ProWine Singapore - Southeast Asia’s first post-pandemic in-person dedicated trade fair for the wine and spirits sector - saw tremendous success, bringing together 230 high-quality exhibitors from across 27 countries and regions to meet with 8,500 visitors from around the world. This represents a close to 20% increase in visitors compared to the last edition held in 2018.
Taking place over four days at the Singapore Expo alongside FHA – Food & Beverage, ProWine Singapore 2022 featured a broad representation of international wine and spirits labels, solutions and concepts for the region’s diverse consumer markets as well as specialised masterclasses and seminars by industry experts, wine educators and Masters of Wine. This year’s edition featured 23 speakers over 20 curated sessions that covered a broad spectrum of topics from the anticipated exploration of wines and spirits to post-pandemic strategies, Web3.0, NFTs and an exclusive cocktail launch.
ProWine Singapore 2022 included a strong showcase from 11 national pavilion and country groups, comprising leading wine-producing countries such as France, Germany, Italy, Portugal, Spain, and New World wine countries Australia and USA. The range of exhibitors and countries represented on the show floor reflected Singapore's strong appeal to the global wines and spirits industry, including its key role as a gateway to do business in the region as seen by the growing participation of even lesser-known wine and spirits producing countries.
According to Richard Hemming, Master of Wine and Head of Wine, Asia, at 67 Pall Mall, the show floor was buzzing throughout the four days. “Looking around there were people standing in every stand, talking, tasting, connecting with each other. Obviously, it is the first time in four years that we have really been able to do this properly - the show will build on this position and get even stronger in future years. It will be great for more exhibitors to consider exhibiting in these shows, even if they are already in the market, because it’s where the wine trade congregates to discuss what’s going to happen next.”
Ricardo Aleixo, Owner and Manager of Real Cave do Cedro from Portugal, said ProWine Singapore 2022 was “really impressive” and represented the best of all their participations since the first edition in 2016. "It was busy with potential buyers and lots of very good quality leads," he added.
Meanwhile, Joan Anton Romero, Founder and General Manager of Barcelona-based Glass Canned Wines said that “All four days were intense, meeting distributors, retailers, hoteliers, and restauranteurs from Malaysia, Vietnam, Cambodia, Mongolia, Japan and China. We know that Singapore is the main hub to enter Asia; ProWine Singapore offered us the best opportunity to showcase our products in the region.” Glass Canned Wines offers local and top-quality wines, kept in a 21st-century eco-friendly container that is resistant, recycled, and recyclable.
Aaron Salvestrin, a third-generation viticulturist and Director at Sans Pareil Estate, Australia, said ProWine Singapore proved a great location and they managed to gain some very good leads and "we are interested in coming back next year.”
Overall, exhibitors reported an overwhelmingly positive turnout of high-quality visitors and meaningful networking opportunities with regional importers, distributors, wholesalers, restaurateurs, and those representing the hotel and airline sectors, with trade visitors coming from Malaysia, Indonesia, Vietnam, Thailand, Philippines – countries that are ranked among the Top 10 emerging markets of choice by producers in an earlier ProWein Global Business Report. The internationality of ProWine Singapore 2022 where close to 30% of trade visitors came from overseas, further strengthened the relevance of the trade fair in bringing together quality buyers and decision-making visitors to conduct business at this must-attend regional platform.
“The crowd and excitement on the show floor and the value of face-to-face interactions and live tastings were clear. The feedback from exhibitors has been extremely positive - we are thrilled at the success of ProWine Singapore 2022, and the range of exhibitors proved the diversified development of wine and spirits in Southeast Asia, while the number of quality trade visitors was exceptional. Being the region’s first wine and spirits trade fair to return post-pandemic, it was so encouraging to see producers, distributors and retailers having the chance to reconnect, refresh their relationships, and gain business leads. A big thank you to all the exhibitors and visitors for their endorsement and support, and we look forward to welcoming them again in 2023,” said Gernot Ringling, Managing Director of Messe Düsseldorf Asia.
