The fourth edition of ProWine Mumbai, a 2-day world-class business event for the Indian wine, spirits and hospitality industry, closed in Mumbai recently on a new high. This year, the show added ProSpirits under its umbrella, providing spirit companies a fair platform to connect with buyers who explored the dynamics and strength of the beverage alcohol industry in India.
Co-organised by Messe Düsseldorf India and All Things Nice, ProWine Mumbai 2024 was attended by significant dignitaries and trade commissions, this time from Chile, France, Hungary, Ireland, Portugal, South Africa and United Kingdom. The event rightly kick-started with the popping of Casa Bottega Prosecco and a ribbon-cutting ceremony, before the gates opened.
The interests of the market players were at the forefront of ProWine Mumbai 2024 with trade visitors – ranging from large hoteliers, prominent restaurateurs and bar owners, importers, distributors, retailers, sommeliers, chefs, food and beverage teams and consumers – networking on the floor.
The exhibitors at ProWine Mumbai 2024 unanimously emphasised that they were impressed by the scale and quality of the event that provided a comprehensive professional platform for the wine and spirits sector and were overwhelmed by the high-quality footfalls and good business interactions.
Exhibition, Tastings
This year, the show was bigger than ever, with trade visitors and consumers exploring over 7,000 square metres gross exhibition space, meeting with 170 exhibitors, discovering over a thousand brands from 18 participating countries and networking with wine and spirit producers at the 10 country pavilions that were specially set up for business and market learnings.
Participating countries included Australia, Bulgaria, Chile, Denmark, France, Germany, Hungary, India, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Mexico, Netherlands, New Zealand, Portugal, Spain, Switzerland, the United Kingdom and United States.
Gold Partners, Casa Vinicola Costanza S.R.L and Tenuta San Giorgio di Sant Patrizia & C. (Staffilo Winery) from Italy, well invested their brands at ProWine Mumbai, to enter the great Indian market.
The show brought together 5,947 attendees that included the country’s community of wine and spirit brands, importers, distributors, wholesalers and retailers, along with international brands looking to enter the Indian market and noteworthy large-scale buyers including hotels, restaurants, bar owners, and wine and spirit enthusiasts.
Master Classes
The show put together 11 well-attended master classes. The topics not only introduced visitors to new brands and tastings but also involved stimulating story telling by the speakers, some of them dressed in traditional attire that imbibed the true essence of their brands.
The panel discussions were well-received and packed with spunk as speakers took on thought-provoking questions from an intelligent audience, who were there to seek answers, perspectives and insights. The panellists across the three sessions proved their might and created a healthy atmosphere for good discussions thus exposing an invigorating insight of the thought processes across generations.
Among the speakers were Kevin Rodrigues (Indian Accent, Comorin), Bazil Moniz (I Think Foods), Charles Donnadieu (The Lalit Group), Ravi Punia (The Quorum), Hridhay Mehra (Masque), Shatbhi Basu (Creative Consultants), Aditi Dugar (Masque), Pankaj Balachandran (Countertop), Vikram Achanta (Tulleeho) Evonne Eadie (Perfect Serve India), Sanjay Menon (Sonarys), Jackie Matai (Aspri Spirits & VBev), Vishal Kadakia (Wine Park), John Southwell (Australia Trade and Investment Commission), and Vianney Meynier (Business France).
Honouring Excellence
ProWine Mumbai provided yet another platform, ‘Honouring Excellence Awards’, to acknowledge noteworthy contributions within the wine and spirits’ sector. The awards stood for a commitment to the industry to recognise, reward and celebrate the backbones of the wine and spirit trade.
The ProWine and ProSpirits Challenge opened doors to Indian and international wine and spirits brands available in India to ascertain the quality of their products vis-à-vis the preferences of the local palate. The judging took place through systematic blind tasting by industry professionals, connoisseurs and enthusiasts, giving them a platform to express their opinion on their favourite wines and spirits.
Winners and partners of the competition were featured at the exhibition and the prestigious ProWine Mumbai Night. Guests at the ProWine Mumbai Night had the opportunity to taste the winning labels at the dedicated ‘Winning Wines & Spirits Bar’.
The ProWine Bartenders’ Competition had seven semi-finalists and judging by Minakshi Singh (Sidecar), John Leese (Avant Garde Bar), Pawan Shahri (Chrome Hospitality) and Fay Barretto. The People’s Choice winner was Yashwanth Mukkati (Jamming Goat 3.0, Bengaluru).
ProWine Mumbai will be back for its 5th edition from October 31 to November 1, 2025, at Jio World Convention Centre, Mumbai.
