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Published: 07 January, 2026
The December-January period for many in the on-trade often charts a feast followed by famine trajectory. Last year’s data showed a similar pattern. According to the CGA RSM Hospitality Business Tracker – which assesses the performance of Britain’s leading restaurant, pub and bar groups – total sales for December 2024 were up 3.2% year on year. Contrast this to January which, by the same metric, saw a fall in sales of 1.3%.
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Published: 05 January, 2026
The wine subscription market is experiencing something of a boom at the moment. While established wine clubs have been around for decades, wine sellers seem to have been setting up such subscriptions left and right. Worldwide, at least, this is borne out by the facts – according to a recent report by Future Market Insights, the global wine subscription market is expected to grow by an average of 9.7% annually from 2025-2035.
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Published: 22 December, 2025
Given that it’s been in use for wine consumption since about 1500BC, glassware has had plenty of time to evolve, and today’s manufacturers have the restaurant world spoilt for choice when it comes to sizes, shapes and colours. But how far are today’s top sommeliers prepared to go outside the traditionally accepted vessels when it comes to providing the best experience for diners in their food-matching choices – and what do diners expect?
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Published: 19 December, 2025
How do you design the perfect, catch-all wine label for the 21st-century consumer? A young start-up may well crave contemporary shock value, but Château Lafite is unlikely to embrace funky designs and psychedelic script when its brand equity depends on projecting notions of heritage and storied prestige. The visual language of yesterday – cursive fonts, textured paper and stately imagery – still has an important role to play in a world where consumer expectations vary significantly.
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Published: 17 December, 2025
Quick-response codes (more commonly known as QR codes) have become increasingly widespread in recent years. Even 10 years ago QR codes may have seemed a technological gimmick, with their use on packaging confined to some early adopters and consumer engagement led by novelty. Today, as Cameron Worth, founder and CEO of io.tt, a ‘connected products’ platform puts it, “QR codes are boring”.
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Published: 15 December, 2025
Trying to extract any optimism from the autumn Budget is potentially a fool’s errand. Alcohol duty will increase in line with RPI – a move many in the sector had pleaded with the government not to make. With RPI currently set at 3.66%, according to the WSTA, this will see duty go up 11p on an average bottle of Prosecco, 13p on a bottle of red wine and 38p on a bottle of gin. This, combined with the cumulative strain of the inflationary pressures of the past five years on consumer buying power, will likely continue to inhibit spend on alcohol.
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Published: 12 December, 2025
During harvest this year I posted a video on Instagram showing the ‘punching down’ of Pinot Noir grapes; within a few minutes I was asked by two different UK winemakers where the punchdown tool came from and how much it cost.
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Published: 10 December, 2025
From France to Australia, by way of many territories between, the shrinking global vinescape has become enough of a concern that its impact was reported in The Economist this November. With wine drinking in decline, cash-strapped consumers reining in spend and thus an industry feeling the pain of oversupply, vineyards are being ripped out, with other, more profitable crops often being planted. And a troubling fact – at least where future quality wine production is concerned – is that older vines, by dint of the fact that they are less productive and sometimes harder to work, are often first in the firing line.
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Published: 08 December, 2025
Packaging waste matters and policy that can reduce it is vital. This would be a view held by most across the drinks trade. Despite this, implementation and policy design matter too. The introduction of extended producer responsibility (EPR) policy for some in the sector has been far from satisfactory. In many ways this comes down to a case of unfortunate timing – the policy’s introduction coinciding with a raft of other cost-increasing measures, namely alcohol duty and NIC hikes. But also, legitimate concerns exist regarding the policy’s minutiae.
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Published: 05 December, 2025
The shifting landscape of demand in restaurant wines has been well reported upon in recent years. To gauge the lay of the land of the quality on-trade, Hamish Graham surveyed this year’s Harpers Top 50 Sommeliers to chart key themes and trends.
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Published: 03 December, 2025
Hospitality venues are increasingly turning to wholesale partners investing in the venue’s success. Jaq Bayles looks at the opportunities for indies.
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Published: 01 December, 2025
Members of the Harpers Sustainability Charter outline current and likely future challenges on the road to a greater green profile. Oliver Catchpole reports.
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Published: 28 November, 2025
Marcos Carol looks proud as he describes the changes in the village of Tilimuqui, north west Argentina, since his La Riojana wine co-operative became Fairtrade certified in 2006. The Fairtrade premium has helped fund a new running water system, a health centre, a new secondary school and 50 scholarships for the children of growers. It’s just one example of wine industry efforts to address ‘social sustainability’ – its ethical responsibility to the people who work in it and buy its products. And at a moment when concerns around the environmental impact of wine already have a high profile, social sustainability is fast moving up the agenda.
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Published: 26 November, 2025
Though it produces just 1% of the world’s wine, Austria is punching above its weight when it comes to leadership on the issue of sustainability as the industry grapples with its carbon footprint and existential questions around the future viability of long-established regions.
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Published: 24 November, 2025
For this month’s Sustainability Report, Harpers decided to ask the signatories of our Harpers Sustainability Charter about their progress in one of the key areas of sustainability – reducing carbon dioxide emissions. While only one pillar of a charter that encompasses incredibly important sustainability issues such as waste management, ecological care, diversity, public health and many others, carbon emissions stand out due to the outsized role they play in warming the planet.
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Published: 21 November, 2025
Port’s postprandial image is one that has long buoyed UK sales for the Douro’s array of fortified wine producers. However, with changing tastes come changing demands. Although there will remain a strong appetite for traditional expressions of the category, Port houses both established and new are looking to appeal to a younger demographic who may be only just commencing their Port journey. Harpers spoke to producers who ply their trade in the steep-hilled valley to determine how they are seeking to appeal to this disruptive demographic.
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Published: 19 November, 2025
Brighton’s Cut Your Wolf Loose is a whisky bar with a difference. Besides the glowing neon ‘whisky’ sign in the window, edgy decor and graffiti-adorned walls, the world’s most recognisable brands of Scotch and bourbon are nowhere to be seen.
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Published: 17 November, 2025
South Africa’s booming Cap Classique category is attracting growing interest from importers, retailers and sommeliers looking for traditional method wines that combine keen pricing with high quality.
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Published: 17 November, 2025
Resilience and transformation were the watchwords of the 10th edition of Cape Wine, which saw South Africa’s international showcase return to Cape Town for the first time since 2022. Three years is a long time in a wine country as ambitious and dynamic as South Africa. Packing its progress into three days is a challenge, yet the 2025 edition captured the exceptional diversity of the Cape – from bulk to super-premium, traditional method sparkling to brandy, and from cool-climate Grenache to icons like Vin de Constance. Superstars such as Eben Sadie poured alongside newcomers exhibiting for the first time.
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Published: 14 November, 2025
Hospitality is an extremely wasteful industry. According to Juliane Caillouette Noble, MD of the Sustainable Restaurant Association (SRA), this is because the sector operates on a linear economy model, where goods are used then thrown away. The aim of her organisation is a more ‘circular’ future, which means redesigning supply chains and rethinking the lifecycle of products so resources are reused for as long as possible. In a circular economy, recycling is a last resort, especially with the amount of ‘recycling’ that goes to landfill. Attendees of the launch learned that circularity is intimately connected to so-called zero-waste solutions (defined as diverting at least 90% of waste from landfill by reducing and reusing resources) as resources are reused, lowering business waste.
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