If you wanted to go somewhere to see the future of shopping in the UK then a trip to Watford would not be very high on your list. But ier this week a mini army of analysts, retail consultants and journalists all headed to see what Tesco's so called destination store of the future was all about.
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OK, launching a new website is perhaps not quite as big a leap of faith as jumping into space from 24.26 miles up from earth, and hopefully we are a little more assured of success than our intrepid friend, Felix Baumgartner, but it is, in our own little way, an important day in the history of Harpers Wine & Spirit.
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The wine trade is normally a very civil place to work. People speak when they are spoken to, have washed behind their ears and generally all sing from the same hymn sheet.
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It was somewhat ironic that the announcement of Tesco's end of year results on Wednesday should be released on the same day the news bulletins were dominated by the funeral of Baroness Thatcher.
For some bulk wine are the two four letter words of the wine industry. For others bulk wine is the only way they can do business.
Read more...There were some spilt cornflakes over breakfast in the more conservative parts of the wine and spirits trade when many of the major supermarkets brought in buyers from other grocery sectors to run their BWS departments. What could they possibly know about wine was the cry from middle England.
Read more...The WSTA's chief executive Miles Beale believes minimum unit pricing will increase bureaucracy and hamper economic growth, and he tells us why here.
Read more...Over the past few months Harpers has had its finger on the pulse of the digital revolution and how it's transforming the retailing world.
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You could be forgiven for thinking you'd wound up back in GCSE chemistry class, and that Joel Peterson was your genial teacher. Instead, equipped with pipettes and a variety of samples (OK, four glasses of wine) and a blending glass. As experiments go, I was up for this one.
Read more...In Turkey, like in the other sun-drenched wine growing countries of Southern Europe with an ideal climate for winemaking, the wine producers are struggling to rein in the alcohol level of their wines without compromising the phenolic ripeness of the grapes at harvest time.
Read more...Last weekend Drinkaware linked up with Cellar Trends to take the responsible drinking message direct to consumer in bars and nightclubs across the country. Here Laura Robertson of Cellar Trends and Emma Healey, campaign manager for Drinkaware, give their take on what happened
Read more...The drinks industry is doing a cracking job on self-regulating its marketing to make sure it's responsible, thanks to the Portman Group's leadership. But it's definitely something of a minefield.
Read more...I'll make no bones about this, spirits aren't really my thing. Anyone who knows me will tell you, I'm all about the grape and not the grain. So imagine my surprise when I was invited to a whiskey tasting.
Read more...Zoran Peric of Cellar Trends hosted a tasting of Japanese whiskies from Suntory as part of a series of masterclasses being held at London's Roast restaurant in the eaves of Borough Market. The tasting began with a pretty, tart "Shard Sour" invented by bar manager, Sebastien Guesdon. "Every barman wants to leave behind a legacy which survives them," said Guesdon, dispensing the subtly smoky Suntory Hakushu (pronounced "pronounced ?Hack-shoo") 12 year-old single malt blended with lemon juice, egg white, and cherry, which represents Japan's most celebrated blossom.
Read more...Despite what Peter Molnar, the general manager of leading Tokaj
winery, Patricius, described as the "one of the driest, if not the
driest, growing seasons for 100 years in Hungary", the 2012 vintage
there looks like being an outstanding one. Although yields are down by
up to 40% in Tokaj, partly due to lack of rain but mainly thanks to a
vicious hailstorm in late July, consumers can start to get excited
about the potential quality.
There's been much discussion lately about "de-mystifying" wine; does the traditional wine vocabulary still have any great relevance, or does it merely obfuscate and deter people from the specialist shops; or was it all rather vague in the first place?
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Rock and roll in appearance, and relaxed in manner, Wayne Young hosted a tasting of the wines of Joe Bastianich's Friuli vineyards this week in London with UK agent Bibendum.
Albariño and Arneis may not be synonymous with New Zealand; it's a far cry from the usual fare we are used to. Add in Grüner Veltliner, Gewürztraminer, Riesling and Sauvignon Gris, the Blanc's mutant brother, and we get to build a picture of New Zealand's more adventurous side.
Read more...It was fitting that, with Global Champagne Day on Sunday so close, Taittinger
should give their first ever public airing of four recent vintages of
their premier cuvee, Comtes de Champagne, in London on Friday.
"We've always described Fonseca as a more voluptuous style of Port: it has this big structure, this big weight of fruit," explains Adrian Bridge, managing director of the Fladgate Partnership which incorporates the houses of Taylor, Fonseca and Croft.
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