Blogs

Joe Fattorini: Zoom Rhetorica

Published: 29 June, 2020

Aristotle would have been great on a Zoom call. And he’d have spent the last few months bickering his wine merchant for old wooden cases too.

Mile High Club feels the chill

Published: 05 June, 2020

The aviation sector has long been one of the global economy's most vital employers. It's not simply the millions of personnel contracted by airlines; the International Air Transport Association (IATA) observes that the industry is at the core of a value chain that supports some 65.5 million jobs worldwide.

Climate change creeps up in Burgundy

Published: 01 May, 2020

Rising temperatures coupled with sensitive Pinot Noir spell change for the Burgundian hierarchy, as James Lawrence reports.

How do you give the drinks of yesteryear a modern twist?

Published: 13 March, 2020

Rowena Curlewis, CEO of drinks design specialist Denomination, on why legacy brands are enjoying a new lease of life.

Unbottle the secret sauce of effective drinks experiential

Published: 10 February, 2020

Meredith O’Shaughnessy, creative strategist at Meredith Collective

Wine in a can? Well yes, maybe…

Published: 20 December, 2019

Neil Anderson sizes up new research on what the Y & Z generations want from a tin of vino

Mixing politics and wine

Published: 22 November, 2019

What attracted me to wine journalism nine years ago was that the stories were about the wine and the people, not cocaine-fuelled celebrity mishaps or sexual exploits involving a reverse osmosis machine. The beauty of wine was that, by and large, there was no 'news.'

Agustín Trapero on Cebreros DOP: when the terruño talks

Published: 13 September, 2019

Head sommelier and consultant Agustín Trapero dips into one of Spain’s most promising new DOPs.

Ines Salpico dips into the hidden potential of the Finger Lakes

Published: 30 August, 2019

It is both baffling and refreshing that there can still be wine regions, in not exactly remote corners of the world, that remain mostly unknown both to consumers and to the vast majority of wine professionals. Mention the Finger Lakes to a random friend and you might simply get an inquisitive frown. And yet the upstate-New York region is home to a very interesting wine landscape that has been undergoing a vibrant process of transformation. Still, while having become a ‘darling’ among New York sommeliers, the Finger Lakes still fly under the radar.

Great design can transform wines’ fortunes – so why do so many ignore its potential?

Published: 19 August, 2019

Advertising spend in the wine sector is a fraction of that for beer, so brand and packaging identity have to work especially hard to influence consumer decision-making, says Rowena Curlewis, CEO of drinks design specialist Denomination

Ines Salpico: Portugal’s quiet wine revolution

Published: 30 May, 2019

London once again became the epicentre of the natural wine scene during the 2019 edition of the Real Wine Fair (RWF) earlier this month.

Teetotal for a year: why waking up to low and no is the trade's biggest challenge

Published: 30 January, 2019

The driest month of the year is almost over. But as the trend for drinking less but better – or not at all – continues into 2019, many consumers will be planning to moderate well into February and beyond. Changing drinking habits is something we can no longer ignore, says Hugh Jones, former prestige sale manager at Mentzendorff and now head of sales at Lucky Saint, which produces a 0.5% beer. Reporting for Harpers, Jones explains why he has vowed to go teetotal for a year with the aim of exploring what trade needs to do to stay relevant – while also making the most of the opportunities in the ever-evolving drinks industry.

Neil Anderson's Key Trends for 2019

Published: 28 January, 2019

Kingsland Drinks’ marketing director Neil Anderson gives his view on eight trends that will impact the wine industry through the coming year

Will UK ‘bottle-ists’ ever accept wine in a can?

Published: 02 January, 2019

Rowena Curlewis, CEO of drinks design specialist Denomination, urges winemakers to stop bottling it and embrace new packaging formats and sizes

Madeira: Bringing it all back home with Archie McDiarmid

Published: 20 August, 2018

Barbeito Madeira through their UK importer, Raymond Reynolds, run the hugely successful #MadeiraDay competition in December each year, bringing together independent retailers from all over the UK in celebration of this outstanding fortified wine. Luvians won the 2017 edition and after being presented with our certificate at the Big Fortified Tasting earlier this year, I got the chance to fly out to the island (this Portuguese colony lies some 280 miles off the coast of Africa) to get a personal perspective on how this bewitching wine is made.

Romania's Restituted Wineries show the way

Published: 26 July, 2018

The American writer Thomas Wolfe famously warned “You can't go home again”.

Sake is not just for sushi. Master of Sake John Gauntner talks pairing possibilities from cheese to calamari

Published: 10 May, 2018

The next time you order oysters in a restaurant, why not ask for a glass of sake?

Following immersion in Riesling Downunder, Sarah Ahmed explores the variety’s potential in the UK

Published: 19 February, 2018

If the recent Riesling Riot was a litmus test, then Riesling is clearly starting to attract the cool crowd in Australia.

Hamish Gillespie: Dealing with currency in the pre-Brexit world

Published: 06 December, 2017

The impact of Brexit on sterling has been a major factor in 2017 trade. Industry insider Hamish Gillespie, finance director at North South Wines, explores how best to mitigate the downsides.