When Warren Adamson was starting as an apprentice in worsted spinning at Feltex Yarns in New Zealand, Fernando Ferr was graduating from the Universidad Catlica Argentina with a business administration degree.
Read more...Where did you start in the wine trade?
Avery's, after I came down from Cambridge. It was a long time ago - the days before the Australian wine industry had bounced back from the depths of liqueur Muscat and jug wines. Monty Python weren't too far off the mark in their assessment of wine from Down Under: Chateau Blue Too has won many prizes, not least for its flavour and its lingering afterburn.' All the local restaurateurs used to buy from Averys because it was the big name in the West Country. There were no reps, so when you turned up, they were pathetically grateful just to see somebody.
Leading Portuguese producer, Sogrape, is seeking to push Portuguese regionality with the launch of its ambitious new brand, Callabriga.
Read more...Enotria Winecellars is the UK agents for the Tokara Winery in Stellenbosch, South Africa. The three estate wines, launched earlier this month, are a Chardonnay, barrel-fermented Sauvignon Blanc and Bordeaux blend. All three will be
available from UK stock by the end of this month.
Millions of pounds' worth of wine were destroyed in a warehouse fire in California.
Read more...Castello di Ama is to rejoin the Consorzio Vino Chianti Classico after a gap of over 12 years. The move represents a major coup for the Consorzio in its bid to promote Chianti Classico among world wine drinkers after a low period when it has become associated with straw-covered bottles and trattoria dining.
Read more...Leading UK agency business, HwCg, has moved into winery ownership with the acquisition of Australian wine and beverage producer, the Irymple Group.
Read more...French Wines has clarified the judging process of its annual awards after three of the six gongs went to members (or their companies) of the judging panel.
Read more...The decision by Wines of South Africa (WOSA) to organise producers by region at last week's Mega Tasting has received a mixed reaction.
Read more...John Smith, chairman of The Wine and Spirit Trades' Benevolent Society, laid a plaque last week at the charity's Vintry Home in Eastbourne, as a tribute to the hundreds of thousands of pounds raised by the Wine Trade Foundation on behalf of the Benevolent.
Read more...Toby Knowles, a Wine & Spirit Education Trust (WSET) Diploma student, became the 1,000th member of the Institute of Wines & Spirits (IWS).
Former Southcorp CEO Keith Lambert has ended his three-year exile from the Australian wine industry to join his former employee, Philip Shaw, at Orange-based winery Cumulus Wines.
Read more...Blavod Extreme Spirits plc is claiming an increase of approximately 137%' in case sales from July to September on a year-on-year basis, according to its trading update for the six-month interim period to 30 September.
Read more...The long wait for the Wine & Spirits Trade Association (WSTA) to name a successor to Quentin Rappoport has ended with the appointment of the 34-year-old managing director of the British Retail Consortium, Jeremy Beadles, as chief executive. He worked as a solicitor for eight years prior to joining the BRC.
Read more...Kuehne + Nagel has acquired contract logistics specialist ACR Logistics for E440 million (300 million). The firm has assumed a net debt of E50 million (34 million).
Read more...Rewind a few years, and vodka and gin were in the ascendancy in style bars across the country. Cocktails such as the cosmopolitan were de rigueur, and vodka in particular was seen as the base spirit of choice for creative bartenders. Meanwhile, poor old rum had a rough image: a relic from the past century, with the odd pirate gag never too far away. But now, rum is beginning to shake off these connotations and is gaining the respect from bartenders - and more importantly, consumers - that it quite clearly deserves. And it should
be said that while it's easy to poke fun at the maritime connections, these only exist because they played a crucial role in the history of rum itself.
Daily Mail wine columnist Matthew Jukes has teamed up with whisky writer Dave Broom for two new tasting games.
The Wine and Whisky Tasting Party packs, from Blue Tree, will be available in Sainsbury's. Both versions contain four miniature bottles plus a CD containing questions plus a tutored tasting.
Australian wine exports are continuing to increase - reaching 676 million litres for the year to the end of August, according to the Australian Wine and Brandy Corporation, although the average price per litre is cotinunig to fall.
Read more...South Africa's Cathy van Zyl has become the third new Master of Wine of 2005 - and the first MW to be resident in South Africa.
Read more...The Langton's Classification of Australian Wine, which has recently been published in its fourth edition, has grown to be three times longer than the original 1991 version but will
be fixed at its present total of 101 wines, Langton's auctioneer Andrew Caillard MW has told Harpers.
