Forget the Oscars. Harper Wine & Spirit is proud to present the Dom Walsh Awards for 2009. As you settle down to celebrate the festive season with a glass of fizz - I recommend a Taittinger Comtes de Champagne rosé - why not raise a glass to some of the personalities and businesses who made it such a memorable year for the drinks industry?
Read more...We're all riding a bit of a rough wave at the moment which is both good and bad.
Read more...Tarred with the brush of having "safe and reliable" wines, after a recent visit to Chile it was interesting to view how producers are embracing the new diversity that cooler climates are offering. With a near perfect climate for grape growing, vast tracts of land and little disease, Chile is beginning to resemble a giant vinous playground where excited producers can toy around with land and terroir as much as they like.
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The talk of the trade this week has been how low will Champagne be on sale come Christmas. It has already hit £9.99 for a bottle in Lidl and there rumours we could see grand marques Champagne follow suit by the time Father Christmas takes to the skies.
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As the trade collectively winces from the losses, we cannot help but ask: What will the state of the off-licence business be over time? What impact will Thresher's demise have on the industry? Paradoxically, in the fullness of time, could this disaster be a good thing for the industry?
The demise of First Quench Retailing will be commanding column miles, rather than column inches this week and for the foreseeable future, therefore I will resist the temptation to jump onto this bandwagon, although it does the robustness of our industry no favours to see another direct point of contact with the wine buying public disappearing from the high street.
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On the face of it First Quench going into administration is the "catastrophe" that many in the sector had feared, but never thought would actually happen. It is, though, too early to say how damaging the impact from the fall out could ultimately be.
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As the local wine industry expands at a rapid rate, the Harpers team visits three vineyards to lend a hand bringing in the harvest.
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Independent wine merchants have a lot to live up to. Time and again when you talk to producers, distributors, agents or wholesalers it is the independent sector they put up on a pedestal. Be it in relation to what they have already achieved, or in most cases, the potential for what they could achieve in the future.
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I am a fairly typical Majestic Wine customer. I visit my nearest store in Reigate about four times a year, purchasing up to two cases of wine ranging from £4.99 to £8.99 a bottle plus the odd case of lager during the summer months. On top of that, I buy two or three bottles on a fairly regular basis when I'm shopping at the supermarket.
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There was little to cheer anyone up in the leaders' speeches at the party political conferences over the last few weeks. Even Prime Minister-elect David Cameron could not even manage a single joke during his hour of glory.
"Is there an idiots guide to the new European wine regulations?" was a question I asked my team a couple of weeks back. "It's not that easy" was the answer...
What's your current favourite TV advert? Chances you are have to stop and think. Ask the same questions 10 to 15 years ago and they would be dropping off the tongue.
For vast swathes of the good and great of the wine industry, the IWC awards dinner at the onset of September, followed by the enthusiastic clarion calls from the annual Wines of Chile and Wines of Argentina tastings, mark the start of the new 'Season'.
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Over the last few months we have been quietly going around visiting drinks companies around the country as part of our Tour of Britain series (more reports to follow shortly). We have had the opportunity to go behind the scenes at wine agencies, merchants, large and small distributors as well as restaurants and bars.
It is not often I feel sorry for a giant multinational corporation, but there's a first time for everything. The outfit in question is Diageo, the world's biggest drinks company, owner of such iconic brands as Guinness and Smirnoff, a constituent of the blue chip FTSE 100 index of leading stocks - and not generally on most people's list of objects of sympathy.
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There are times it seems there are more medals handed out in the UK wine trade than there are to Muttley the dog in the classic cartoon series, Catch the Pigeon. But it is not just winning a medal that counts, it is what you do with it.
Read more...Harpers Blog - Week 3:
Pieter Rosenthal of www.corkandbottle.co.uk on the Thierry Cabanne Scholarship.
Harpers Blog - Week 2:
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The Sunday afternoon train journey to Romsey from Waterloo takes me back to my student days. Travelling light, but still too heavy in trains hardly designed for luggage.
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