When the fair starts on 19 March, Peter Schmitz, former head of Messe Düsseldorf’s international contract business, will have been in charge of ProWein for only 47 days. In view of this short time period, Michael Degen, Executive Director of Messe Düsseldorf, will retain responsibility for ProWein until the end of the fair. Clemens Gerke and Alexandra Wrann spoke with Degen and Schmitz about their view of ProWein and its wider environment as well as how they want to position the fair in the future.

Reading time: 4m 30s

In 2013, former TV presenter Amanda Thomson launched a successful zero-sugar wine brand called Thomson & Scott. Six years later, she went on to create Noughty, a zero-alcohol sparkling wine that has become a bestseller on both sides of the Atlantic.

Reading time: 8m 30s

If you want to understand what’s happening at the top end of wine, there’s no better expert to call on than Jamie Ritchie, the Worldwide Chairman of Sotheby’s Wines & Spirits, based in New York. Felicity Carter caught up with him to ask about the extraordinary prices being achieved for fine wine in the secondary market and whether the trend can continue.

Reading time: 6m 45s

ARENI Global, based in London, calls itself a ‘think tank’—a place where people can come and ask questions about the future of fine wine. Robert Joseph catches up with CEO Pauline Vicard.

Reading time: 8m 30s

Denys Hornabrook launched VINEX as a global B2B trading platform for bulk wine in 2015. Four years later, bottled wines were added to the mix. While the business is international in its focus, Hornabrook's own experience in Australia where he was educated and worked for BRL Hardy and Kingston Estate, gives him unique insight into the current plight of that nation's wine industry in the wake of Chinese sanctions.

Reading time: 5m

Robert Nicholson, principal of International Wine Associates, advises on merger & acquisition in the wine industry. Most recently, he was involved in the purchase of Château Lascombes by the Lawrence Family. In this exclusive interview Nicholson frankly considers the likelihood of other US buyers buying French wine businesses.

Reading time: 7m 45s

In a rare interview, Matthew Horkey tells us what skills you need to be successful, how he engages with the platform and why wine is the next big thing on YouTube.

Reading time: 16m

In this exclusive interview, Giorgi Iukuridze, co-founder of Shabo, Ukraine's leading winery, shares his experience of the last seven months, since the invasion of his country by Russia

Reading time: 7m 10s

In the middle of 2021, US wine professionals learned of the launch of a new digital platform to stand alongside Vivino, WineSearcher and CellarTracker. A year after its launch, following the failure to raise a third round of funding, after the earlier investment of $7m, despite recurring revenue of $600,000 that apparently exceeded initial projections, the Drop has effectively closed and Mabray is looking for partners to enable his business to achieve its objectives.

In this exclusive, lengthy interview, he answers some tough questions.

Reading time: 12m 38s