For leading retailer Singapore-based Bottles & Bottles, Jeanne Mok, Head of Marketing shared that they were happy “to have this platform to meet new wineries and be considered for distribution, reconnect with trade buyers and introduce our latest portfolio, and catch up with wine educators, regional merchants, fellow distributors, accessories suppliers, and trade associations.”
The sentiment was equally positive and optimistic on the spirits and liquor side of ProWine Singapore 2022. According to Anshika Agarwal, Director of The Nepal Distilleries Pvt. Ltd, “The response has been quite amazing. ProWine Singapore has been a great opportunity for us to introduce our spirits to people in Singapore, the UK, Australia, the USA and more. Our main purpose for attending this trade fair is to do market research and to better understand the Southeast Asian palette – and we received a great deal of feedback from people in the region.” Established in 1959 in the valley of Kathmandu, The Nepal Distilleries specialises in Himalayan rum Khukri, and is Nepal’s first distillery.
First-time participant East West Management & Marketing Pte Ltd said they were expecting a small crowd of attendees on the first day, but were delighted by the impressive quality of the people that came. “We had distributors from China, India, the Philippines, Malaysia, Maldives, and Indonesia – so our expectation was coming to the show to meet those distributors. Our expectations for the first day were far exceeded in every shape and form,” shared its Managing Director and Founder, Brian Werner. The company introduces award-winning affordable Tequila and Mezcal to Southeast Asia and beyond. Singapore is currently one of the world’s Top 10 importers of tequila.
Four Masters of Wine kicked off strong attendance for knowledge-based masterclasses
The four-day lineup of masterclasses started with an exclusive panel discussion featuring four Masters of Wine: Annette Scarfe, Neil Hadley, Richard Hemming and Tan Ying Hsien. The four shared their insights for new wine world with the audience, touching on key points such as Singapore’s positioning to become the region’s next wine hub. The four also discussed Southeast Asia’s wine consumption trends, including an increased interest in sparkling and organic wines in Singapore.
Panel discussions exploring the adoption of blockchain technology in the wine industry and immersive tasting sessions exploring wines from lesser-known regions and differing climates received full attendance, as did many of the masterclasses.
Attendees were also invited to savour a freshly shaken Singapore Sling 2.0 using the famous Danish cherry liquor Frederiksdal Likør, at its official launch which took place at ProWine Singapore 2022. "Our participation at ProWine Singapore is very important. Our product is relatively new and unknown, and to be able to showcase it in a region where consumers are ready to try new wines benefits us greatly. During this fair, it feels that we have the whole of Asia being here, being curious, this is what we are looking for." Harald Krabbe, CEO & Founder of Frederiksdal Kirsebærvin
Having visited past editions of the trade fair, Elaine Ang, Managing Director of WineCult, a Singapore-based importer of Italian artisanal wines, shared that “ProWine Singapore 2022 was the best edition yet and had a great buzz to it, where the overall quality and range of wine producers was really good.” International trade visitor S Amarnath, General Manager, The Residency Towers in Puducherry, India shared ProWine Singapore was “very impressive and the range of premium and high-end quality wines on the show was unexpected so I am looking forward to networking and finding out relevant wines for our hotels."
The full post show report for ProWine Singapore 2022 will be released soon. The next edition of ProWine Singapore which now runs on an annual cycle alongside FHA - Food & Beverage, will return to the Singapore Expo from 25 to 28 April 2023. By pivoting to an annual platform, this offers the best opportunity to cater to the business growth and demands of the industry.
The ProWein global portfolio has a long-established history, which first began in Düsseldorf. Over the last 25 years, ProWein has expanded its presence to include the cities of Singapore, Shanghai, Hong Kong, Sao Paolo and Mumbai. ProWine Singapore made its debut in 2016, co-located with FHA -Food & Beverage, organised by Informa Markets. It has earned its standing as the region’s leading trade-focused platform for international wine and spirit producers and is the largest of its kind in Southeast Asia. ProWine Singapore, with its co-location with FHA - Food & Beverage, provides the ideal platform for international producers to tap into the growth prospects of Southeast Asia and for trade participants to forge strong collaborations and business contacts across the synergistic wines and spirits, food and hospitality sectors.
