So why exactly is the Dirty Dozen Tasting the most exciting, least predictable and most hotly anticipated event within the crazy wine circus that London is in September?
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The beginning of August is supposed to herald the start of what our newspaper colleagues would call the Silly Season. A time when there is very little hard news around and our daily news feed is full of stories of escaped pigs, or retired policemen travelling around the country in a bath of baked beans. But the world of wine and spirits does not look ready for a summer holiday just yet.
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Being an independent retailer can, by definition, be a lonely place to be. Whilst being 100% responsible for your own business can bring great advantages it can also leave you exposed to making executive decisions you might not always be qualified or experienced enough to make.
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It may have been some time since the UK wine trade was dominated by the clipped tones of our cover star in this week's Harpers Wine & Spirit, the one and only Terry Thomas, but the level of trust and reassurance that comes with a certain accent and upbringing is still an important, unquantifiable, part of the sector.
The Bekaa Valley is secure again, and its wineries are welcoming
visitors with open arms. That is the message the Lebanese are keen to
promote, notwithstanding the destabilising events in neighbouring
Syria and, having just got back from a trip to the Bekaa, I would
happily concur.
So another London International Wine Fair has been and gone and as ever there are many in the trade who have been keen to perform their own post mortem on the show. Well here's mine.
Don't forget to check our live blog for rolling updates of what's been going on each day at LIWF. You can also follow us on Twitter @harperswine #LIWF.
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Vino Ignobile?
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There has been a lot of nostalgia in recent weeks as the nation's media prepares us all for the Queen's Diamond Jubilee. It is as if a look back to the 1970s, the three-day weeks, power cuts and Carry On films, will make us feel a whole lot better about life in Britain in 2012.
Here's a topical anecdote to mark the seemingly never-ending London mayoral elections that took place on Thursday.
The debate around the proposed minimum price of alcohol appears to have split the trade in two.
As the world's top tasters get ready to head to Bordeaux to sample the 2011 vintage, Gavin Quinney, owner of the region's Château Bauduc, blogs on what he thinks lies ahead.
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When Steve Hilton, David Cameron's so called policy advisor, packed his man bag to head to California many thought he had taken all of the Prime Minister's big policy ideas with him.
Well think again.
Itseemed like the world, its wife and extended family had turned up at Prowein, the German wine fair early this month. Over 40,000 members of the global wine family had made the trek to Dusseldorf by plane, car and winnebago to take advantage of what is increasingly being seen as the most commercially important trade fair in the world.
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There are wine press trips and there are spirits press trips and both are very different affairs. But never in my experience do you get a wine and spirits trip all mixed up in one.
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David Cameron's warning last week that his government is looking to introduce much tighter drinks legislation, including potentially a minimum price for alcohol, resulted in the industry taking another beating from the national media.
Yet other than the obligatory responses from our much called upon drinks trade associations, where was the reply from our major drinks companies?
David Cameron's warning last week that his government is looking to introduce much tighter drinks legislation, including potentially a minimum price for alcohol, resulted in the industry taking another beating from the national media.
Yet other than the obligatory responses from our much called upon drinks trade associations, where was the reply from our major drinks companies?
It says something of how far the power of brands are now so embedded in our lives that the adverts during this week's Super Bowl had more of an impact than the game itself.
As the industry takes a collective intake of breath for us all to plan our respective budgets for the financial year ahead, who better to guide us in our efforts than the collective thoughts of the BWS chiefs at each of our major supermarkets. The Famous Five if you like.
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"It is just important to give the trade the opportunity to taste, to show how good and versatile these wines are," said Iris Ellmann, MD of German specialist merchant The Wine Barn at yesterday's Annual Trade Tasting.
