Taking drinks design into the realm of neuro-marketing and science, Professor Gordy Pleyers of Mind Insights at Université Catholique de Louvain introduces Andrew Catchpole to the non-conscious cues at play in our taste for wines and spirits
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As we come to the end of this extraordinary year and look towards the future, are we filled with feelings of fear or opportunity, or a strange mix of both?
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Glass sealing translates as glass ceiling for James Scott of C&C’s Proof Insights team, who argues that the 75cl bottle is killing the wine category.
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Michael Saunders takes a deep dive into the challenges facing the trade as Andrew Catchpole catches up with Bibendum’s CEO and chair of the WSTA
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The numbers are terrifying. With the imminent closure of 124 Debenhams stores and the loss of 12,000 jobs, the high street has arguably suffered its highest-profile casualty since Woolworths back in 2009. Stir in the 13,000 Arcadia employees who are likely to swell the unemployment statistics before long – and the probable disappearance of Sir Philip Green’s Topshop, Burton and Dorothy Perkins brands – and we are contemplating a toxic brew.
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As part of our Spanish Headline Hero series this month, Harpers caught up with Rosana Lisa, director of innovation, Ramón Bilbao
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Harpers has something of a packaging focus in this month’s issue, due to be published this Friday 4 December. As a preview, we caught up with Santiago Navarro, the creative force behind flat bottle innovator, Garçon Wines. Made from 100% recycled plastic, this innovative new format scored a major partnership with Accolades Wines this year, which will see a number of the company’s brands launch with the flat bottle format. Starting with the installation of a ‘flat’ bottling line at the company’s Bristol manufacturing base – the first of its kind in the UK – the company is now looking ahead to its imminent UK supermarket debut with the re-launch of Accolade’s eco brand, Banrock Station, in the Co-op. We spoke to Navarro about his ambition to re-shape the wine aisle.
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Javier R de Galarreta, founder and CEO of ARAEX Grands Spanish Fine Wines, explains why Rioja remains the headline hero with the backdrop of Araex’s growing portfolio of estates straddling Spain’s premium winemaking regions
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Winemaker Elena M Oyagüe of Cuatro Rayas explains what makes Rueda Verdejo unique, including the region’s very special old vines, and how on the food-pairing front the wines’ flexibility is akin to the little black dress and fashion
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“The problem with the world is that the intelligent people are full of doubts, while the stupid ones are full of confidence.” Charles Bukowski
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The Times wine critic Jane MacQuitty talks to Andrew Catchpole about her new MBE for services to wine journalism
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After enduring three months of local restrictions with little help, Sara Saunby, owner of Manchester hybrid Salut, says Whitehall’s belated decision to help the North is too little, too late
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What’s the point of tasting notes? Who are they actually for? Who reaps the benefit, for example, of reading that a wine has notes of “gentian, elderflower, seaweed, mussels, salt spray, chicken stock, sage, fennel, peach kernel, lemon, alkali and wet stone”, as David Schildknecht’s highly attuned nose detected in the 2004 Riesling Steinriesler of Nikolaihof Wachau?
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As the 2020 vintage came in, Rathfinny owner Mark Driver spoke with Andrew Catchpole about the challenges of flexing the business in a remarkable year
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Alex Taylor and Jamie Smith of Urban Craft Wines at Tring Winery are sending innovation out the door, as Andrew Catchpole reports
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About 30 million people in the UK drink wine. For years, producers and marketeers have been trying to grab their attention, hoping to figure out how to successfully communicate their wines through words and images.
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Origin Wines’ Swiss founder talks to Andrew Catchpole about the Cape’s re-emergence post shutdown and his new pan-country range of terroir-focused wines
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Health rose to the top of the agenda at the beginning of 2020 in a way we’ve never seen before. Jo Gilbert speaks to the face of alcohol responsibility in the UK about meeting this challenge
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‘Never A Dull Moment’ is the title of a wonderful book about what its author, David Hepworth, calls “rock’s golden year”. 1971 was indeed an annus mirabilis for music, witnessing the release of landmark albums by David Bowie, Led Zeppelin, the Rolling Stones, Elton John, Pink Floyd, Marvin Gaye, Carole King, Joni Mitchell, Yes, The Who and Rod Stewart. For Hepworth, 31 December 1970 marked the end of the Sixties – 12 months late, in one sense – and the start of something very different. It was a turning pint, a line in the sand.
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I love books. I love being surrounded by them. The company of all those stories and thoughts is inspiring. As the number I owned grew over the years, I had to double stack them on the shelves like bottles of wine in a shop. Then finally, there was no more space. A triage and trip to the local Oxfam shop became inevitable.
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