Fast forward — almost one year later, married and able to live, get this — together — in either of our home countries – or, ideally one day, BOTH! But for now, we are living and working in the Bay Area.  Johannes completed the fast and furious 2013 vintage at the Mosel, while I drove the tractor in the mornings for a small northern Napa Valley winery and lead tours in the afternoon, trying my hardest not to get purple juice all over my guests.

On our trip to Germany for bottling and, conveniently, ProWein, we (mostly Johannes) was pleased to find his wines in good form and we spent a night blending the wines.

Photo Credit: gastronomie-im-netz [Photograph] Retrieved from Flickr http://tinyurl.com/kpp9t77

We had planned to attend ProWein in the German city Duesseldorf too, at least for a day to check it out, get our bearings and plan for next year.

The ProWein, is a 3-day, 9am-6pm, trade-exclusive marathon–er international trade fair. A comprehensive tasting of almost 5,000 exhibitors from 48 countries, ProWein is spread out through several halls (or small warehouses). Guest attendance reaches in the mid 40,000s and you can bet there are hundreds of journalists there to capture the event.

Upon entry, the event boasts a very posh and white-clad Champagne Lounge, where visitors can access approximately half of the Champagne houses featured at ProWein (about 60 Champagnes in total). As in the other areas of the event, there are private pseudo-rooms blocked with elaborate drapery where buyers and suppliers can hash out business deals right then and there. “Don’t call us, we’ll call you!” is no excuse. This tasting is for serious sellers to get their product exposure or recognition and serious buyers to attain some of the highly sought-after wines along with those that have yet to be discovered.

But don’t let the name fool you — sake and spirit producers are also highlighted at this event and culinary masters craft localized pairings for the wines ( but the snacks definitely also help to to soak it all in!)

There is a schedule each day of events, informative tastings and seminars on not just wine, but the whole industry of beverages.

Events include varietal and region-specific informational seminars and tastings, as well as short classes on any topic one can imagine, conducted by the industry pros, not limited to: aromatics of wine, trends in the beverage industry, organics, food and wine pairing and so on.

It was an incredible and incredibly informative event that we only scratched the surface of with only one day there, but we now know what we’ve gotten ourselves into…

Bring on ProWein 2015!