French dominate Winemakers of the Year at the IWC 2014

France dominated the overall winemaker awards at last night's International Wine Challenge dinner picking up three of the main five prizes handed out.

Forget octopus and camels, wine is the best way to predict the winners of the World Cup

In 2010 we had Paul the Octopus that was "asked" to predict the outcome of World Cup games; then for the Brazil World Cup it was the turn of Shaheen the camel who became the Paddy Power of football predictions.

Will there be any wine left? asks Atherton on Botham's Hardys' role

Anyone familiar with the dressing room feel of the Sky TV cricket commentary team would not be surprised to hear last night's Hardys' cricket legends dinner, to commemorate Lord's bicentenary , also included a fair bit of banter amongst the cricketing heroes.

Botham, Atherton and Gooch lead Lord's cricket celebration with Hardys wine

Legends from across cricket came together last night at Lord's to take part in a special trade dinner to mark the ground's 200 year anniversary and Hardys brand sponsorship of English cricket.

Glenrothes introduces a reserve edition matured in sherry casks from Jerez

The Glenrothes, the Speyside distillery, is releasing  a new expression that has been matured in specified sherry casks in Jerez, southern Spain.

Special Yorkshire liqueur recreated in honour of the Brontë family

Sir James Aykroyd, former chairman of Speyside Distillers, has recreated a special liqueur in honour of the Brontë family and their home in Yorkshire.

Beautiful South offers themed tastings and winemaker debates on Chile, Argentina and South Africa

A central "meet the winemaker" themed area will be the central focus for this September's combined Beautiful South tasting featuring wines from Chile, South Africa and Argentina.

England's failure results in poor World Cup for beer and cider brands

Later kick off times and England's poor performance combined to have a knock-on effect on what were disappointing sales of beers and lagers during the first half of the World Cup, according to the latest Nielsen data.

The Ledbury named as London's "Ultimate" restaurant for third year running

The Ledbury has scored a hat-trick of wins in the Ultimate Restaurant List 2014 which picks its winners based on an aggregate of all other dining awards and ratings.

Your chance to enter and nominate brands for the Harpers Global Design Awards

If you have seen or worked with an exciting new drinks in the last 12 months then you can now nominate them to receive special recognition in the Harpers Global Design Awards.

Scotland win the World Cup...Harpers Predictions game!

James Macdonald of Burlington Drinks can hold his head up high today as the canniest, wisest football tipster in the UK wine and spirits industry as he came out top in the Harpers World Cup Predictathon.

T.E.D signs up ethical wine suppliers for new sustainable restaurant

John Williams at Frog's Leap on the changing face of Californian winemaking

Reflecting on the recent period of uncertainty for this year's vintage in Napa Valley as a result of drought conditions in California, Katherine Canfield catches up with Frog's Leap winemaker, John Williams, in Rutherford to discuss how approaches to winemaking in the region are changing.

David Beckham's Haig Club whisky goes on sale in Selfridges

David Beckham's exclusive new whisky, Haig Club, that he has developed with Diageo, is now exclusively on sale at Selfridges in London until the end of July before being rolled out to wider distribution.

Helen Savage on how winemakers are turning to music to protect their vines

If music be the solution to frost damage, mildew, water stress and especially esca, play on...

Pernod Rijkaard anyone? Join in and name your "drinking footballers"

Credit where credit's due and hats off to Hal Wilson and all his crew at Cambridge Wine Merchants for coming up with this idea of naming football players that also sound like alcoholic drinks.

Chiefs of the week: Glenmorangie's Dr Bill Lumsden - the McWilly Wonka of whisky

This week we tip our proverbial cap to the one and only Dr Bill Lumsden, whisky creator extraordinaire, who says his latest limited edition for Glenmorangie is his finest whisky to date.

Tim Atkin on Moore, Banks and Batty in his World Cup memories

The World Cup final is only two days to go and who better to get you in the mood than wine critic, broadcaster and more importantly Tottenham Hotspur fan (we think!), Tim Atkin MW. Here are his World Cup memories:

World Cup drinks sales to top £1bn but dry up as tournament reaches its end

As we enter the final stage of the World Cup it seems the great British public is ready to put down its pint glass as well as turn off the football on television.

Chiefs of the week: Guy Woodward

Let's raise a glass to our new regular columnist Guy Woodward who is now entertaining Harpers readers with his insightful, cutting and controversial views.