A decent proposal, by Jeremy Beadles

As I was writing this column, I received confirmation that the Chancellor will make his Budget speech to the House of Commons on 21 March 2007 at 12.30pm. This is always a tense time of year for the industry as we wait to see what duty changes there will be. There have not been any indications at this point that the Treasury will follow a different pattern to that of the past few years (freeze on spirits, inflationary increase on wine and beer, freeze on sparkling wine), although we recognise that there are serious pressures on public finance at the moment and that the Chancellor is looking to increase revenue.

Reversal of fortune, by Max Allen

Recently I have been a bit obsessed with biodynamics, mainly because I'm in the process of establishing a website about biodynamic wine in Australia. As in the rest of the world, biodynamics is really taking off here, with some very high-profile producers (notably Henschke in the Barossa) converting to biodynamic practices in their vineyards.

Second coming, by Malcolm Gluck

The Champagne houses excoriated in my last column got their revenge in the most exquisite way. (It was, by the by, a column that excited a good deal of interest from the wine trade, many of whose members personally went out of their way to tell me that it was about time someone stuck one on the so-called grands marques for their pompous proselytising.)

Degrees of success by Jo Burzynska

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.

Label blindness, by Jeremy Beadles

This year one of the top issues on the drinks industry agenda looks likely to be the proliferation of different health warning labels from around Europe.

Short of perfection, by Neil Beckett

So deserved is talk of Burgundy's Golden Age that one almost feels as if the famous figures from its first great flowering - the four Valois dukes, Philip the Bold and his successors, and even the Lady and the Unicorn - might step down from their canvasses and tapestries and take part in the next Trois Glorieuses. The 2005 vintage, sampled at some 20 en primeur tastings in London over the past several weeks, seems to be the high-point of the region's renaissance, surpassing even the 1990, 1999 and 2002 vintages.

Wine Relief approaching

May I remind everyone in and around the wine trade that we are fast approaching Wine Relief time, and ask as many individuals as possible to think about how they can contribute.

Paul White replys to the AWRI

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.

Clarifying our research

While gratifying to note recognition by Dr Caroline Ritchie of the quantitative research conducted by Wine Intelligence (Consumers still poorly defined', Harpers, January 12), several points deserve clarification.

Harpers Leader: Spotlight down under

This time of year is dominated by Down Under - New Zealand this week and Australia the week after next.

Tastings panel

Gustatory tomfoolery

I am writing this five days before Christmas, and my mountebank of a postman (he insists on consistently delivering to me the mail of a neighbour whose house number is the same as mine) has just thrust into my hands, as I was near the front door when he called, several of the usual festive cards from well-wishers (incredibly, I do seem to have a few) along with the usual bumph from PR companies, the most outrageous example of which is from Laurent-Perrier.

Consumers still poorly defined

I have just spent several years studying the UK wine consumer for a PhD thesis, and one factor stands out clearly from this research: the wine trade does not know its consumer.

News Analysis: V&S readies for market of eager global players

Absolut vodka has come a long way since the brand launch in 1979. In the years to the end of 1988, Vin & Sprit, the state-owned Swedish company that owns Absolut, sold 100m bottles of the premium vodka.

Trying to abate the bite

Far from celebrating on New Year's Eve, the South African wine industry was drowning its sorrows - probably on a lot of unsold stock - after seeing wine export volumes fall for the first time in 12 years in 2006.

Fling or real thing?

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 Press

Hidden truth, by Malcolm Gluck

While the casual ignoramus or entrenched lefty critic believes that all advertising is based wholly on lies, this is not the whole truth. Only the advertising for alcohol - brewed, fermented or distilled - is wholly based on lies. This is because alcohol, unlike all other products, cannot publicly proclaim what it does: get you drunk.

Harpers leader:EU ruling a relief for small firms

Carson's WSET lecture offered nothing new'

Reading in the latest Harpers, Christopher Carson's stern message' delivered at the 12th Wine & Spirit EducatioTrust's
annual lecture, I fail to understand why you claim him to have really socked it to us' or why his talk gave the audience plenty to think about'.