With his relaxed style and ample enthusiasm, Jay Wright certainly doesn’t fit the old stereotype of a wine trade CEO. As the boss of one of the more successful online retailers, though, he is clear about the vision and values that underpin the popularity of Virgin Wines. And much of that comes down to what he believes the company – and, by extension, the wider drinks trade – actually sells.
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As an experienced wine consultant specialising in the on-trade, Neil Bruce – aka wine margin optimiser at Studio Alto – turns his sights to the good, the bad and the ugly when it comes to the keg-versus-bottle ‘green’ debate.
Earlier this year, Penfolds announced its ambition to essay “a strategic shift from fine wine brand to global luxury icon”. The brand’s new marketing campaign, it said, encapsulated Penfolds’ “innovative spirit and desire to push the boundaries through self-belief”.
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Jo Gilbert catches up with Alex Brogan about his collective winemaking venture, where customers can vote on every step of the winemaking process.
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Gabriel Asseily, co-owner and head of production at Château Biac, talks Andrew Catchpole through the challenges and triumphs of swapping a cosmopolitan life in London to head up a family-bought estate in Côtes de Bordeaux.
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Producers and importers share with James Bayley their thoughts on the hot trends with Oz wines shaping Australia’s present and future offer in the UK market.
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Andrew Catchpole caught up with outgoing Yalumba MD Nick Waterman and his successor-to-be Karl Martin.
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Mike Veseth doesn’t just make wine economics understandable; he makes it thrilling.
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Joff Curtoys, founder and creative director of Sloemotion Distillery, explains why copper stills are the spirit industry’s dirty little climate secret.
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Against all odds, on-trade focused Jascots survived the pandemic and administration to emerge stronger than ever. Andrew Catchpole reports.
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You’ve come a long way, baby. Watching the final of the Euro 2022 women’s football tournament, I was reminded of this advertising slogan for Virginia Slims cigarettes, of all things, from the late 1960s. The brand tapped into the zeitgeist at a time when feminism and women’s rights were finally attracting the attention and wider support they deserved. The importance of sport should not be overstated, but England’s victory felt significant, not just as a one-off game, but in a wider social context.
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Jo Gilbert talks to cellarmaster Patrice Piveteau about the newest launch of Cognac Frapin’s Cigar Blend, made in its humid cellars in Grande Champagne.
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Eighteen months into his role as head of sustainability for Grupo Avinea (Argento), Andrés Valero explains to Andrew Catchpole how organic provides a pathway into sustainability.
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Oh dear, perhaps it was always too much to hope for. The embarrassment of the country being led by a self-serving clown has finally timed out, but the opportunity for serious politics to be rehabilitated looks certain to be missed.
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Two years on from the dismemberment of FMV, Bancroft Wines is focusing on initiating its new producers into the ‘family’ in a post-Covid world. Jo Gilbert reports.
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Nenad Trifunovic, director of business development at Wine & More, reflects on the future of a sector that is already feeling the heat.
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Drinks writer and editor @guyawoodward
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Way back when I studied economics at university, I also studied sociology. It struck me then that the way economics is taught is deeply flawed. To call it a science, even a social science, doesn’t make any sense. Unlike scientific study of the cosmos or gravity discovering immutable laws, economics seeks to explain how and why humans do certain things.
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Teresa Heuzenroeder, senior winemaker at Petaluma Wines, talks to Andrew Catchpole about the marked differences on dealing with the world’s most celebrated whites – Riesling and Chardonnay – as a winemaker.
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Charles Perez of Mas Bécha is passionate about his local Roussillon climate and soils, but talks up the human touch in the trilogy that constitutes terroir. Andrew Catchpole tunes in among his vines
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