Every Monday an email newsletter entitled “Ten things you didn’t know last week” drops into my inbox. It comes from leadership development consultancy TEN led by William Montgomery, a former naval officer and head of strategic change at Lloyds TSB. The newsletter reveals pertinent facts reported in the media about recent societal trends, providing bite sized topical insights into the world in which we do business.
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Jason Millar focuses on the Calabrian DOC, highlighting the recent Cirò Revolution tasting in London.
With quality canned wines firmly on the rise, Andrew Catchpole visits one of the most innovative in the business.
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It has, I admit, taken me rather a long time to take 0% alcohol wines seriously. I’ve long been sceptical about their quality. But I’ve finally got my head around their importance. Why? Because I’ve managed to navigate that key stumbling block that trips up many a middle-aged man – the fact that I am not the target market.
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Andrew Catchpole argues that the trade needs to take a firmer stance against the growing anti-alcohol lobby.
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On trend Londoners or visitors to the capital may be lucky enough to experience the culinary and vinous delights of a Noble Rot restaurant, of which there are now three. They were birthed from the eponymous Noble Rot Magazine, a pandoras box of wine and food articles that somehow manages to be smoothly accessible, irreverently funny, and slightly nerdy at the same time.
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Andrew Catchpole catches up with an ex-Wines of Argentina marketing director now launching his own mezcal to the UK, Zacal.
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This leading producer, with labels spanning Chile and Argentina, has been harnessing innovation and sustainability to drive forward its already premium positioning in South America’s wine world. Andrew Catchpole discovers more with Jaime de la Barra, winegrowing director at Santa Rita Estates.
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Jo Gilbert quizzes UK importers on the burning questions surrounding Chile and Argentina.
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When I first visited Lisbon in 2014, I was able to get an Airbnb in Bairro Alto for €20 a night and there was only one cool wine spot in town. Now there’s an official Wines of Portugal tasting room on the waterfront, a decade of tourism has transformed the country and contemporary wine bars are as easy to find as bacalhau.
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Mark Lansley, CEO at Broadland Drinks, argues that concentrates can be good for carbon, cost and consumer choice and thus, ultimately, the wine trade.
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Fells’ new MD catches up with Jo Gilbert on the company’s past, present and future, including its secret weapon.
As one of the longest-standing agent importers in the UK, Fells has a history that is almost very nearly unique. Like Mentzendorff, its biggest competitor, Fells happens to have been founded in 1858, before going on to represent the interests of a leading Port house.
Prompted by a brilliant series on The Rest Is History podcast, I’ve been reading Richard Davenport-Hines’ Titanic Lives. It’s a fascinating tale of class, wealth, emigration and, of course, hubris. “The boat is unsinkable,” declared Philip Franklin, vice-president of White Star Line, the ill-fated ship’s owner, on the very night of the tragedy.
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Andrew Catchpole caught up with the film director and Luberon Estate owner at Wine Paris following the UK launch of his wines.
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Someone once told me that you know what your ideal job is when you enjoy it so much, are so motivated to get up and crack on every morning, that you’d do it even if you weren’t paid. That’s perhaps a bit unrealistic for most people whose primary motivation is to earn money to live, but the point is clear. It helps a lot if you love what you do.
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As head of the BIVB, with leading wineries in Burgundy and Languedoc, Laurent Delauney talks to Andrew Catchpole about adaptability, evolution and climate change.
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Jason Millar takes stock of Bolgheri, which offers so much more than its starriest names.
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Andew Catchpole heads underground to meet Octavian’s Vincent O’Brien in this extraordinary West Country storage facility.
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In 1980, Neil and Lorraine Ashmead were looking to move back to their native Australia after several years spent working in Saudi Arabia. Keen for a rural enclave to raise their two sons, they found a homestead in the Barossa Valley, surrounded by a derelict vineyard of old Shiraz and Cabernet vines.
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Andrew Catchpole caught up with Thibault Lavergne of Wine Story at Vin, London’s leading French tasting, to find out what makes this specialist importer tick
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