Looking Back, Forging Ahead Q&A: Rupert Pritchett, Taurus Wines

Next up in our end of year trade talking heads is Rupert Pritchett, MD, Taurus Wines, as he reflects on remaining competitive in a challenging environment.

Jerry Lockspeiser: More sex please, we’re British

We need to be innovative to solve the many challenges facing the UK wine trade. Well, more sex might just be the answer. This could be very good news, being not only pleasurable but without cost to anyone’s business.

Multiples: Festive foresight

Ahead of the hoped-for Christmas frenzy, James Bayley asks the Co-op’s Joe Turner what lies in store.

Wine Christmas sales uplift driven by inflation

Circana, a leading advisor on consumer trends, has revealed in its ‘12 weeks till Christmas tracker’ an upward trend in wine sales in terms of value.

Vivino switches up UK strategy

Vivino, the wine scoring and recommendations app, is switching up its ecommerce strategy in the UK, where it will no longer be pursuing direct sales and is instead leaning on its network of indie merchants.

Sustaining Spain

As world leaders in sustainable and organic practices, Spanish winemakers are also discovering the benefits in the bottle, as Andrew Catchpole reports.

Liberty report: Reversal of off/on-trade trends buffers hospitality recovery

Liberty Wines’ latest report has noted the positive effect of the reversal of the trends from the on to the off-trade over the course of the pandemic, with the growth in popularity of independent wine retailers during lockdown and an overall move towards experimentation feeding back into the on-trade and helping to boost sales.

Spain inches up

Spanish wines appear to be holding ground against the broader UK wine market, with signs of uplift at the mid-to-high end. Andrew Catchpole sizes up the stats.

UK in ‘good growth’ for Pernod Ricard

Pernod Ricard has revealed it has seen a very ‘dynamic start’ in all regions for the first quarter of FY22, with robust demand and strong shipments ahead of the festive season.

Vinpro: ‘Blanket approach unnecessary, unjustified and counterproductive’

Vinpro has warned about the “dire consequences” another alcohol ban, or restrictions on wine sales, would hold for related businesses and the livelihoods of those working in the South African wine industry value-chain. 

Wine online jumps 238% at Waitrose

Waitrose had reported a significant boost to its online wine sales as consumers take advantage of a “wider selection” of wine online during lockdown. 

Volume uplift in US off-trade offsets on-trade sales drop

US wine volume sales look set to be flat in 2020 with the Covid-19 led surge in off-trade sales balancing out the drop in on-trade sales, according to new Wine Intelligence research.  

Rising price of wine threatens half of UK shoppers

The average retail price of a bottle of still wine will break the £6 barrier in the UK for the first time this year, according to new figures from the WSTA.

London restaurateurs call for wine duty cut

China’s rules of engagement

With 32 million regular drinkers of imported wine between the ages of 18 and 54, and a potential 398 million untapped, China offers tantalising opportunities for exporters. Jo Gilbert dives in

Wine online pulls in punters

As a complementary offering to bricks and mortar wine retailing, online is proving a lucrative option, reports Lisa Riley

Experience economy increasing consumer confidence in wine

Consumer confidence in the wine category is increasing, driven by the ‘experience economy’ and the growing engagement with the drinks category, research analyst Wine Intelligence has claimed.

Sparkling drives growth as inflation bites down on average prices

Volume sales of alcohol continued to decline in the UK off-trade in 2017, but value sales increased in both yearly and quarterly sales, particularly in sparkling wine, which remains the main driver of growth for the overall wine category.

Sparkling sales continue to fizz in the UK

Sales of sparkling grew by 6% in volume and 9% in value in the off-trade last year, showing the popularity of the category continues to rise.

Tre Bicchieri heads to London

As UK sales of Italian wine continue to boom, some of Italy’s top winemakers are converging in London next week for Tre Bicchieri Grand Tasting.