and contribute to a sustainable trade-show business model for years to come.
Listen to Andrew Lofthouse’s podcasts The Andy and Olly Show and The Northern Wine Guy Podcast Show and subscribe to TNWG Wine Times on LinkedIn TNWG Wine Times.