Think Barcelona is in Spain? Technically, this is correct. Yet during a recent trip to Catalonia's incredibly diverse wine regions I realized that Catalonia is very much its own independent region with its own language, cuisine, and highly diverse wine culture.
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Tired of losing your friends at the bar? There is an app for that. Absolut, the iconic Pernod Ricard vodka brand, released the Buddy Check app in November on iTunes and will be releasing an Android application on Google Play in early 2014.
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A phrase you'll never see in a text-book is that entering the market in China is a license to make money. To outsiders lacking the capacity to think holistically, the act of gaining entry to such an immense market appears like a commercial oasis in a global wine desert. To the producer without knowledge of sound marketing practices in their own market, the prospect of opening up the Chinese market to foreign wine deceives as a simple way to parch Europe's 30-year old, wine lake. Sadly, this appeal of wine China is simply a mirage.
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News this week that Diageo's Bulleit Bourbon would be changing its UK recipe and introducing a higher ABV is counter to what US bourbon and whiskey brands tend to do in the UK market.
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The French Independent Winegrowers fair will be returning to the Royal Horticultural Halls in London for a fifth year on February 6th, 2014.
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Some the South African leading wine estates announced yesterday, December 10th, the creation of the Cape Vintners Classification (CVC), which is an effort to ensure the quality of Cape wines and will operate within the structure of the Wine of Origin Scheme.
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Trade talks which have been ongoing between the US and the EU since November could potentially be beneficial for European brewers by creating a more level playing field by reducing excise tax rate that EU brewers currently face in the US market that American brewers are exempt from.
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The third bi-annual International Sparkling Wine Symposium (ISWS), which was held last week on December 3rd and 4th, had 150 attendees from 15 different countries at the Denbies Wine Estates in Surrey.
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Chix & Buck first started as a pop-up endeavour and now have a permanent shop and tasting room of their own in Brixton called The Wine Parlour, which opened in August this year.
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Sam Neill is as serious and excited about his Two Paddocks winery in New Zealand as he is about his latest film or acting role. He describes in his own words what it is about winemaking that is as moving as any story played out on the silver screen.
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Such was the social media activity around last month's Wine Vision global conference held in London it was trending on Twitter by day three of the event. Here is our round up of the main social media activity taking place during the final day of talks, debates and panel sessions.
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New Zealand winery, Trinity Hill, is moving its distribution in the UK from Enotria to Liberty Wines from January 1, 2014.
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The co-founder with brother Karim, of Bekaa Valley Château Marsyas and Syria's Domaine de Bargylus - described as "the finest wine produced in the Eastern Mediterranean" by Hugh Johnson - talks to Douglas Blyde about realising an ancient dream...
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Riedel Crystal announced it will be bringing its UK distribution in-house instead of going through supplier Churchill China, which could result in an average price reduction of around 20% for customers from February 1, 2014.
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Wine and cricket are so inextricably interwoven in South Australia that the number of winemakers and vineyard managers, who will be descending upon the Adelaide Oval for the second Ashes Test from December 5-9, should number not two but three figures. Those coming reads like a Who's Who of the South Australian wine industry.
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JF Hillebrand Group AG has bought the Satellite Logistics Group, a Texas based supply-chain provider for the drinks industry.
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On Monday December 2, Glenmorangie unveiled a 20-tonne sculpture by sculptor Barry Grove at its production plant in Livingston, Scotland. The unveiling marked the passing of 20 million bottles through the facility since it opened in 2010.
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A recap of day two from Wine Vision, a global wine conference in association with Harpers, which was held in London from November 18-20.
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Luddenden Valley Wines has launched a campaign for excise duty on wine-production levels at small-scale UK producers to be brought in line with cider and beer distillers in a bid to help UK wine producers become more competitive.
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Russia is looking to raise the minimum price of vodka by up to 17% on January 1, 2014 in an effort to reduce consumption levels. With further rises planned throughout the year.
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