South America report: Importers’ Shout
Published: 18 April, 2024
Jo Gilbert quizzes UK importers on the burning questions surrounding Chile and Argentina.
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Buyer’s Spotlight with Jason Millar: Portugal needs a boost
Published: 16 April, 2024
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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Soapbox: The case for concentrate
Published: 11 April, 2024
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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Profile: A new era for Fells
Published: 09 April, 2024
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.
Tim Atkin MW: Is wine heading for an iceberg?
Published: 05 April, 2024
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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Five minutes with Ridley Scott, Mas des Infermières
Published: 02 April, 2024
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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Jerry Lockspeiser: Why the government doesn’t understand entrepreneurs
Published: 26 March, 2024
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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Producer Q&A: Laurent Delaunay, Delaunay Vins & Domaines
Published: 26 March, 2024
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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Buyer’s Spotlight with Jason Millar: Bolgheri beyond Sassicaia and Ornellaia
Published: 19 March, 2024
Jason Millar takes stock of Bolgheri, which offers so much more than its starriest names.
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Profile: Octavian
Published: 14 March, 2024
Andew Catchpole heads underground to meet Octavian’s Vincent O’Brien in this extraordinary West Country storage facility.
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Guy Woodward: The stories and glories of wines
Published: 12 March, 2024
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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Five minutes with Thibault Lavergne, Wine Story
Published: 05 March, 2024
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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Producer Q&A: Michael d’Souza, John Distilleries
Published: 27 February, 2024
With India now slaking over half the globe’s thirst for whisky, Andrew Catchpole asks winemaker-turned-leading distiller Michael d’Souza for the inside track.
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Jerry Lockspeiser: Should business get involved in politics? Like it or not, we already are
Published: 22 February, 2024
Back in the good old days when my life involved selling millions of bottles of Hungarian wine to the UK’s major retailers, I made an appointment with the buyer at Sainsbury’s. They bought from one of our competitors and were proving a hard nut for me to crack. Buyers often kept suppliers waiting beyond the appointed time, so I settled down with my copy of The Guardian in anticipation.
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Soapbox: Importer labelling by stealth
Published: 20 February, 2024
Miles Corish MW, MD of Milestone Wines, takes issue with ‘a classic case of smoke and mirrors’.
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Buyer’s Spotlight with Jason Millar: Burgundy 2022
Published: 15 February, 2024
Dipping into the Burgundy tasting season, Jason Millar says there is value to be found.
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Profile: Hallgarten's new future with Coterie Holdings
Published: 13 February, 2024
From five years of “looking into the abyss”, Hallgarten’s future has been assured by a serious, if somewhat mysterious, new player in the form of Coterie Holdings. Jo Gilbert caught up with Andrew Bewes, MD of the former, and Michael Saunders, CEO of the latter, to peer beneath the surface of this major new deal.
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Tim Atkin MW: The problem with misplaced reverence and hallowed wines
Published: 09 February, 2024
It was a scary moment, at least in wine terms. There I was in the cellar at Domaine Leroy in Vosne-Romanée, tasting some of the most expensive reds on the planet. Meetings with Madame Bize are never relaxing. She combines hauteur with the ability to freeze a glass of Pinot Noir at 10 paces. People who have earned her displeasure are never granted access to her presence again.
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Five minutes with Stef Holt, Mangrove Global
Published: 06 February, 2024
Jo Gilbert catches up with Stef Holt on her new role as the first curator of world whisky for Mangrove Global.
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Producer Q&A: Noelia Orts, Emiliana, Chile
Published: 30 January, 2024
Emiliana, the world’s largest organic winery, has sustainability woven into its soul, with wines to match the winemaker’s passion. Andrew Catchpole dropped by.
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Registered in England No. 6646125. VAT No. 938 4452 95
