Harpers Wine & Spirit Trade News

Virgin Wines fully launches new app

Published: 26 March, 2026

Leading direct-to-consumer online wine retailer Virgin Wines has announced the full launch of its mobile app, after a soft launch around a month ago.

How bright is the future of AI for the trade?

Published: 13 March, 2026

For the media – both trade and mainstream – the hype related to artificial intelligence’s disruptive potential has filled column inches. Despite huge claims from Silicon Valley’s tech leaders often not materialising, there are early signs the technology may be having an appreciable impact on productivity. An assessment of whether AI-induced progress has been made (or not) within the drinks trade is sorely needed. Harpers charts the lie of the land and speaks to a leading wine business about how AI’s integration – from vineyard to boardroom – has advanced.

Virgin Wines and Preferabli partner to enhance online experience

Published: 11 December, 2025

Online wine retailer Virgin Wines and US-based software company Preferabli have announced a fresh partnership. The deal will see Preferabli’s wine recommendation software integrated into the Virgin shopping experience.

Great Wines Direct acquired by global commerce platform

Published: 17 November, 2025

Global commerce and distribution platform Komerz Ltd has announced its acquisition of Great Wines Direct (GWD), the UK online wine retailer.

Surveying AI adoption in the drinks trade

Published: 17 September, 2025

As businesses increasingly embrace elements of AI to enhance their efficiency and performance, the Harpers team invited our trade readership to take a survey to help build a picture of uptake in the drinks world.

Jerry Lockspeiser: How AI’s impact on the wine industry is ours to chose

Published: 12 August, 2025

When I was a lad I used to hear adults arguing about something one of them had read in the newspapers. The reader would announce the item with astonishment or relish – “you’d never have thought it” or “I told you they were the problem” – while the responder would retort “you shouldn’t believe everything you read in the papers.”

Profile: Michael Saunders, CEO, Coterie Holdings

Published: 10 July, 2025

As Coterie Holdings powers onwards, Andrew Catchpole asks Michael Saunders what lies ahead.

Preferabli’s software could be a gamechanger for the UK market

Published: 21 March, 2025

Picking a wine can be difficult; it can depend on everything from mood to the weather. But what if there was a way around this internal battle?

AI & wine education: a potential game changer for teaching

Published: 06 March, 2025

AI fear is a very real phenomenon and an ongoing concern for many as we head deeper into 2025. From governments folding AI into their models for economic growth, to the launch of Chat GPT in 2022 putting generative AI into the hands of people everywhere, the question of what exactly humans will bring to the table in the next 10, 20 or even 100 years, seems an increasingly urgent question.

CTZN wine: Artistry or algorithm?

Published: 22 January, 2025

As Australia’s first AI-curated wine makes its way to the UK, Jo Gilbert asks, is this the future of wine?

Drinks tech takeover in 2024 and 2025

Published: 18 December, 2024

Jo Gilbert rifles back through a year filled with digital breakthroughs in drinks, dominated by the march of AI, while looking forward to what 2025 may bring.

Tech: Wine industry could do more to benefit from tech

Published: 14 October, 2024

Jo Gilbert reflects on a new Prowein business report and online discussion looking at digitalisation in the wine sector.

AI – drawing the line

Published: 11 July, 2024

From NPD to vineyard management, Jo Gilbert asks how AI can benefit the alcohol industry – and when it’s time to stop.

VineView launches precision GPS for vineyard management

Published: 01 July, 2024

VineView has introduced the PinPoint RTK, a GPS receiver designed to provide vineyard operators with highly accurate data collection capabilities. The PinPoint RTK uses Real-Time Kinematic (RTK) technology to offer accuracy within 2-5cm, significantly more precise than traditional GPS receivers, which typically have an accuracy of 2-4 metres.

Tech: Into the metaverse

Published: 20 March, 2024

The first blockchain-backed fine wine retailer to join the metaverse is opening a window into the future of virtual fine wine collecting, writes Jo Gilbert.

Prowein 2024: Wine industry needs to professionalise to survive

Published: 12 March, 2024

Economic sustainability is the big topic at Prowein this year, as the global cost of living crisis chafes against the challenges of decreasing consumption rates and an overabundance of supply.

Moldova unveils new AI-produced cuvées at Prowein

Published: 12 March, 2024

The controversial world of advanced technology has taken a new direction this week, as Wine of Moldova launches two new cuvées produced by AI at the 2024 edition of Prowein.

Tech: On the plus side of AI

Published: 26 January, 2024

Innovative tech, such as artificial intelligence (AI), is sometimes reserved only for large corporations with massive budgets. However, more and more SMEs are coming to the party, James Bayley finds.

Analysis: Critical thinking

Published: 13 December, 2023

From traditional print critics to social’s influencers, by way of encroaching AI, David Kermode weighs up the evolution of the critic.

Tech: Innovation on the AI spectrum

Published: 26 July, 2023

In a follow-up piece to last month’s ‘chat’ with Chat GPT, Jo Gilbert dives back into the world of generative AI, to find out more with regard to wine.