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The week that was

Top Stories: A move into the on-trade for long-standing London merchant Berry Bros. & Rudd and HR movements at Armit Wines and Wine-Searcher formed part of the rich and constantly evolving tapestry of the BWS sector this week. 

A strong English wine thread ran throughout, with several stories honing in on homegrown wines. 

Starting on Monday, things kicked off with an encouraging sales report from Kent winery Chapel Down, which reported 20% increase in its wine sales during 2017.

The spotlight then returned to English wine a day later when Sussex estate Rathfinny officially launched its first sparklers to the trade at Somerset House.

And Chapel Down was in the news once again as part of a new tourism initiative.

The Wine Garden of England will see seven wineries partner with tourism board Visit Kent to focus on bringing more wine lovers to the Kent countryside. 

• Armit Wines appoints new ‘head of London sales’
• Wine-Searcher CEO quits claiming ‘I never wanted the job’
• Berry Bros & Rudd opens first pop-up wine bar
• Chapel Down wine sales soar
• WSET reveals new and enhanced qualifications
• Kentish wineries partner with Visit Kent to launch wine tourism initiative 

Analysis and Insights: Perhaps one of the more varied collections of stories we’ve seen in a while here at Harpers. 

This week, our in depth reports covered everything from staffing shortages to the rise of cannabis – which is widely being tipped as the next major challenger to wines and spirits as legalisation sweeps across the US. 

For our country reports, we rounded up our North American focus with a look at the wide-ranging draws of Washington, before jumping to Europe and the great diversity of wines coming from Turkey and Lebanon. 

• You can’t get the staff…
• Cannabis: Bigger than craft
• Washington post
• From Beirut to the Bosphorus

People and Opinion: In his latest insightful column, Jerry Lockspeiser looked at profitability of wine through the lens of Conviviality. 

Wine, he argues, is not necessarily a low profit business. But its needs have changed – as has the level of talent and commitment needed to make it a success. 

Elsewhere, we caught up with David Gleave MW on 20 years of Liberty Wines.

And our monthly Meet the Buyers series continued with Morgenrot’s commercial director John Critchley. 

• Jerry Lockspeiser: Are we in the wine business or the business of wine?
• Liberty for all
• Meet the buyers: John Critchley, Morgenrot