People & Opinion - Harpers Wine & Spirit Trade News

Profile: Bibendum’s fresh approach

Published: 15 April, 2025

As Bibendum’s new sales director, Andrew Ingham is determined to tear up the old-school rulebook. Andrew Catchpole finds out how.

Tim Atkin MW: The Cape deserves our respect

Published: 11 April, 2025

There are a few grapes still out there on the vines, but the verdict on the quality of the 2025 crop was harvested some time ago. After a run of challenging years, South Africa is completing one of its greatest ever vintages. “Seriously promising” is how Eben Sadie, the country’s most famous winemaker, describes it.

Jerry Lockspeiser: Have I completely missed the point about natural wine?

Published: 10 April, 2025

I have got to be honest about natural wine. I am not a fan. As a pioneer of organic wine distribution in the UK it hurts me to say that. I started back in 1985. I am a believer that less is more when it comes to natural flavours, environmental responsibility and personal health. But I just don’t like the taste of nine out of 10 natural wines that I try.

Five minutes with Rhône champion Matt Walls

Published: 08 April, 2025

Andrew Catchpole catches up with the UK’s leading Rhône expert ahead of his inaugural Rhône Roots Tasting in London.

Producer Q&A: John Wurdeman, Pheasant’s Tears and Living Roots

Published: 01 April, 2025

Artist-turned-winemaker and restaurateur John Wurdeman explains to Andrew Catchpole how he came to be at the forefront of Georgia’s natural wine movement.

South America Report: Daniel Pisano, Pisano Family Vineyards

Published: 27 March, 2025

Geoffrey Dean visits Daniel Pisano, export manager at Pisano Family Vineyards in Uruguay’s Canelones region, where brothers Gustavo and Eduardo are winemaker and viticulturist, respectively.

Buyers’ Spotlight: Burgundy 2023 en primeur

Published: 25 March, 2025

Jason Millar assesses the 2023 en primeur campaign and finds the system in good health.

Profile: Fell’s stylish evolution

Published: 20 March, 2025

Following portfolio additions and a team restructure, there’s an upbeat mood at Fells, as Andrew Catchpole discovers.

Soapbox: Putting pressure on the supply chain for a sustainable future

Published: 18 March, 2025

Canned Wine Group chief commercial officer Ben Franks says the trade should be leveraging its buying power to bring about a sustainable future

Guy Woodward: How polytunnels could enhance producers’ toolkit

Published: 13 March, 2025

From Margaret River to Mendoza, Barolo to Burgundy, I’ve seen some picturesque vineyards in my time. The B58 Winery in Beaulieu was not one of them. Muddy, grey and damp, the scene that February morning would do nothing to dispel an outsider’s preconceptions of English wine.

Five minutes with Philip Cox, Cramele Recas

Published: 04 March, 2025

Cramele Recas founder and co-owner Philip Cox talks Andrew Catchpole though his ambitions for native Romanian varieties.

Producer Q&A: Bruce Jack, Bruce Jack Wines

Published: 25 February, 2025

Winemaker Bruce Jack talks to Andrew Catchpole about how his business has learnt from its mistakes and how South Africa is working to improve its premium position.

Jerry Lockspeiser: What’s better spread around than piled up?

Published: 19 February, 2025

You know those times when something comes along that hits you on the head like a sledgehammer? An experience that wakes us up to seeing things from a wider perspective. The jolt we get ripples beyond the issue itself to how we see our lives, both personal and professional.

Buyer’s Spotlight: The Battles to Come

Published: 18 February, 2025

Jason Millar on why the trade needs to get behind the WSTA-led wine duty campaign.

Profile: Queena Wong of Curious Vines

Published: 14 February, 2025

A light bulb suddenly clicked on for Queena Wong, the private wine collector turned founder of Curious Vines during the first Covid lockdown. It was 2020, and for large swathes of the global population – and in many cases, women in particular – their worlds had suddenly become much smaller. Speaking ahead of Curious Vines’ first meet-up of 2025 in January, which focused on wellness via low & no, Wong describes a situation that suddenly felt like women had been “set back ten years”.

Soapbox: Cambridge's Hal Wilson scrutinises government duty forecasts

Published: 11 February, 2025

The government won’t talk to the trade about its assumptions on duty receipts because it gets them from the OBR. The OBR won’t talk to the trade about its assumptions on duty receipts because its only customer is the government. You couldn’t make it up.

Tim Atkin MW: The highs of Tenerife

Published: 07 February, 2025

Where are the highest vineyards in Europe? Switzerland? The Alto Adige perhaps? Both have sites that are vertiginous when you compare them to most of the continent’s classic wine regions. But the correct answer is Spain. Not Gredos or Ribera del Duero, both of which are pretty elevated, but Tenerife. Piedra Fluida’s Los Frontones vineyard in Vilaflor sits at a lofty 1,687m.

Five minutes with Stephen Duckett, Hundred Hills Winery

Published: 04 February, 2025

Andrew Catchpole catches up with a tech-entrepreneur turned fine English winemaker at his Oxfordshire estate.

Producer Q&A: Stellios Boutaris, Ktima Kir-Yianni

Published: 28 January, 2025

Wine has long run in the family of Stellios Boutaris, winemaker & CEO at Ktima Kir-Yianni, and the tradition shows no signs of ending. Andrew Catchpole dropped by.

Soapbox: Miles Beale looks beyond duty

Published: 23 January, 2025

With the end of duty easement now nigh-on a certainty, in the second of our two-parter the WSTA’s Miles Beale swings the focus on to other major issues that lie ahead.