Premiere of EUROVINO: Messe Karlsruhe draws a positive balance for the new trade fair for wine
EUROVINO comes to an end with a successful premiere and impresses at the Karlsruhe trade fair location with a high-quality exhibitor portfolio that was presented to a strong trade audience from all parts of Germany and other European countries.
"We are delighted that, after four years of development, we have been able to successfully establish a new concept for a wine trade fair on the market with our professional expertise and innovative strength. This is particularly convincing with its sustainable orientation, illustrated by new stand construction concepts, among other things, and the embedding of digital formats such as the EUROVINO Weinguide and the Digital Wine Exchange based on it," says Britta Wirtz, Managing Director of Messe Karlsruhe. EUROVINO is therefore an important component of the Karlsruhe Trade Fair Center's competence field of wine and perfectly complements the portfolio with the biennial Winzer-Service fair. Karlsruhe, located in the center of the four largest German wine-growing regions, offers the ideal setting for this.
Dr. Hermann Pilz, Chairman of the EUROVINO Advisory Board, has been involved in the conception of the new trade fair from the very beginning and emphasizes: "With the successful premiere event, we have succeeded in developing a platform from the industry for the industry, which offers a market-relevant range of exhibitors with a high level of attractiveness for trade visitors and plenty of space for high-quality exchange."
Cem Özdemir, Federal Minister of Food and Agriculture, also took the opportunity to gain an impression of the new trade fair for wine on site. During talks and a tour of EUROVINO, he discussed relevant industry topics such as the cultivation of Piwi grape varieties and new methods for a healthy ecosystem in the vineyard with association representatives and exhibitors. In addition to these topics, dealcoholized wines and sparkling wines also played a role at EUROVINO, in the context of which Cem Özdemir emphasized in the run-up to his visit: "For me, a good glass of wine is also a part of quality of life. More and more people want to enjoy wine without alcohol from time to time and that is certainly not bad news. Anyone who wants to drink alcohol-free wine should also be able to do so in organic quality. However, dealcoholization is not yet permitted in the eco-regulation - you can't really explain that to anyone! We should change this quickly. I am therefore campaigning in Brussels and with colleagues in the member states for a modern and targeted adaptation of the eco-regulation. This step opens the door to an additional growing market, is in the interests of German viticulture and thus strengthens sustainable."
Positive response from exhibitors and visitors
"I am highly satisfied with the premiere of EUROVINO - I will be happy to come back next year, as the visit was worthwhile for me," explains Christophe Meyer, Sommelier of the Year 2022 and 2023 Gault Millau, from Hotel Dollenberg in Bad Peterstal-Griesbach. This assessment is in line with many of the impressions of the well over 2,000 trade visitors who attended the premiere of EUROVINO in Karlsruhe, as well as those of the 305 exhibitors. These include David Klenert, owner of the Klenert winery in Kraichtal, who says with regard to his "new in-house exhibition on site": "Visitors celebrate the trade fair because they have enough time for discussions here. The feedback is all very positive, including about the connection and the location. We were able to deepen good contacts and exchange ideas with interested parties who will become new customers." Jost Hendrich from wine and delicatessen distributor Palorino from Bolzano summarized: "Sufficient space, plenty of daylight in the hall, good trade visitors, the location of Karlsruhe and the large catchment area - we are very satisfied." Vera Wiedemann, Sales Manager at Friedrich Kiefer KG/Ökologisches Weingut Schmidt from Kaiserstuhl, also draws a positive conclusion: "We had a lot of great conversations, without pressure, unhurried. The trade fair appeals to the right target group for us, because we reached not only regional customers, but customers from all over Germany. That suits us very well and we will definitely be back - EUROVINO is absolutely a trade fair with a promising future for us."
Trade visitor Dr. René Poss from Lager 15 Weinfachhandel from Karlsruhe confirms this positive assessment: "For me as a wine merchant, EUROVINO is a really great trade fair with short distances. It is a fantastic opportunity to visit my suppliers and sample new products. But I have also met interesting wholesalers and importers and I am very sure that we will be able to build lasting new business relationships here."
The satisfaction with the quality of the exhibitors is also evident in the results of the visitor survey: 98%, or almost every visitor, rated them with top marks at the premiere event. "It is also very pleasing that 92% of visitors to the trade fair would recommend EUROVINO to their colleagues, which confirms our concept with regard to the first event and spurs us on to develop EUROVINO further," emphasizes David Köhler, EUROVINO Project Manager.
Andreas Fritz from the Franz Fritz wine shop in Constance, who benefits from the large number of business partners on site, is also in a good mood: "I am enthusiastic about the personal atmosphere here, we have much more time to talk to our partners. I also find the overall atmosphere very positive and will definitely be back next year."
Innovative program creates space for professional exchange and networking
With the Power Breakfast at the start of both days of the trade fair, the Networking Evening on the Sunday of the trade fair and the Expert Area, Messe Karlsruhe designed a deliberately accompanying and innovative program for EUROVINO that offered time and space for information, professional exchange and networking without distracting from the high-quality exhibitor portfolio. In the Expert Area, visitors were able to talk directly to recognized specialists on current topics for the retail and food service sectors at nine advice counters.
The networking evening on the Sunday of the trade fair also focused on exchange, with the highlight being the presentation of the Fair Wine Award, the international competition for sustainable and environmentally friendly wines, thus contributing to EUROVINO's overall concept of sustainability. A total of 18 wineries and wine producers from Germany, Austria and Italy were honored. The top award with 5 stars went to the Axel Bauer winery from Bühl/Baden with the 2022 Viognier 'Meisterstück'.
The award also included a competition in the retail and gastronomy sector for the first time: the "Wine Retailers of the Year" in various categories, the "Wine Bar of the Year", Freundschaft from Berlin, and the PFANDtastico 2024 Primitivo from Riegel Bioweine for the "Most Sustainable Packaging" were recognized.
The next EUROVINO will take place on March 9 and 10, 2025. Even before the end of the premiere event, numerous wineries have already confirmed their participation for the 2025 edition of EUROVINO.
Up-to-date information about the trade fair for wine can be found at any time at www.eurovino.info/en and on the social media channels LinkedIn, Instagram and Facebook.
