Harpers Wine & Spirit Trade News

Loire Valley predicts ‘excellent quality’ harvest

Published: 30 August, 2018

Interloire has predicted this year’s Loire Valley harvest will be of “excellent quality”.

Germany sees earliest grape harvests on record

Published: 22 August, 2018

Germany has seen its earliest grape harvests on record this year due to warm weather and early flowering.

South Africa 2018 harvest “most challenging” in living memory

Published: 31 July, 2018

Serious drought in the Western Cape affected both natural supplies of water and government allocations ahead of this year’s harvest.

Record-breaking weather means Champagne harvest will begin in August

Published: 27 July, 2018

The 2018 Champagne harvest will become only the fifth vintage in the last 15 years to begin in August, according to the Comité Champagne.

Computer vision: an eye on the future

Published: 26 July, 2018

Computer vision has been used for years for facial recognition software and this this type of technology will become instrumental in decoding drinking trends, says Jo Gilbert.

Kiwi winegrowers predict ‘modest’ export growth in spite of good harvest

Published: 25 June, 2018

New Zealand winegrowers are predicting only modest export growth for the coming year in spite of a 6% surge in grape production.

VinPro reports 15% smaller harvest

Published: 09 May, 2018

VinPro has reported a 15% smaller harvest (1 220 920 tonnes) across South Africa compared to 2017 – one of the smallest crops in more than a decade.

Distell defies challenging season with promising harvest

Published: 02 May, 2018

Distell has reported a ‘promising quality’ harvest despite experiencing one of the most challenging seasons in recent years.

Babich among new additions to Berkmann’s Antipodean range

Published: 12 January, 2018

Leading New Zealand winery Babich has joined the Berkmann Wine Cellars portfolio, along with the Unico Zelo and Harvest labels and Woodlands winery from Australian.

Regionalised price increases set to squeeze Europe’s big three thanks to woeful harvest

Published: 05 January, 2018

Europe ran the full gamut of extreme weather conditions last year - everything from frost to fires and heatwaves.

Looking ahead: Gavin Quinney, owner and winemaker, Chateau Bauduc

Published: 29 December, 2017

With the all-important Christmas trading period underway - and hopefully turning passion into profit for the trade - we at Harpers are looking ahead past New Year to see what’s in store for the trade in 2018.

South Africa chases premium ground

Published: 13 November, 2017

As South Africa strives to push innovation and quality, natural factors may just provide the tipping point for the country.

Guy Woodward: At the mercy of the elements

Published: 06 November, 2017

Within days of the Napa Valley going up in flames, as firefighters were still wrestling for control of Atlas Peak and Mount Veeder, the assurances were being issued. Everything was OK – the vast majority of the grapes had already been harvested, the remaining fruit on the vine was the thick-skinned, resilient Cabernet and any smoke taint was likely to be minimal.

Rioja reports ‘overall promising’ but limited volume harvest

Published: 24 October, 2017

Wines from Rioja has confirmed that volume was down for the 2017 harvest compared to the previous year, but said the grape quality was “excellent”.

Spanish DO Valdepeñas reports 5% drop in harvest

Published: 18 October, 2017

DO Valdepeñas has reported a 5% year-on-year drop in this year’s harvest, ending the season with a total of 93.4 million kilos of grapes.

How the “crazy” state of Prosecco’s 23p price erosion could be about to change

Published: 17 October, 2017

The media last week widely reported that the average price for a bottle of Prosecco has fallen a further 23p over past year as competition drives down prices.

Global supply and brand building

Published: 27 September, 2017

With Europe poised to deliver a vintage shortfall, Andrew Catchpole talks to Rabobank strategist Stephen Rannekleiv about the positive effect for brand builders of a general tightening of global supply