Rock on-trade

With the retail sector consolidating, and ranges and the supplier base being rationalised, the on-trade has become flavour of the month.

Phil Oxera

Phil Oxera rather enjoyed The Wine Programme's brief run on the wireless earlier this year, but it has come to his attention that there are some younger wine enthusiasts out there who found it a little, how to put this kindly, pedestrian?

The Interview - Matt Wilkin, Group Consultant Sommelier, The Capital Group Ltd, London

You've been a bit busy recently winning awards and passing exams...
Yes, I've come down with a cold now that it's all over. It hits you as soon as you stop! The Champagne Ruinart Sommelier of the Year competition was on 23 March, and then seven days later I sat the Master Sommelier exam. The results come out on the same day, so we all went to Le Gavroche that night to celebrate.

Close combat

Let's begin with a rather stretched analogy. World War I was a terrible conflict that exacted a terrible human toll. Yet this otherwise disastrous war yielded a significant positive benefit for the aviation industry as both sides sought more effective warplanes to master the new arena of aerial combat.

The new wave

The EU continues to loom large over the wine industries across central and eastern Europe, or new Europe' as most producers would prefer the region to be called.

Swings and roundabouts

The UK and Ireland continue to buck the trend in Western Europe as, in spite of relatively high alcohol prices and taxation in comparison with most of Europe, they consume alcohol with increasing relish.

Time and Tide

As a stunt it backfired horribly. Sitting on the beach one depressing day in the early eleventh century, King Cnut was attempting to show that man couldn't turn back the tide, whereas history unkindly remembers him as having tried to do precisely the opposite.

Re-brand Australia

It's late April in Adelaide, the sun is beating down on the Australian Wine Centre with an intensity almost unheard of in what should be an autumnal month, and, inside his air-conditioned office, Jonathan Scott, general manager of the Australian Wine Export Council (AWEC), is looking genuinely excited.

United they stand

Robin Fedden, travelling in Syria and Lebanon at the end of the Second World War, offers this advice to thirsty travellers in his travel book Syria and Lebanon: Quite good wine is made in certain parts of the Lebanon, particularly in the Bk'aa [sic] Valley, in the neighbourhood of Chtaura. It is relatively cheap. On the other hand, most of the wine in the out-of-the-way villages is hardly recognisable as such, and is best avoided.'

The Interview - Simon Berry, Chairman, Berry Bros & Rudd, London

How old is Berry Bros & Rudd?
It was founded 307 years ago on the current site on St James's Street. The problem with being this old is that people think we are dinosaurs and assume that the company has never changed. But in fact the only reason any long-established company manages to survive is that it never stops changing. Change is something that family businesses actually do very well, although they are not very conscious of it. As new generations come into the business they tend to rebel, but because they have grown up with the culture of the company they also have a natural understanding of what makes it special. But you need a balance between family and non-family management, who will counteract the family tendency to say, 'We are going to do it like this because we have done it this way for 150 years.'

All in the mind

Many Harpers readers will regularly attend organised wine tastings. At most of these events we taste on our own. Occasionally, though, we are asked to share opinions of the wines tasted or, on rare occasions, to reach a consensus.

Small wonders

The premium wines from the Northern Rhne have recently experienced a remarkable surge in popularity, led by Robert Parker's enthusiasm for Cte Rtie.

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Villages people

Sales of AC Ctes du Rhne set off at an athletic pace in the UK market as the new millennium dawned.

The Interview - Roger Harris & Clare Montgomery, Owner and sales/marketing director, Roger Harris Wines

How did you get into the wine business?
A friend of mine used to ship Peugeot cars to East Africa, and the only wine that he drank was Beaujolais. I trained as an engineer at Loughborough and went to Peugeot in Sochaux, on the Swiss border, not far from Alsace. I then joined Lotus, but it was the time of the three-day week, and it was all pretty grim. We used to sit in our overcoats shivering in the winter because there was no fuel. At that stage there was very little future in the motor industry that I could see, so I decided to start my own business.

THE INTERVIEW - JOSEPH SANDLER

Kedem Europe Ltd is a subsidiary of The Royal Wine Corporation, a New York-based company that has the largest international selection of kosher wines in the world and is responsible for 80-90% of kosher wine sales in the US and 50-60% of kosher wine sales in the UK. Joseph Sandler joined the The Royal Wine Corporation 11 years ago to launch Kedem Wines Europe Ltd. This year the eight-day Jewish festival of Passover starts on 23 April.

THE INTERVIEW - GEMMA CRANGLE

Gemma Crangle, a WSET-accredited tutor, worked briefly at consumer magazine Wine International and then for two years in the buying department of Corney & Barrow before setting up Terroir in 2003. The company supplies restaurants and private customers, focusing on wines from the Languedoc, but has recently expanded to include wines from the neighbouring region of Roussillon. Terroir is the sole agent in the UK for the majority of the producers it represents.

THE INTERVIEW - DAVID 'ROBBO' ROBERTSON

David Robbo' Robertson, the chief nose behind Jon, Mark & Robbo's Easy Drinking Whisky Company, was born at Royal Brackla Distillery in Nairn, where his father was assistant manager. In 1994, he joined the team at The Macallan, initially as distillery manager and later as master distiller and brand ambassador. In January 2003, after securing financial backing from The Edrington Group, Robertson left The Macallan to set up Jon, Mark & Robbo's Easy drinking Whisky Company with Jon and Mark Geary.
*With thanks to Etienne at Cargo, 83 Rivington Street, London, for the use of the venue for photography.

THE INTERVIEW - KUMIKO OHTA

Kumiko Ohta and two French sommeliers, Jean-Louis Naveilhan and Xavier Chapelou, set up premium sake distribution company Isak in April 2004. The company supplies restaurants and retail outlets and sells its range of around 20 premium sakes through its website, as well as running courses in sake appreciation for both the trade and private customers and organising dinners matching sake to Italian food at Fabbrica restaurant on Battersea Park Road. Ohta's parents cultivate the rice that is used in the production of sake in Fukuroi, near Mount Fuji.

THE INTERVIEW - PATRICK SALLES