The members of the New World grouping, represented by the generic wine-marketing bodies for Argentina, California, Chile, New Zealand and South Africa drew capacity crowds and long waiting lists to their joint in-depth series of lectures, panel discussions and tastings, held under the Down to Earth@ProWein banner. Speakers included Prof Hans Reiner Schultz, director of Germany's Geisenheim Research Centre; economist and wine writer Jürgen Mathäß; and Dr Josef Schuller and Lynne Sherriff, the chairman and vice-chairman respectively of the of the Institute of Masters of Wine, Robert Joseph as well as several highly influential wine critics, judges and journalists.