Winchester-based German wine specialist The Winebarn has added top Mosel-Saar-Ruwer producer St Urbanshof to its agency roster. Owner Nik Weis will be in London this week to launch his association with The Winebarn in a tasting at The Capital Hotel, Basil Street, Knightsbridge (7 November, 3-5pm).
Read more...The Conseil Interprofessionnel du Vin de Bordeaux has appointed Douglas Morton as a consultant in the UK. A former MD of Baron Philippe de Rothschild UK, Morton will be charged with opening lines of communication between the CIVB and opinion formers and decision makers' in the UK trade.
ProWein, the major German wine and spirits show that is held in Dsseldorf in March, wants to attract more UK visitors.
With 2,773 exhibitors (Vinitaly, 4,064; Vinexpo, 2,500; and London International Wine & Spirits Fair (LIWSF), 1,300), ProWein claims the largest number of Italian and French exhibitors outside of their respective countries' own shows and also showcases the German wine industry with 700 producers exhibiting. The UK remains Germany's number-one export market, bringing in 971,315 hectolitres in 2004, compared to the number-two Netherlands with 380,870hl.
South Africa is the priority for Waitrose's new wine buyer Justin Howard-Sneyd MW, who has replaced Simon Thorpe MW.
Howard-Sneyd did three vintages in the Rainbow Nation in the mid-1990s at the time of the regime change, but he has not been back since, except for a week's honeymoon when it rained throughout.
A group of top wine writers, communicators and retailers have put together a case of top wines in a bid to raise money for drinks-trade charity The Benevolent.
Read more...Adrian McKeon, the former head of Allied Domecq's wine arm, has been appointed managing director at Jim Beam UK, the new UK division of Fortune Brands, Pernod Ricard's partner in the break-up of Allied Domecq.
Read more...Author and occasional Harpers contributor Andrew Jefford has been named the world's best drink journalist at an awards ceremony in Adelaide.
Next year (21-22 April) will see Edinburgh host the inaugural World Whiskies Conference, which aims to provide a forum for the global whisky-distilling industry'.
Western Wines MD and Wine & Spirit Trade Association (WSTA) board member Mike Paul has defended the association against accusations that it has lost its way in the wake of its protracted hunt for a new chief executive.
Read more...Michel Laroche, the Chablis-based producer with interests that span the globe, has bought high-profile South African estate L'Avenir.
Read more...London West End nightclub Umbaba has launched what it claims is the world's most expensive cocktail.
Cristin Lpez, managing director of Concha y Toro UK, is the first Chilean to complete the Wine MBA and pass with distinction.
Read more...Following the success of The Benevolent's Christie's wine auction in 2003, the second Benevolent auction will take place at Christie's from 10.30am on 17 November. Many special and rare-bottling wines and spirits will be on sale, all having been donated by companies in the trade.
Read more...Jameson Irish Whiskey has outlined its most expensive advertising campaign ever - with the main message to serve it mixed with ginger ale/beer.
Read more...Cambridge wine educator Anthony Stockbridge has become the first ever UK finalist selected to represent the country in a competition to find the European ambassador for Champagne.
Read more...The 20th edition of Salon des Vins de Loire will be held 6-8 February 2006 at Angers Parc Expo - not 30 January-
1 February as previously advertised by the organisers.
Portugal must play to its strengths - indigenous
grape varieties and regional differences - if it is to
succeed as an exporting wine nation, according to Salvador Guedes, president of the country's largest producer, Vinhos Sogrape.
The most exciting grape grown in South Tyrol, at least among its reds, is the Lagrein, a variety found only there and in the adjacent hills of northern Trentino. Scholars differ about the area where the Lagrein grape originated. Some say it comes from the Vallagarina area, which is a valley south of Trento. This theory finds some support in the name of the variety, since Lagarino is the Italian name for Lagrein. Others believe it first appeared near Gries in the area of Bozen, where Benedictine friars of the Muri convent have cultivated it since 1600. But most scholars agree that the real origin
is Lagaria, a Roman coastal area near the Ionic Sea, or Greece, where lagaros means hanging grape, which in south Italy became lagarinum.
What is it about RTDs that people seem to have such a problem with? It's been a good 10 years since the Hooch and Two Dogs alcopop' stigma hit the category, and yet the blame for any alcohol-related problems is still often placed at the RTD door. On top of this criticism, the sector has had to contend with a year-on-year decline and a constant assertion from the trade that RTDs have had their day. Is this really fair? In spite of all the negativity, new brands and alternative versions of established brands are continuing to hit the shelves at speed - there's even talk of Diageo introducing a whole new range of RTDs to the UK market. Are these the activities of an industry that's about to pop its clogs?
John Hoskins MW owns the Old Bridge Hotel in Huntingdon, a large, red-brick building on the edge of town. The A14 clatters by noisily at the foot of the garden, but poplars are beginning to cover up the concrete girders, and the south-facing terrace looks instead in the direction of the River Ouse, which flows gently by. It's a pleasant place to sit on a summer's day, and people are attracted by the wine list, too, in a part of the country bereft of decent selections. Hoskins has five major suppliers - Liberty, Noel Young, Morris & Verdin, Amps Fine Wines and Lay & Wheeler - and has remained loyal to them. So you'd think these merchants would be falling over themselves to conduct business properly with Hoskins, especially since he also has three pubs in the area.
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