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Meet the buyers: Majestic

Published:  07 August, 2017

As Cat Lomax takes up the head buyer role at Majestic, James Lawrence takes an in-depth look at the drinks-buying team

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Tim Atkin MW: At the mercy of the elements

Published:  07 August, 2017

It’s squeaky bum time in Chablis. Grape growers the world over consult weather forecasts on a regular basis, but in the Yonne it’s almost an obsession. You can see why the locals are worried: nature has picked them out for some particularly brutal treatment in the past two vintages.

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Guy Woodward: Alcohol - the elephant in the cellar

Published:  27 July, 2017

Throughout my time around the wine trade, one fundamental aspect of its make-up has been constantly swept under the carpet. Alcohol. I have seen members of the trade battle addiction issues; engage in drink-driving, embarrass themselves through over-indulgence. And that’s before one turns to the damage wreaked in wider society. Yet never have I heard the topic discussed at any length or in any depth; we’d sooner spend hours debating terroir and tartaric acid.

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Q&A: Marty Grant, co-owner, Corkage, Bath

Published:  26 July, 2017

Corkage is a tiny restaurant and wine shop, tucked away in Bath and best known for its eclectic wine offer, but no wine list. Charismatic co-owner Marty Grant talks to Angela Mount about his passion for selling wine in a completely unique way

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Jerry Lockspeiser: There is no such thing as the wine trade

Published:  20 July, 2017

In 1987, shortly after winning a third consecutive election, Margaret Thatcher famously said that there is no such thing as society, only individual men and women and families. Forty years later the murdered Labour MP Jo Cox is remembered for saying “we are far more united and have far more in common with each other than things that divide us”.

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Guy Woodward: Why the wine trade should embrace rising prices

Published:  13 July, 2017

Guy Woodward, former editor of Decanter, reports on why the wine trade should embrace rising prices

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Tim Atkin MW: Roll over leafroll

Published:  11 July, 2017

Tim Atkin MW, wine critic, broadcaster and co-chair of the IWC, talks about the the disease behind South Africa's beautiful autumn colours which is causing significant damage to the country's vines 

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Championing Grower Champagnes

Published:  10 July, 2017

The Good Wine Shop’s second annual Grower Champagne Month this June saw a swathe events dedicated to celebrating these artisanal scale wines. Co-founder Derek Morrison explains why they do it, what it’s all about and how he is looking to grow this initiative for next year.

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Q&A: Gonzalo Pedrosa, ex-chief executive, Sogevinus

Published:  06 July, 2017

Gonzalo Pedrosa has a refreshing take on how Port producers should collaborate in the way the Swiss watch industry did with Swatch – to boost the category as a whole. Andrew Catchpole catches up with the recently departed champion of the colheita style

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Meet the buyers: On-trade specialists

Published:  03 July, 2017

James Lawrence catches up with the wine buyers and suppliers responsible for curating Michelin-starred wine lists across the on-trade

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Q&A: Guillaume Deglise, chief executive, Vinexpo

Published:  29 June, 2017

Prior to the Bordeaux fair earlier this month, Guillaume Deglise spoke to Andrew Catchpole on the trends and developments shaping this year’s content 

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Family Ties

Published:  23 June, 2017

With family-run businesses rife within the wine trade, what are the challenges involved in running
a winery with your loved ones? Lisa Riley investigates

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Spotlight on Off-Piste Wines

Published:  22 June, 2017

Off-Piste Wines is celebrating its 10th anniversary this year. Established by long-term business colleagues Paul Letheren and Anthony Fairbank, the company has grown from a tiny embryo to one of the most respected supermarket suppliers in the UK, with a focused business model, and a turnover of around £30 million.

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Jerry Lockspeiser: Three reasons to be cheerful

Published:  21 June, 2017

Ian Dury and the Blockheads released Reasons To Be Cheerful in July 1979, two months after Margaret Thatcher became the UK’s first female Prime Minister.

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Guy Woodward: Why the wine trade should be targeting the young

Published:  14 June, 2017

Twenty years ago it may have been, but I can safely say that my membership of Manchester University Wine Society was a successful one. Not in terms of laying the foundations for a career as editor of a well-respected consumer wine magazine, a notion that would have been laughable to both me and my fellow members at the time. No, its main, possibly only, benefit was in meeting girls – and accumulating the brazen gall to actually speak to them.

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Q&A: Phil Innes, owner, Loki Wine

Published:  08 June, 2017

With two new openings planned this year (God of Mischief willing), Loki’s Phil Innes talks to Andrew Catchpole about business and why the indie scene is on a roll.

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Tim Atkin MW: Why wine and food pairing is not an art

Published:  07 June, 2017

At the height of her fame as a Strictly Come Dancing and Celebrity Fit Club contestant, ex-Tory MP Ann Widdecombe was asked to write a book about how to lose weight. Her response was that were she to produce such a work, it would be very short. So short indeed that it would contain just two simple injunctions: “eat less” and “exercise more”. 

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Jerry Lockspeiser: What are we voting about on June 8th?

Published:  30 May, 2017

When we wake up on June 9th we will have a new parliament and a new Government, probably one that will last for the next five years.

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Daniel Lambert: Outing Brexit's looming costs

Published:  20 May, 2017

Daniel Lambert of Daniel Lambert Wines calls for clarity on the likely levels of trade tariffs after 1 April 2019 and argues that the public should be told

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Q&A: Tom Wilson and Lucy Holmes, Kanpai sake microbrewery, Peckham

Published:  17 May, 2017

Kanpai, London’s first sake microbrewery has just set up in Peckham. Anna Greenhous talks to co-founders, Tom Wilson and Lucy Holmes: 

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