A group of 12 female-led wine importers have come together to form a collaborative group dedicated to ‘excellence and inclusivity and innovation’ in the wine industry.
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Mark Lansley, CEO at Broadland Drinks, argues that concentrates can be good for carbon, cost and consumer choice and thus, ultimately, the wine trade.
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Someone once told me that you know what your ideal job is when you enjoy it so much, are so motivated to get up and crack on every morning, that you’d do it even if you weren’t paid. That’s perhaps a bit unrealistic for most people whose primary motivation is to earn money to live, but the point is clear. It helps a lot if you love what you do.
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The government is using public health arguments as a “thin veneer to maintain market distortions” Miles Beale, chief executive of the WSTA, has said in a rebuttal of the claims made by Gareth Davies at the Westminster Hall debate earlier this month.
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Enotria & Coe’s new CEO has spent the months since his inauguration working on honing a back-to-basics approach while refocusing parts of the business which “felt a bit unstructured”.
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With its endless grey skies and pervading gloom, February doesn’t offer much to raise the spirits, but wine lovers can now at least associate the month with Hungary’s best-known grape. Furmint February was launched here six years ago by Wines of Hungary UK to promote awareness and consumption of the variety once best known for sweet Tokaji (Aszu), but now appearing in elegant dry wines from the variety’s native Tokaj region, with its rich volcanic soil, but increasingly across Hungary, including in Somlo and Eger.
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Back in the good old days when my life involved selling millions of bottles of Hungarian wine to the UK’s major retailers, I made an appointment with the buyer at Sainsbury’s. They bought from one of our competitors and were proving a hard nut for me to crack. Buyers often kept suppliers waiting beyond the appointed time, so I settled down with my copy of The Guardian in anticipation.
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Miles Corish MW, MD of Milestone Wines, takes issue with ‘a classic case of smoke and mirrors’.
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Dipping into the Burgundy tasting season, Jason Millar says there is value to be found.
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Global red wine supply and demand have significantly decreased in the last twenty years, while white wine has picked up the slack (along with rosé), largely due to the boom in sparkling wine in markets like the UK.
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From five years of “looking into the abyss”, Hallgarten’s future has been assured by a serious, if somewhat mysterious, new player in the form of Coterie Holdings. Jo Gilbert caught up with Andrew Bewes, MD of the former, and Michael Saunders, CEO of the latter, to peer beneath the surface of this major new deal.
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It was a scary moment, at least in wine terms. There I was in the cellar at Domaine Leroy in Vosne-Romanée, tasting some of the most expensive reds on the planet. Meetings with Madame Bize are never relaxing. She combines hauteur with the ability to freeze a glass of Pinot Noir at 10 paces. People who have earned her displeasure are never granted access to her presence again.
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Leading Spanish wine specialist Sarah Jane Evans MW has been awarded the Officer’s Cross of the Royal Order of Isabella the Catholic in recognition of ‘extraordinary services to Spain’.
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Izzy is a twenty-year-old student at York University. Many decades ago I was one there too. In my time students received grants for living costs and tuition fees were paid by the Government. Today those are dealt with by repayable loans. But the loans may not be enough to allow access to all. Like Izzy, for example.
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Due to demand, the entry deadline for the Sommelier Wine Awards 2024 has been extended to 5pm UK time on 29 January.
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Manchester-based Boutinot has become the latest company to sign up to Harpers Sustainability Charter.
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Last August’s duty hikes for wine and spirits have contributed to December’s unexpected rise in UK inflation, it has been revealed, as the Wine and Spirit Trade Association (WSTA) announces that the rate for the sector is now three times higher than it was this time last year.
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Leading Port and wine distributor Fells has announced strategic changes to the top roles in its leadership team, with Euan Mackay taking on the mantle of MD and Steve Moody transitioning to chairman.
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This week we continue the rollout of our 50 Best Indies 2024 results, celebrating the top merchants from across this dynamic and ever-engaging sector.
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In his final column of 2023, Harpers regular Jerry Lockspeiser looks back over the year, before mulling over some lessons for the one ahead.
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