A Sparrow to save a leopard
The former global vice-president of Allied Domecq, Stephen Sparrow, is launching a new vodka that aims to help save one of the world's most beautiful and endangered species: the snow leopard.
Read more...The former global vice-president of Allied Domecq, Stephen Sparrow, is launching a new vodka that aims to help save one of the world's most beautiful and endangered species: the snow leopard.
Read more...Zuma's sister restaurant in London, Roka, has invented a new scheme which will give guests the opportunity to create their own signature Shochu drink.
Read more...Raisin Social has added a Portuguese wine to its portfolio for the first time.
Charamba - named after a traditional dance in the Azores - from Quinta da Aveleda in the Vinho Verde region, is aimed at the younger market, and bears striking' packaging. The 2004 Charamba Douro Red will retail for 4.99. Casal Garcia, from the same producer, is the second range.
Simon Halliday, MD at Raisin Social, said the new wines would be an exciting alternative to what is currently on the shelves'.
The Greyhound at Battersea, London has a new head chef. Marco Tori took the helm this month after a gaining a year's sous chef experience under the direction of Michelin-starred Giorgio Locatelli at Locanda Locatelli.
Read more...Twelve companies involved in either wine or gastronomy have set up a new association in Argentina's Mendoza region.
HBJ Wines & Spirits has appointed Westbury Communications to handle its corporate communications in the UK.
South African producer KWV has refused to comment on rumours that it is about to be taken over - or that it is on the verge of making a major acquisition itself.
A survey of more than 1,500 off-licence customers saw Bargain Booze and Threshers named as the best specialist off-licences.
It came as quite a shock. The UK trade has become used to seeing Chile increasing its market share - not in the astonishing way that Australia did in the 1990s, nor like the current boom from California - but slowly and steadily. Not any more. According to the latest AC Nielsen figures (MAT to 28 February 2006), Chile's UK off-trade market share has dropped, from 6.6% to 6.4% by volume.
Read more...The reorganisation of Brown-Forman's corporate structure announced last week - which has seen the wines and spirits divisions combined into one entity in the US and other selected markets - will not affect the UK, according to David Cox, managing director of Brown-Forman Wines Europe.
Why the interest in sak?
I always used to think it was a spirit, served warm, but during the Tokyo Life event at Selfridges I ended up drinking sak almost every day, and after a month of this I had a totally different take. It's like wine really - it's fermented in the same sort of way and the terroir notion is very important. Premium sak should be chilled, not heated, and the best examples are comparable to grand cru class wines.
Nick Mellish and Allan Webb are joining forces to form a new wine company, which initially will represent Du Toitskloof, the South African cooperative, in the UK.
Read more...Allegedly, chicken tikka marsala is our new national dish. True or not, it's a good conversational poppadum to snap over a masala dosa. What is certainly true is that the South Asian restaurant industry is a well-established part of the modern high street.
Read more...It's easy to conclude that hiring an external wine list consultant is purely for the restauranteur with more money than sense. How hard can it be to write a wine list after all?
Read more...The Academy of Food and Wine Service moved to new premises on Monday 15 May. The new larger offices are within the Hotel and Catering International Management Association's (HCIMA) building at Trinity Court, 34 West Street, Sutton, Surrey SM1 1SH.
Read more...Patrick Valette has joined Chilean winery Via Santa Rita as wine consultant.
Read more...Global exports of Argentinian wine are up more than 35%
by volume and nearly 24% by value - but the UK has suffered falls of nearly 11% and 17% respectively.
Sainsbury's beer, wines and spirits department has a new boss, Xavier Vidal, who has been poached from Tesco.
Frenchman Vidal comes in as business unit director, replacing Lawrence Clube, and will be responsible for the 6 billion impulse sector, which includes confectionery, soft drinks, snacks, tobacco and petrol, as well as BWS.
Argentinian producer Viniterra is entering the UK for the first time after signing an agency deal with the recently launched importer Vinos Wines.
Inspirit brands, the drinks marketing company based in Hoxton, London, has launched a new website: www.inspiritbrands.com.