Total World Cup drinks sales reach £1.1billion despite fading interest in final weeks

Final drinks sales for the World Cup reveal that overall beers, wines and spirits were up by £15.1 million for the five weeks of the tournament to top £1.1 billion.

Berry Bros & Rudd and Roberson win Independent Merchants of the year at IWC 2014

Berry Bros & Rudd and Roberson Wine were named Large and Small Independent Merchant of the Year at last night's International Wine Challenge awards dinner. 

Tesco ramps up Finest range in response to consumers

Tesco customers' calls for increased variety in its Finest wine range were answered this week as the supermarket added seven new wines - including a Riesling from Slovenia. 

M&S named Supermarket of the Year by International Wine Challenge for second year running

Marks & Spencer has claimed the International Wine Challenge Supermarket of the Year award for the second year running.

Halfwine.com looks to crowdfunding to finance expansion

Halfwine.com, which specialises in selling 37.5cl bottles of wine, is looking to raise £30,000 in exchange for 15% of the company in order to drive the next phase in its development.

England's failure results in poor World Cup for beer and cider brands

Later kick off times and England's poor performance combined to have a knock-on effect on what were disappointing sales of beers and lagers during the first half of the World Cup, according to the latest Nielsen data.

Setting the record straight: Pernod Ricard UK says fake wine reports are two years old

Pernod Ricard has issued a media statement refuting stories run by the Daily Mail, the Metro, The Independent, The Mirror and The Times in recent days that named Jacob's Creek as one of the wine brands that are on sale in some local off-licences that could be counterfeit and potentially harmful. 

Your chance to enter and nominate brands for the Harpers Global Design Awards

If you have seen or worked with an exciting new drinks in the last 12 months then you can now nominate them to receive special recognition in the Harpers Global Design Awards.

Tesco Wine Fairs set to attact 15,000 visitors to shows this autumn

Tesco Wine Fairs are set to return this coming autumn at five locations throughout the UK, including a switch to Earls Court in London to cope with the expected increase in visitors.

World Cup drinks sales to top £1bn but dry up as tournament reaches its end

As we enter the final stage of the World Cup it seems the great British public is ready to put down its pint glass as well as turn off the football on television.

The Wine Chambers: bringing quality wine to the north east

Ben Chambers, owner of The Wine Chambers stores in Tynemouth and North Shields, talks about the difficulty of buying quality wine in the north east, the superiority of bottled-at-source wine and what keeps customers returning.

Calling all drinks businesses: share your Responsibility Deal successes

Following this week's public backing of the drinks industry by the government for the work it has done to comply with the Responsibility Deal, Harpers is now giving drinks businesses the chance to share and publicise the efforts they have made.

Harpers Low-Alcohol Wine Report: Subscribers download here

Try as it might, the UK wine trade has yet to crack the low-alcohol wine category, according to a new Harpers report published today.

Over 55s increasingly happy with new smart technology to buy online

Drinks brands and retailers looking to target the key over 55 grey market should do so through smartphones, tablets and the internet as the older generation becomes increasingly comfortable with technology.

Screw cap grows in popularity in UK and Australia, but Americans lag behind

Americans are still wary of screw cap closures for wine, while their British and Australian counterparts are much more accepting.

Retailers and suppliers yet to crack low-alcohol wine, says Harpers report

Try as it might, the UK wine trade has yet to crack the low-alcohol wine category, according to a new Harpers report published today.

Tesco tries out wine tastings for customers at home

Ted Sandbach, Oxford Wine Company: what I want from my suppliers

As an independent wine merchant one of the important and challenging jobs is how we deal and negotiate with suppliers. These can be large national companies or small boutique operations and we could be dealing with anything from the old fashioned "rep" to owners, directors or winemakers.

No sign of slowdown in sparkling wine growth

Sparkling wine sales are showing no signs of slowing down - volumes rocketed 20% in the second quarter of 2014.

Guy Woodward: no more ivory tower posturing, let's get personal with consumers

Harpers is pleased to announce it has signed up Guy Woodward, former editor of Decanter, as a regular columnist and contributor.This month he tips his cap to the creative minds at Naked Wines and other innovative retail sites that are genuinely communicating to consumers in a way they can understand and says there are so many lessons to be learnt from the old school wine trade still stuck in its ivory tower.