The last time I was wondering around Highgate Cemetery was in my more formative years when a trip to see Karl Marx's grave was the sort of thing you did on a quiet Sunday afternoon.
Read more...The worst storm in the growing season to hit Margaret River for 16 years will lead to a major reduction in cropping levels for the 2013 vintage for a number of wineries, according to one of the region's top winemakers, Keith Mugford, owner of iconic winery, Moss Wood. He expects to lose between a third and two thirds of his fruit from his two prime vineyard sites.
Read more...
If there was a documentary covering the main events in the UK wine trade in the last 12 months it might not be as fun to watch as the highlights of London 12 but it would be just as eventful.
Read more...
Gemma McKenna meets BWS chief Dan Jago as the trade's supposed day of reckoning approaches.
Read more...
Red Squirrel Wine was brought to my attention via a story I read in my local paper. As a wine guy, and someone who lives in South West London, the notion of commercial wine being produced on my doorstep I found rather intriguing, more to the fact, I had no idea Richmond had any vines.
Despite its youthful image, Virgin Wines is owned by wine retail longtimers, Tony and Barbara Laithwaite, as a subsidiary of Direct Wines. Andrew Baker is the head wine buyer. He said that when he started out, he was an "egotistical" buyer, seeking trade approval. Twelve years on, he now focuses on delivering a "spread of styles" striking a balance between safe, customer-friendly lines and more innovative offerings. As a trained winemaker, Baker is always keen to "push new styles, without shocking people".
Read more...When a company is old enough to have seen one recession already, it should know how to weather a second. Jascots geared up for the expected rise in business during the 2012 Olympics by offering 24/7 London delivery as just one example of proactive customer service. The predicted tourist boom during the summer may not have happened for everyone, but Jascots still delivers six days a week, using its own vans, offering the flexibility many small, on-trade customers need.
Read more...Charlie Young, co-founder with Brett Woonton of London's Vinoteca micro-chain, took 19 guests, including his father and the former translator of Mikhail Gorbachev, on a culinary tour of Argentina as part of a new series of wine dinners it is hosting.
Read more...
Last month Tesco's chief executive, Philip Clarke, declared to the IGD's main convention of the year that it was vital the grocery industry "create a new spirit of partnership ... going much deeper and becoming much stronger than anything that has existed before". The reason? Well the pace of change is now so fast that retailers and suppliers have to be virtually sleeping with each other to make sure they get the best out of each other.
Bedecked in stripes, from suit to socks, Sandro Boscaini, president of Masi Agricola, was in town earlier this month to celebrate the launch of a hardback book about arguably the best-known wine from Valpolicella, from where he was born. 'Amarone - The Making of an Italian Wine Phenomenon' is written by British expat, Kate Singleton (who also collaborated on Wines of Sicily and The Golden Book of Chocolate). Six corks, one embossed, grace its cover.
Read more...Buying up the Maidenhead Wine Rack after it went into administration in 2009 was a spontaneous move for owner Susie Warner, but a natural addition to working in wholesale through her partner's business the Maidenhead Wine Company.
Read more...John Hattersley established his wine business seven years ago after spending 20 years in the restaurant business.
Read more...
"My favourite wine is Rioja". It's a line I hear a lot. Despite the UK's frequent absence on Rioja's top five list of most important export markets, the British have had a long standing love affair with wines from this notoriously wealthy Spanish region.
Read more...
Former Sommelier of the Year Nicolas Clerc MS is heading up D&D London's newest venture, New Street Wine Shop.
Read more...
We've been told often enough over the years that we're nothing but a nation of shopkeepers. Well that adage needs updating to a nation of shoppers. When it comes to pushing the weekly trolley around the supermarket of going online, the Brits truly rule the waves.
Read more...
The speed in the collapse of WaverleyTBS should rightly send shockwaves around the industry. It is worrying enough that one of our biggest on-trade suppliers has gone bust, that no-one in the trade saw it coming until hours before it happened only goes to demonstrate the dangerous financial times we all live in.
Read more...
In contrast to the wettest British summer for a century, Piedmont enjoyed such a dry, sunny growing season that the harvest was completed much earlier than normal.
Read more...Les Caves de Pryene held a dedicated Loire tasting this week "to show the incredible diversity of the region and its vintage variation". It was also a timely reminder that the latest in its growing number of natural wine bars, the Green Man and French Horn in London's St Martin's Lane is dedicated to the food and wine of the Loire.
Read more...While the biennial Cape Wine trade fair in South Africa last month was another big success, a new exhibition that ran alongside it in the Cape Town Convention Centre enjoyed a sparkling debut. Vindaba, part of a long-term strategy to boost wine tourism, derives from the South African government's aim to gain promotion by 2020 to the travellers' Premier League - the top 20 global destinations.
Read more...While the Goring in London may have gained appeal for housing the Duchess of Cambridge on the eve of her wedding to Prince William, many in the wine trade were lured to it last week for an altogether different reason. Hatch Mansfield, UK distributor for Vina Errazuriz, used the hotel in Victoria to lay on a remarkable vertical tasting of the icon wines of one of Chile's most notable wineries.
Read more...
