With the Bushmills brand now fully incorporated into its portfolio after the acquisition from Pernod Ricard, Diageo used its first ever whisk(e)y briefing to reaffirm its position as the world's leading whisk(e)y producer.
TV presenter Jilly Goolden ventured into the Australian jungle at the weekend - as part of ITV1's I'm a Celebrity, Get Me Out Of Here! show.
The Australian Wine and Brandy Corporation has warned that the current oversupply problems facing the wine industry Down Under may not ease until 2009/10, extending previous forecasts by two to three years.
Constellation Europe's Australian wine brand Hardys has become the first wine brand to sell more than five million 9-litre cases in the UK market in a year.
According to AC Nielsen MAT data for the on- and off-trade, the Hardys brand, which includes such names as Stamp, Nottage Hill, Crest, VR and numerous super-premium labels, sold 5.031 million cases in the year ending 3 September.
Helena Westcombe, a sales director at Hayman Barwell Jones (HBJ) for 10 years, has joined London wine merchant Ellis of Richmond.
Westcombe, who has also worked at Percy Fox and Champagne Lanson, will be helping to expand sales in
the London area.
Stokes Fine Wines has appointed Charles Thompson, who worked for John E Fells for five years. Thompson will be responsible for developing regional wholesale distribution.
A new super-premium range of Jacob's Creek - Shiraz/Cabernet, Cabernet Sauvignon, Shiraz, Chardonnay and Riesling - has been unveiled by Orlando Wyndham, Pernod Ricard's Australian wine division.
Harpers took the runners-up spot in the annual Ctes du Rhne quiz night in London last week. Each team member demonstrated an unlikely (and unhealthy) amount of knowledge on subjects as diverse as Giant Haystacks, Pocahontas and tiddlywinks.
Read more...Les Grands Chais de France has further strengthened its presence in the Loire with the purchase of the LaCheteau vineyards and ngociant business in Anjou for an undisclosed sum.
More than 30 people were injured when this year's Beaujolais Nouveau festivities in Grenoble turned sour.
The incident is believed to be unconnected to recent riots in Parisian suburbs, during which thousands of vehicles were set ablaze. The violence in Grenoble started on Friday, where between 2,000 and 3,000 students had been celebrating the launch of this year's Beaujolais Nouveau.
Kendall-Jackson has moved into sports sponsorship with a tie-up with golden oldies' tennis tournament The Masters. The company's Vintner's Reserve is an associate sponsor and the official wine of the tournament, which is to be held at London's Royal Albert Hall from 29 November to 4 December.
Read more...Many UK consumers are very open-minded about trying new wines, but getting them to choose yours over someone else's is a more difficult matter. And even when they do choose your brand, it will become just one of a dozen or so regular' wines that are purchased, often on special offer.
Paragon Vintners has announced an agreement to represent the wines of Burgundy producer Michel Picard.
Among the company's assets are Chteau de Chassagne Montrachet (the company HQ), Domaine Voarick in Mercurey, and Chteau de Daveney in Montagny. In total, it controls around 100 hectares of vines. This is the first time it has been represented in the UK.
After a successful launch last year, the Specialist Importers' Trade Tasting (SITT), a loose alliance of independent distributors, is set to return in 2006 with events in London and Manchester.
Despite a much-hyped (2005) vintage, and the presence for the first time of Christie's and telephone bidding, wines on offer at last week's 2005 Hospices de Beaune auction failed to reach the kind of stratospheric prices that many ngociants had anticipated.
Sainsbury's and Tesco have both joined in the sub-10 Champagne price war, as predicted in our news feature on discounting champagne (see pp.23-24). Sainsbury's has slashed the single-bottle price of Etienne Dumont by 10 a bottle to 9.99 (until 29 November), or to 9.49 if you buy six bottles or more; and in a parallel move, Tesco has cut Andr Carpentier from 19.99 to 9.99, also 9.49 if you buy six bottles or more.
Read more...Constellation Europe's premium wine division, Cellar Door, has confirmed that it will add Rex Goliath, the California wine brand acquired last month by Constellation Brands, to its portfolio.
UK consumers appear quite open to experimenting with wines from non-traditional countries of origin and with wines using non-traditional varietals, according to a new piece of research conducted by Wine Intelligence.
Paul Hobbs, the consultant winemaker best known for developing Argentinian Malbec for the likes of Nicolas Catena, has warned that Argentina is in danger of concentrating too much of its effort on the Malbec grape variety.
Belgian beer Stella Artois has been voted as the coolest alcohol/drinks brand.
Diageo will stop releasing single malts under its Rare Malts brand next year, as the stocks from distilleries it closed in the 1980s start to run out.
