Efficient at trade fairs
Wine fairs & tastings
At a large wine fair, there are often more open bottles than any single person could honestly judge in a day. Still, with a plan worked out beforehand, you can head home with a clear impression instead of just a heavy head.
Trade fairs and open tastings
Wine fairs come in two very different forms. Trade fairs such as ProWein in Düsseldorf or Vinitaly in Verona cater exclusively to the trade. Importers, sommeliers, and journalists must register for accreditation in advance. Over the course of several days, thousands of producers pour from their own stands while deals get negotiated in the background.
Open wine tastings, by contrast, are open to anyone interested. They range from small village winegrowers' festivals to large public fairs held in a city hall. An entrance fee opens access to dozens of stands. The difference lies less in the wine itself than in how people interact: at a trade fair, you're expected to ask pointed, critical questions, while at a public tasting, simple curiosity is enough.
Why having a route matters more than ambition
If you wander through a trade fair hall without a plan, you end up tasting randomly and remembering almost nothing. A rough route helps: start with sparkling wine and light whites, then move to fuller-bodied whites and rosé, followed by reds from light to heavy, and finish with sweet and barrel-aged wines. This order protects the palate from being numbed by too much tannin and alcohol after just the first hour.
An honest upper limit matters just as much. At major competitions, many organizers cap their judges' daily quota at around eighty wines, since accuracy noticeably declines beyond that point. Some competitions still push tasters to work through over a hundred samples a day. For private visitors without years of training, a sensible limit sits well below that, more like twenty to thirty consciously tasted wines. After that, the rest of the day belongs purely to enjoyment and conversation.
Spitting, Water, Bread
At a fair with many stands, spitting isn't optional, it's the only way to keep a clear head all day. Spittoons are set up at almost every stand, and no one thinks twice about using them. Quite the opposite: among professionals, drinking everything is seen as a sign of poor preparation.
Between stands, still water and plain white bread help reset the palate. Cheese, cured meats, or heavily seasoned bites, however tempting they may look at some fairs, noticeably distort the next sip, since fat and salt shift the perception of acidity and tannin. A simple, unsalted piece of bread between stands works more reliably than any pricey snack at the booth.
Take Notes on the Spot Instead of Relying on Memory Later
The biggest mistake at a fair is waiting until the end of the day to write down your impressions. After the twentieth or thirtieth wine, even clear differences blur in the memory. By evening, only a handful of big names and a vague overall impression remain. A quick note jotted right at the stand, even just a single word about the wine's character, preserves far more than any attempt to reconstruct it afterward.
Anyone who also plans a fixed amount of time per stand, say five minutes for a quick chat and two or three samples, ends up covering more ground than someone who gets caught up talking to one enthusiastic producer for an hour and then has to sprint through the rest of the hall.
Preparation Beats Chance
Flipping through the event catalog or app before your visit lets you arrive with a shortlist of favorites. That way you don't get sidetracked at the very first stand. A handful of marked stand numbers is enough to give the day a rough structure, without losing the curiosity for spontaneous discoveries along the way.
Glancing at the hall map beforehand also saves unnecessary trips back and forth across the venue. At large trade fairs spread across multiple halls, a single wrong turn can easily cost a quarter of an hour. That's time you'll miss later, often at the final stands, which tend to be some of the most interesting.