Harpers Wine & Spirit Trade News

ASDA groups wine by grape rather than region

Published: 26 April, 2021

Asda has unveiled a major change in the setup of its wine aisles by becoming the first major UK supermarket to group all wine by grape instead of by country.

Portman research predicts “cautious return” to pubs post lockdown

Published: 08 April, 2021

Pubgoers look set to tailor some of their pre-pandemic drinking behaviours once restrictions ease, the Portman Group has said, with many planning to drink less when they return to the on-trade post-lockdown.

UK craft brewery openings hit record levels

Published: 15 March, 2021

Flying in the face of on-trade closures during the pandemic, the number of craft breweries operating in the UK has reached levels not seen since 1930s.

Tech vs critics: developing satellite scores

Published: 03 February, 2021

Saturnalia aims to overcome the ‘mystery and magic’ surrounding fine wine pricing and scores with space-based technology. Felicity Carter eyes up its heavenly ambitions

IWSR acquires Wine Intelligence

Published: 18 January, 2021

IWSR Drinks Market Analysis has acquired Wine Intelligence for an undisclosed sum.

Restaurant outings rise increasingly driven by all age groups

Published: 17 September, 2020

UK consumer confidence to eat out continues to rise, with 10 million more people visiting bars and restaurants in August over June, with an additional 2.4 million also likely to venture out for the first time during the next fortnight.

Social distancing research fuels on-trade debate

Published: 02 June, 2020

New research into the effectiveness of social distancing measures has renewed debate in the on-trade about the challenges of re-opening for business.

New research says ‘not all hope lost' when it comes to smoke taint

Published: 08 April, 2020

A multi-faceted, multi-agency smoke taint project, supported by the Australian Wine Research Institute (AWRI) and funded by the Australian government, has confirmed that blending or dilution with unaffected wine can be an effective remedy for smoke-affected wine.

NZ research winery to open

Published: 24 February, 2020

The Bragato Research Institute (BRI), New Zealand winegrowers’s new research winery, is to open on 27 February.

Smartphones boost consumer interest in wine while ‘knowledge’ slides

Published: 20 January, 2020

The world’s wine drinkers are quickly becoming a population of confident connoisseurs thanks to widespread access to the internet and the ubiquity of smartphones. But are they any more knowledgeable offline?

Global organic wine sales to double in a decade

Published: 11 December, 2019

Organic wine consumption worldwide is set to hit around a billion bottles a year by 2023, a new report from organic wine fair Millésime Bio suggests.

French authorities move against makers of blue wine

Published: 02 August, 2019

French authorities have launched a prosecution against the makers of Corsican blue wine, Imajyne.

Cocktail-drinking Brits are flavour-phobic, research suggests

Published: 10 July, 2019

British cocktail lovers are afraid to experiment with new flavours, research has revealed.

Old world wines dominate on-trade in China, new research shows

Published: 31 May, 2019

Wines from France and Italy dominate the on-trade in China, according to the first in-depth research into the Chinese on-trade market.

Plumpton: A new wine epicentre

Published: 16 May, 2019

As the founder of Plumpton College’s wine division prepares to depart for pastures new, Jo Gilbert finds out what the future holds for this rapidly evolving institution.

UK leads the ‘non-alc’ sector with 271 premium launches in the past year

Published: 15 May, 2019

The UK is at the forefront of innovation in the ‘what to drink when you’re not drinking’ sector, new research has found – ahead of usual trendsetter, the US.

Plumpton climate change research could help boost English vine productivity

Published: 05 April, 2019

Soon to be released research carried out in Sussex could help unlock the secret of yields – and discover why they fluctuate so wildly from year to year in the UK.

Research unveils UK winemaking areas that could rival Champagne

Published: 09 November, 2018

New research has unveiled winemaking areas in the UK that could rival Champagne – and they’re not necessarily what you might expect.

Demand for craft spirits in the US shows no sign of slowing

Published: 24 October, 2018

The appetite for craft spirits in the United States - arguably the nation behind the boom in craft drinks worldwide - still packs a major punch new research suggests.

Why the wine industry must embrace its older drinkers

Published: 26 July, 2018

New research reveals the younger drinker continues to say no to wine while the over 45’s can’t get enough. This is a big opportunity, argues Neil Anderson of Kingsland Drinks.