Harpers Wine & Spirit Trade News

Alliance hones in on France with three additions

Published: 02 August, 2021

Alliance Wine has become the sole UK agent for three French wineries, strengthening their offering from Burgundy, Provence and Madiran.

Talking up organic

Published: 13 July, 2021

Argentina is well placed to lead the charge in organic wines, with Malbec as an ever-popular ‘in’. Harpers talks to a couple of pioneers who are determined to make this happen

MontGras launches three new ranges in the UK

Published: 26 May, 2021

Chilean winery MontGras has launched three new wine ranges in the UK – MontGras Organic, Day One and DeVine Reserva – which will be distributed by North South Wines.

Ethical winemaking in South America: A new world

Published: 01 April, 2021

James Lawrence looks at the South American wineries championing biodiversity and giving back to the vineyards.

Sustainability: Join the Myths Around Food Miles debate

Published: 21 January, 2021

In just under a fortnight, Harpers and New Zealand Winegrowers is bringing together an international panel of leading trade voices for our Challenging the Myths Around Food Miles webinar.

Long Read: Does sustainability sell? The new factors driving purchaser decision-making

Published: 28 September, 2020

Drawing on data from a recent survey of over 500 wine and spirits drinkers, Callum Saunders, head of planning at brand activation marketing agency Zeal Creative, shows how that focus on sustainability is increasing, not decreasing, as a result of the pressures of Covid.

Lack of global sustainability standard impeding consumer buy-in

Published: 18 May, 2020

The absence of a coherent, joined-up global standard to measure producers’ progress on sustainability risks undermining communication on the good progress being made by the wine industry.

NZ research winery to open

Published: 24 February, 2020

The Bragato Research Institute (BRI), New Zealand winegrowers’s new research winery, is to open on 27 February.

Co-op grows green offering

Published: 18 February, 2020

Co-op has expanded its green offering with its first unfiltered and organic natural wine alongside a new trio of other sustainably-sourced wines.

Feel Good Grapes: All you need to know about the new online retailer

Published: 23 January, 2020

UK-based wine businessman and writer Mike Turner has added a new string to his bow for 2020. As well as running Please Bring Me My Wine, a wine industry focused digital media consultancy, and co-owning Primrose Hill restaurant La Ferme, where he oversees the wine list and wine training, he has launched a new online wine merchant.

Wine can drive sustainability agenda, but thinking needs ‘generational change’

Published: 12 July, 2019

Consumers need to get behind the agricultural sector to support the true costs of sustainability, but while the wine industry is well-placed to advance this message, there is still a long way to go.

Q&A: Kim Wilson and Joy Edmondson, North South Wines

Published: 18 June, 2019

Innovative, agile and on-trend, North South Wines is shaking up the traditional importer model. Andrew Catchpole meets its founders

Bordeaux pushes sustainability agenda

Published: 28 May, 2019

At first glance, it seems inconceivable that a tradition-bound region such as Bordeaux could willingly embrace change. The strict hierarchy of Bordeaux’s classed growths, cemented in 1855, is as intransigent as it was in the 19th century. Bordeaux’s winemakers remain defined by the vines and the soil they inherit.

Santa Rita says $25m investment in sustainability will pay long-term dividends

Published: 14 May, 2019

South American producer Santa Rita Estates (SRE) says it doesn’t regret ploughing $25 million USD into sustainability initiatives over the past five years, despite sustainable and organic cues having less sway with consumers.

Cutting Room heads to Fitzrovia

Published: 23 April, 2019

CUTTING ROOM

Greencroft on target to become largest UK bottling operation

Published: 14 January, 2019

Major investment by Lanchester Wine Cellars in its bottling subsidiary Greencroft is to see production boosted from 100 million litres in 2018 to a capacity of between 3-400 million litres by early 2020.

Green logistics

Published: 03 September, 2018

As Kermit the Frog famously noted in song, it’s not easy being green. For the wine trade the sentiment translates into the problem of how to be environmentally friendly in a business that involves moving vast quantities of product around the globe. In the UK off-trade, where the New World has the upper hand, for example, around 60% of all the wine consumed comes from the deep-sea shipping sources of Australia, the US, Chile, South Africa, Argentina and New Zealand.

Waitrose at forefront of organic wine boom

Published: 21 August, 2018

Waitrose has revealed that organic wine sales are up 57% year-on-year as customers look for more sustainable wines.

Olivier Dauga encourages French producers to adopt sustainable and organic practices

Published: 17 July, 2018

French wine consultant Olivier Dauga was in town last night to present a number of new conversion projects with wine producers in Bordeaux, South and South West France, which focus on organic conversion and sustainability.