Have you ever seen those beautiful photos of naked vines with drops like tears at the end of some pruned branches? This phenomenon called « bleeding » is the characteristic sign of the awakening of the vine that unmistakably marks the arrival of spring. The phenomenon usually takes place between the end of February and March and marks the time when the bud break phase of the vine begins. Generally, during the winter the plant is in the « dormant » phase, it is subjected to pruning and the branches that will produce fruit are selected. Being in a lethargic phase, the plant has reduced its vital functions to a minimum. Between March and April, when temperatures begin to rise and the earth warms up, the vine slowly resumes its lymphatic activity.

The vine begins the phase of growth that will cause the plant to be covered with foliage and the buds, that will become the future branches, will appear. By May, however, flowering will begin. This is a very important moment because the pollination of the flowers will yield the precious fruits: the grapes that, in September, after the harvest, will become wine.

This year the bleeding of the vine started at the beginning of March and the bud break around the 15th of the same month. Do not forget that the period depends on different aspects related to the seasonal trend and the type of vine.

To speak of spring is to take courage and emanate a cry of liberation when our soul warms up under the still weak rays of the sun. Spring is regeneration of ourselves. We wake up like the vine from the torpor winter and we enjoy life with more euphoria and positivity.

Spring comes with the awakening of exuberant nature by the infinite palette of colors that intoxicate the view and give the soul a feeling of calm with oneself and with life. Like the vine, not everyone is ready at the same time for this sudden change. Some people are more prone and there are also those who take longer … beauty means accepting the moments of each one.

This year was very important for ProWein fair because of its 25 successful years of trade fair history in the world of wine, once again becoming a reference for all countries. The agriculture Minister Julia Klöckner opened the 2019 edition with the following words: « When we launched ProWein 25 years ago, none of us could have imagined just how incredibly it would develop. It’s taken a massive amount of hard work and strong support along the way from our partners to grow this exhibition step by step into the world’s largest and most important trade fair for wine and spirits ». « We’ve got many things planned for our future as well, » says Hans Werner Reinhard, Managing Director of Messe Düsseldorf. A pair of heads of state, prime ministers António Luís Santos da Costa of Portugal and Andrej Plenkovic of Croatia, were even on hand at the exhibition grounds to join in the ProWein anniversary.

Each year the growth is exponential. Düsseldorf received a total of 61,500 industry visitors from the retail and restaurant/catering businesses. Visitors traveled from 142 countries (2018: 133 countries) and expressed strongest interested in wines from Germany, Italy, France and Spain.

As regards the wine and liquor suppliers, this year approximately 6900 people attended the fair.

It is relevant to highlight that the most important exhibitor countries in ProWein 2019 were Italy (1654), France (1576), followed by Germany (978), the overseas regions (600), Austria (335), Spain (661) and Portugal (387).

The dates of the next edition are already fixed: from 15^th to 17^th  March  and by 2021 the projects are even more pretentious with an expanded layout of the pavilions.

For what Lacrima Baccus consists, the meetings have been developed as expected with a very active participation by all our distributors who decided in advance the meeting. They delighted us with their presence. These moments together gave us the chance to meet them again, talk about the projects and objectives.