When I was a lad I used to hear adults arguing about something one of them had read in the newspapers. The reader would announce the item with astonishment or relish – “you’d never have thought it” or “I told you they were the problem” – while the responder would retort “you shouldn’t believe everything you read in the papers.”
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With Michele Chiarlo Winery having picked up the SWA European Producer of the Year title, and all five wines entered winning a medal, Alberto Chiarlo talks Andrew Catchpole through his family’s inspiring vision for wine.
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If anything teaches you patience, humility and a degree of circumspection, it’s making wine. However much of a hurry you may be in, a vineyard takes three years to produce a useable crop and, once it does, has a habit of undermining your best-laid plans. Older, more established vineyards can struggle to cope with the vicissitudes of the seasons, too, especially in a world pummelled by climate change.
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Hamish Graham caught up with Jacob Leadley from Black Chalk Wine in Hampshire to talk minimal intervention and why it’s ultimately all about the people.
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With his Le Grand Vin de Stellenbosch Cabernet Sauvignon 2022 scooping two IWC trophies, Origin Wine MD Bernard Fontannaz muses on the perception of such New World stars
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Every Monday I look forward to the weekly email from TEN popping into my inbox. TEN is a strategic leadership consultancy founded by William Montgomery, a former navigating officer of HMS Ark Royal and Head of Strategic Change at Lloyds TSB.
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Is there a wine that offers a better combination of value, drinkability and ageability than top-end Rioja? My modest ‘cellar’ would suggest not. Amid an otherwise fairly eclectic collection, Gran Reservas from 2001, 2004 and 2011 are by far the most populous older wines. Classic, elegant and ageworthy – and distinctly uncool.
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Imagine an annual sales campaign that generates excitement, shifts substantial stock and delivers cash benefits for both buyers and sellers, all while reinforcing brand positioning in a competitive market. Sounds good, right? Now imagine the opposite scenario: your annual push, instead of creating buzz, engenders negativity, damages your brand and disincentivises purchases, as new inventory gathers dust in a warehouse. That is the position Bordeaux finds itself in after a drab and misjudged 2024 en primeur campaign. The weather, scores and pricing have been well covered. The question now is: why are merchants still making the effort to sell the wines?
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As Coterie Holdings powers onwards, Andrew Catchpole asks Michael Saunders what lies ahead.
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Charlotte Wallace managing and technical director, Graham Crawford, sales director, and Luke Flunder, brand ambassador, Oakley Wine Agencies
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From somm to spirits buyer by way of the IMW, Dawn Davies is the inspiring face of Speciality Drinks. Andrew Catchpole dropped by for a dram
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Three seemingly unconnected business issues thrust themselves into my mind recently. Thinking about them later I realised that far from being unconnected, their combination provides a useful guide to being successful – and more urgently, avoiding the risk of almost certain failure.
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Iranian-born Asieh Hagh Shenas is yet to qualify as a winemaker, but nonetheless is already a rising star in the wine world, as Andrew Catchpole discovers.
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Americans call it putting lipstick on a pig. I was listening to one of Corney & Barrow’s Bordeaux Unpicked podcasts the other day. Yes, that’s right, podcasts plural. There are six of them to date, delving into the minutiae of the 2024 vintage. One of the participants joked that there are two types of harvest in Bordeaux – vintages of the century and “better than expected” – but that’s where the humour ended.
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Wine expert & consultant Jason Millar reports back from an optimistic visit to a recent Vernaccia tasting, finding potential in this oft dismissed Italian white variety
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Now in its fourth year, the Harpers 30 Under 30 list celebrates a new generation that is fundamentally reshaping the wine and spirits industry with purpose, innovation and global perspective. Like previous years, our standouts for 2025 are a highly accomplished bunch, making significant impacts to wine and spirits despite often only a short time in the industry.
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Jason Millar reports back from the Wines of Spain Tasting where he found plenty to get excited about in how producers are ageing wines
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I recently took part in a discussion panel at the London Wine Fair. The topic was how the drinks trade could put moderation and balance back at the centre of the debate about booze. The urgency of the question is underlined by the growing strength of ideologically driven temperance organisations, along with stark warnings from health bodies, including the World Health Organisation.
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We’ve spent a lot of time trying to figure out how we talk about these methodologies – organic, biodynamic, regenerative and sustainable. There’s a desire for people to rank them in an order, create some sort of a hierarchy.
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From retailer to merchant to producer, Giles Cooke has spanned the wine trade. He talks Majestic, murder and McLaren Vale.
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