London Wine Fair on look out for niche wine importers for its Esoterica fixture for independents

Small, independent or niche wine importers have the chance to book a place in the Esoterica feature at the London Wine Fair that has seen 80% of last year's exhibitors book again for the 2015 show.

UK on-trade gears up for bumper festive season

Bars and restaurants are heralding a bumper festive season, with bookings so far 5-10% ahead of last year.

Spanish wines fastest growing in UK bars and restaurants

Spanish wines are the fastest growing in the UK on-trade - listings are up 25% in the last year - at the expense of French wines, whose listings have fallen by 11%.

Accolade Wines going ahead with Grant Burge purchase

Accolade Wines and Barossa's Grant Burge wines have reached agreement on the acquisition of the Grant Burge brand and business, along with its Krondorf winery.

ProWein predicts biggest growth opportunities in the USA and Asia

Global wine trade show Prowein is forecasting stable world demand for wines in 2015 and sees North America and Asia as the largest markets for growth in the coming year.

Pol Roger Portfolio to distribute Kilchoman whiskies

Islay distillery Kilchoman has signed a deal with the family-run Pol Roger Champagne to distribute its range of single malt whiskies.

Guala Closures and MGJ launch screwcap closure liners with varying oxygen permeability

Guala Closures has joined forces with MGJ to develop a new range of liners for closures with different levels of oxygen permeability.

Pernod Ricard UK shakes up senior team

Pernod Ricard has promoted Simon van Moppes to the role of group on-trade director for the global business and Chris Ellis to commercial director for wines and spirits in the UK as it re-examines its market priorities.

Memorial service for Ridgeview's Mike Roberts

A memorial service for Mike Roberts, founder of English sparkling winery, Ridgeview,  who died earlier this month, is to be held on December 5.

The Week That Was: Top news, Q&As and opinion on Harpers.co.uk

In case you missed some of the headlines this week on harpers.co.uk, we have done a review of the top online news, financial news for the drinks trade, Q&As, and opinion stories.

Zuma's Noel Pusch is named Sake Sommelier of the Year

Noel Pusch of premium Japanese restaurant chain Zuma's Abu Dhabi branch has been named Sake Sommelier of the Year at an awards ceremony at London's Westbury Hotel this week.

Wine Australia confirms Tesco's Laura Jewell as its new head of UK and Europe

Wine Australia has confirmed to Harpers.co.uk that it has appointed Tesco's Laura Jewell MW to be its new regional director for the UK and Europe.

Raisinable wine app brings mark up transparency to restaurant consumers

Raisinable, a free wine app which compares restaurant and retail wine prices and illustrates the mark up, is launching today and will feature several restaurants in London.

Italy's Lugana wine producers fight plans for 'devastating' fast train

Wine producers in northern Italy's Lugana region are fighting plans for a high speed rail line which would wipe out one third of their vineyard area.

Chile and South Africa bulk wine markets face 'stormy weather'

Chile and South Africa's bulk wine suppliers are facing "stormy weather", according to experts, given there is still a lot of wine from last year's harvest.

Rugby stars Ruan Pienaar and Robbie Diack launch South African wine

Soul Tree looks to raise £350k in crowdfunding scheme for its Indian wine business

Maison Sichel signs Amazon deal to boost off-trade sales

Maison Sichel has signed a deal with Amazon for five of its wines, with a special focus on flagship brand Sirius, in an effort to revitalise the brand after its UK off-trade distribution "ran out of steam".

Roger Jones on falling in love with the "wild west" of New Zealand's Central Otago

If there was one area in New Zealand which defines the whole ethos of its wine industry it must be Central Otago.

Debate over role and relevance of wine bloggers continues as trade figures take sides

What role and relevance bloggers have on the wine trade has become a major debating issue on Harpers.co.uk and on social media following recent articles questioning their value from leading wine commentators.