Early Champagne harvest for promising vintage

Comité Champagne has revealed that the champagne harvest for 2018 is to start today (21 August) following an exceptional wine growing year and good weather.

Climate change: The greatest threat to humanity

Extreme weather has wreaked havoc on the winemaking world this year. Jo Gilbert traces these events back to the effects of climate change and the global impact of an increasingly CO2-laden planet

Harpers Report: The best route to market for buyers and sellers of wine

There have never been more choices available to producers and buyers alike on how to distribute and source wines in the UK market. Harpers has produced a new Routes to Market report to help you find the best solution for your business. It is available free of charge to Harpers subscribers through the Insights section of Harpers.co.uk or, for non-subscribers, it can be purchased from our shop (see right hand tab) for £99 plus VAT.

Eavesdrop on an average conversation in the UK wine trade and terms such as agent, importer, broker, distributor and wholesaler are often at the heart of the debate. Listen more carefully to what is being said and issues such as carriage charges, shipping costs, supply chain times, credit terms, and bonded and unbonded stock will be being discussed.

Now we all might have our own understanding of what these terms and references actually mean, but the speed at which the industry develops and changes the ways in which wines are now sourced, bought and distributed means the terms being used do not always reflect the reality.

To unravel the current supply chain, Harpers has dedicated its next exclusive subscriber market report to the issue.

Routes to Market: Buyers and Sellers sets out the different routes to market available for buyers and sellers of wine. The report is relevant to anyone involved in either the production, buying or the distribution of wine in the UK.

It is available free of charge to Harpers subscribers through the Insights section of Harpers.co.uk or, for non-subscribers, it can be purchased for £99 plus VAT.

In it you will find:

The benefits of working through different channels

How to work with producers to create bespoke own-label brands

The importance of the bulk market

How similar businesses in the same area of the market are forming buying groups, to buy collectively to share costs and maximise efficiencies.

How many companies in the UK are looking to simplify the supply chain.

Italy Supplement: Talking Italian

South America | High hopes and challenges

We've criss-crossed the continent to cover four countries this year, and while some are ongoing, others are distinctly new.

Rioja 10 x 10: 100 of Rioja's Top Wines 2016

Spain Supplement: Stirring up a great debate

Italy Supplement: Baffling but never boring

For those who really 'get Italy', like plenty in the trade, that riotous mix of individual producers, regional styles and native grapes is a big part of what makes Italian wine so special. Italophiles would have it no other way - this is a land to get lost in and never escape from. But in high-tax Britain on the High Street that complexity is a bit of an issue.

Rioja 10 x 10: 100 of Rioja's Top Wines 2015

Spain Supplement: Digesting Spain's wine evolution

South America | Strength in diversity

Bringing together the flavours and cultures of South America paints a wine picture that's as colourful as it is diverse

Harpers.co.uk survey results: Most overrated and underrated wine countries

Harpers.co.uk exclusive survey asked thetrade who they thought the most overrated and underrated wine regions were and the poll yielded some interesting results.

Bordeaux 2014 en primeur: The verdict

There has been little incentive for consumers to buy Bordeaux en primeur in recent years. Can the chateaux turn that around? Our man on the ground, local winemaker Gavin Quinney, reviews the latest vintage:

Sud de France Languedoc-Roussillon TOP 100

The Sud de France Languedoc-Roussillon Top 100 is an annual competition organised by the Comité Interprofessionnel des Vins du Languedoc (CIVL) and Sud de France Développement to encourage producers to show their best wines without restrictive criteria such as pricing bands.

Wines of Germany | The New Face of Germany

supplThe upshot can be seen - or rather tasted - in the fantastic selection of Top 50 wines on these pages, wines that represent the whole panoply of German winemaking, from the traditional to the modern, representing a superb snapshot of all that is going on.

Top 10 crowdfunded drinks trade initiatives

The rise in crowdfunding proves that in today's business world, the customer is more powerful and more vocal than ever before - and the drinks trade has been quick to capitalise. Laura Vickers reports on 10 recent stand-out fund-raising initiatives of the past two years

Up to 95% of suppliers demand retailers change the way they work with them

Up to 95% of the 200 suppliers who took part in our survey into the behaviour of major UK retailers want them to change. Here Gemma McKenna reveals what suppliers really think of the big multiples

COPY: Harpers new consumer report reveals key wine trends in the UK on-trade

In the second of our exclusive consumer reports, Harpers turns the spotlight on drinking trends in the UK on-trade and finds out what the average Brit thinks of the wine in their glass and what attracts them, or not, to ordering wine when out and out about compared to other drinks

Over 40% of Brits will buy wine online this Christmas, says Harpers new e-commerce report

Over 40% of Brits will buy their Christmas wine online this year, according to a new report published today by Harpers Wine & Spirit.

Naked Wines is UK's most popular specialist online wine retailer, says Harpers new report

Naked Wines is the most popular specialist online wine retailer in the UK, according to a new Harpers report published today that examines the online shopping habits of British consumers.