Harpers Wine & Spirit Trade News

My View: Spotlight on South Africa

Published: 18 January, 2007

South Africa is under the UK wine trade spotlight, with everyone pontificating on the best way forward.

Degrees of success by Jo Burzynska

Published: 18 January, 2007

As New Zealand shivered through what has been for many the coldest December on record, global warming felt an ice age away. The world may be heating up, but one of the most conspicuous climate changes in this country has been the increased frosts.

Paul White replys to the AWRI

Published: 18 January, 2007

Before getting into a detailed discussion of the issues at hand, I'd like to address AWRI's complaint that Harper's and Scientifically Speaking have not rigidly followed academic scientific standards. Harper's is obviously not a peer reviewed scientific journal. It's a magazine focused on the wine trade and interested consumers. Given that audience, its primary task is to translate complex issues in a way that makes sense to its readers so they can make informed, rational decisions about wine related issues. Dressing Scientifically Speaking with snappy titles and headings goes a long way towards engaging readers' attention, not to mention keeping them from dozing off mid-paragraph. AWRI appear to have misunderstood the point of this and seem to have been a touch overly sensitive concerning choice of titles and section headings.

Fling or real thing?

Published: 18 January, 2007

As one year slides not particularly memorably into another, Italians are looking back on an age, now clearly on the wane, when the so-called vitigni migliorativi' (improving vine varieties) were something no self-respecting wine could be seen without in polite society.

Wines in the Weekly Press

Published: 18 January, 2007

The Independent on Sunday
RICHARD EHRLICH bows out of his column this week after 10 years. The growth of the internet has been one of the biggest influences on the drinks trade during that time, he says, and of the recent developments in the online drinks world, the most uneven is the rise of the blog'. He doesn't hate all drink-related blogs, but most are drivel'. In his view, there are way too many amateurs waffling on about subjects they know nothing about. He remonstrates: In cyberspace,
it seems, no one can hear you scream "Enough! Shut up, please."' One of his favourite blogs is by Sunday Express columnist Jamie Goode (www.wineanorak.com/blog), which combines technical expertise with vivid accounts of his travels and a nice bit of personal history'. Ehrlich also uses this last hurrah to sing the praises of France and insists: French wine is the best on Earth'. He suggests trying 2005 Le Cas, Mas de la Conscience, Vin de Pays de l'Hrault (10.95; Berry Bros & Rudd).

Liberty demands change over screwcap attitudes

Published: 18 January, 2007

Dear Minister,
I am writing to you regarding an issue that is having an adverse effect on the sales and positive image of Italian wine.

The Analyst

Published: 18 January, 2007

It can't be easy living up to the Chef of the [20th] Century' accolade applied to Jol Robuchon by Gault Millau.

Wines in the Weekly Press

Published: 18 January, 2007

Daily Mail
Oz Clarke's forthcoming BBC series - Oz and James' Big Wine Adventure - is thrown into the spotlight by JILL PARKIN as she takes a look behind the scenes of the televised French road/wine trip. She finds that Oz remains a true expert on all things vinous -when it comes to wine, he can talk you beautifully into anything' - although Top Gear's James May reveals that his car knowledge is somewhat lacking: He's quite good at talking about them in a lyrical way but he thinks they've still got carburettors.' The series will be aired on BBC2 in November.
MATTHEW JUKES recommends some inexpensive French reds, including 2004 Chteau Roubaud, Tradition Costires de Nmes, France (6.99; Yapp Brothers).

Wines in the Weekly Press

Published: 18 January, 2007

Financial Times
Riesling remains a favoured topic of JANCIS ROBINSON MW, but this time it's the turn of Australia, rather than Germany.

'Piety versus terroir' - by Max Allen

Published: 18 January, 2007

Terroir, according to Malcolm Gluck in his new book Brave New World, is twaddle. Well, I'm sorry, Malcolm, I just don't agree.

The Analyst - by Neil Beckett

Published: 18 January, 2007

The Bell at Skenfrith (www.thebellatskenfrith.co.uk) has long been known to aficionados, but has only recently started to win the wider recognition it richly deserves, earlier this month beating one of London's best hotel restaurants to win the 2006 Gosset Award for the best Champagne list in the UK.

From eco-wine to Frankenvine - by Joanne Simon

Published: 18 January, 2007

Welcome to South Africa, a place of great natural beauty, still teeming with unique and exciting wildlife in places, and home to the Cape Floral Kingdom, the smallest and richest of the earth's six great floral kingdoms.

Wines in the Weekly Press

Published: 18 January, 2007

Moore extols the virtues of English wines; Rose recommends Roussillon; and Atkin, the wine trade's poet laureate, waxes lyrical on Elizabeth Bennett Browning. Meanwhile MacQuitty says Old and New World wines are just different'.
Christian Davis reviews the reviews

One man's meat

Published: 18 January, 2007

New Zealanders have to endure being mistaken for their trans-Tasman neighbours with regular monotony. Yes, there's that antipodean twang, which as a new Kiwi I must admit to having confused myself. And the country does admittedly share numerous characteristics with Australia. However, those making the effort to take a closer look at the country's politics, climate, geography and indeed its wine industry, should detect some very different dynamics.

Going for gold

Published: 18 January, 2007

There's a wintry chill in the air in the Cape, and winemakers are taking a well-earned break, hoping to reap the rewards of their hard work during previous vintages at the many competitions underway, both locally and abroad.

Argie Bargie

Published: 18 January, 2007

A few years ago, writers commenting on Australian wine always referred to the largest producers - such as Hardys, Rosemount and Penfold's - when discussing the country's export marketing strategy.

The Analyst

Published: 18 January, 2007

Real food and fine wines' may be the boast of gastropubs up and down the land, but few will deliver as fully on the promise as The House.

New World good...

Published: 18 January, 2007

You will recall what happened, that final twist in the porcine tail, in Orwell's Animal Farm? The pigs ended up becoming the spitting image of the oppressive humans the rest of the animals sacrificed everything to resist. A similar irony is at work in the New World of wine.

Letters: On New Zealand

Published: 18 January, 2007

I read with great interest your excellent supplement on New Zealand; it is always good to have a critical view from abroad. I would, however, like to take issue with Stephen Skelton MW in his article An English MW in New Zealand' (p.14), which lays several claims that are essentially incorrect.

Getting it right

Published: 18 January, 2007

I've just about finished reading the new wine books that filled my Christmas stocking, but once again it was a funny little book already in my possession, first published in 1954, that afforded me the most amusement over the holidays.
In his foreword to this, the third (1966) edition of C de Bosdari's Wines of the Cape, PO Sauer describes it as the first book on South African wines which will help our wine-drinkers to understand what they are drinking, how it is made and why it is good'. (It is also good for us, claims the author: Wine-drinkers, as a rule, are very healthy people, the sort of people who shamelessly turn up to bury their teetotal friends')