For my sins I have spent the best part of the last 20 years writing about and reporting on the UK retail sector. In that time I have come to respect, perhaps even love some of the country's most well-known retail brands, some of which can rightly be described as amongst the best in the world.
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It was 3.20am on a Sunday morning when the earthquake struck. If there can ever be a good time for the almighty's mysterious ways to take their course, this was surely it. Wineries were empty, the harvest not yet brought in, vats largely unused. One can only imagine the carnage had the 6.0 tremor struck 10 days later, during working hours, as the mass of hired hands were stacking up pallet upon pallet of grapes inside Napa cellars.
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In three years Oddbins has risen from death's door to win IWC High Street Retailer of the Year. Gemma McKenna meets Ayo Akintola, its Renaissance Man
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In his first major UK interview, Distell's Richard Rushton reveals his big plans for the company's wine division, as Erin Smith reports
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As you'd expect of a former actress, Baroness Philippine de Rothschild liked an audience. When Château Mouton-Rothschild hosted the Fête de la Fleur celebration at Vinexpo in June 2003, after guests had enjoyed liberal quantities of the legendary 1982 she took to the stage to thank the room. She had, she announced, invited a good friend along to sing to us. To the sound of the opening bars of the drinking song from Verdi's La Traviata, a black curtain opened behind her to reveal none other than Placido Domingo. Most people would be upstaged by a world famous opera singer, but Philippine had star quality of her own.
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What makes whiskey "made"? That question has been hotly debated within American whiskey circles this summer. (And yes, over here we include the 'e' when speaking of bourbon and rye; deal with it).
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Biodynamics has probably been more hindered than helped by its advocates. If it wasn't starry-eyed talk of cosmic forces and stags' bladders that provoked either ridicule, anger or accusations of hocus-pocus, the claim that its methods are scientifically unfounded has been the most enduring and damaging.
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On August 31, I completed my most recent visit to the Republic of Macedonia, having sniffed and tasted my way through dozens of wines produced by nine of this Balkan country's top quality wineries. Over the course of those six days, my impressions were more vivid and my conclusions more solid than those I had made during any of my previous visits to the country, the last of which was in December 2012. To sum it up, Macedonia's quality wines not only have gotten, but are getting better and better. The consistency, the expression of aromas and flavours, the freshness, the balance and harmony, the use of wood, the ageing potential - in other words, the absolute quality - are seriously there and keep notching upward.
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Founded in 1756 by Johann Cristoph Riedel, the Riedel name is today synonymous with high-quality glassware; loved by the trade and consumers alike. With an impressive track-record of product innovation and savvy marketing, Riedel's market breakthrough arguably came in 1979, when the firm opened a subsidiary in the US. Having collaborated with such iconic winemakers as Robert Mondavi, Angelo Gaja, and more recently soft drinks manufacturer Coca-Cola, Riedel is clearly not an old-world wine snob. The brand is coming to London's Vinopolis this month, to showcase the new Veritas glassware range. James Lawrence asks Georg Riedel what we can expect:
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As part of our ongoing Back to School series, Anya Robson of bulk wine broker Murphy Wine Company reckons Spain's bulk industry is in crisis and tips South African rosé as one to watch.
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Patrick McGrath MW, managing director of Hatch Mansfield, sees ongoing margin pressure for suppliers as a major threat, and tips New Zealand and Prosecco for continued growth. This is part of a series of 'back to school' reports from leaders across the wine trade.
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Felix Solis UK managing director Richard Cochrane says the end and restart of the 3 for £10 mechanic was a landmark for the UK wine trade, and reckons further consolidation is on the cards.
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As summer draws to a close, we asked some key figures in the trade to round up events in the wine trade for the year to date, and outline their company's plans for the rest of the year.
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David Gleave MW, managing director of Liberty Wines, focuses on Europe's upcoming 'difficult' harvest and taking on new agencies for his back to school report.
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As summer draws to a close, we asked some key figures in the trade to round up events in the wine trade for the year to date, and outline their company's plans for the rest of the year. Greg Wilkins, managing director of Brand Phoenix reckons Chinese austerity has had a major impact on the wine trade, and picks fruit-flavoured wines as the next big thing.
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As summer draws to a close, we asked some key figures in the trade to round up events in the wine industry for the year to date, and outline their organisation's plans for the rest of the year.
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James Caudill, director of PR and hospitality at Napa's The Hess Collection group of wineries, on the damage the group sustained following the 6.0 earthquake.
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Former National Health Service chief Jon Chadwick has gone from advising people to drink less to setting up County Durham's first distillery. He tells Jennifer Ashcroft where the idea came from, what it means to be a "craft" gin distillery and how he's capturing Durham in a bottle.
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A recurring theme of most marketing orientated articles in Harpers is the need for wine producers to develop, and then promote effectively, their individuality: to communicate to the trade and the consumer, hopefully in an inspiring way, what makes them special and separates them from their competition.
Read more...Why is Provence wine - and in particular its pink or gris wines - the marmite of the wine world? I kept asking myself this question as I drove around the almost absurdly pictureseque wine region around Bormes Les Mimosas and Le Lavandou, dodging scantily dressed tourists with surely very different things on their minds.
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