A day in Düsseldorf

My visit to Prowein in Düsseldorf was an enjoyable one.

It was an early start on the Sunday after the clocks had gone forward: my train from Basel left at quarter past six, and I arrived in Düsseldorf at just after half past ten. I didn't get back to Basel until 1 a.m. on Monday morning.

Although I had an open mind as to what to expect at Prowein, nothing prepared me for the sheer size of the event. Divided over halls 3 to 7 at Düsseldorf Trade Fair, Prowein is huge. Amid all these cavernous halls, I thought it best to stick with what I know best and concentrate on Germany. Even within this focal point, I had really only scratched the surface by the end of the day in terms of stands visited. The VDP's own area of stands, for example, would have been worth a day's visit alone.

That said, a lot of the wineries I managed to talk to were ones whose stands I'd been interested in visiting all along - starting and ending with the Pfalz, with a sprinkling of Baden, Rheinhessen and the Nahe inbetween. Other regions such as the Ahr, Mosel, Württemberg or Franken will have to wait another day. Next time, I should maybe stay in Düsseldorf overnight and take in a couple of days in succession. That way, I might also be able to wriggle my way through to some stands that were so popular they resembled flies buzzing around a light bulb in summer.

Still, it proved to be a good basis to be going on with. Some encouraging contacts were made. It's a question of following it up now.