Q&A with Ross Carter, London Wine Fair director

With the newly-revamped London Wine Fair looming on the horizon, event director Ross Carter tells us what we should expect in 2014.

Finding the best bank account for your business

Opening a business bank account should be quite easy. However, banks seem to deliberately muddy the waters so as to make choosing harder than it really should be.

Harpers report: Online Wine

Despite major supermarkets launching their internet sites by selling just wine the online drinks category has been slow to move on. But things are changing. The launch of Morrisons Cellar, the Tesco Wine co-buying initiative, and Amazon selling wine, shows online drinks is on the up. This subscriber only report can also be bought separately for £99 from the Harpers Shop - see panel.

Q&A on luxury vodka CÎROC's growth and plans for UK

Luxury vodka C&IcircROC's master distiller, Jean-Sebastien Robicquet and head of Diageo Reserve Brands GB, Nick Temperley, talk to Harpers about creating the brand and its opportunities in the UK market.

Q&A with Concha y Toro's Simon Doyle and its plans for UK market

Simon Doyle, general manager for Concha y Toro UK, on what's new for Casillero, why the big UK push, and why there's a gap in the market for California.

Off-trade wine sales up £32.8m, volumes down 3.2% over Xmas, says Nielsen

Euromonitor: Top 10 Global Consumer Trends for 2014

Get on top of the key changes in consumer needs and behaviour with exclusive access to Euromonitor's new Top 10 Global Consumer Trends for 2014 by Daphne Kasriel-Alexander.

Q&A with Conviviality boss Diana Hunter and her plans for Wine Rack and Bargain Booze

Diana Hunter, chief executive of Conviviality Retail, which owns Bargain Booze and Wine Rack, talks acquisitions, Wine Rack's expansion and why wine is a major priority for the group. 

Olivier Krug talks to Giles Falllowfield about ID codes and keeping "Krugists" happy

I know his travel schedules are hectic but four continents in the space of one week seems excessive, even for him. In London, partly to see the pop-up Krug Kreperie in Covent Garden central market run in conjunction with Pierre Koffman, Olivier Krug is on a similarly lightening trip here after recent spells in Australia, Singapore, Canada and the USA. "I prefer quick visits where I can see lots of people in a short time as this means fewer days away from Champagne," says Krug.

Southern hemisphere looks good for bulk wine, says Murphy Wine Company January 2014

Q&A with Nomacorc's François-Xavier Denis as he makes the case for synthetic closures

?New Zealand: it's not all about Sauvignon Blanc

The UK remains central to New Zealand's wine-export strategy as it looks to widen its appeal across all channels of the market. Ahead of this month's generic UK tasting, Anne Krebiehl looks at its opportunities in 2014

How to start a fine-wine Cult

Old-school City high-rollers may never have imagined a time when fine-wine investments would become a common investment vehicle and wines would be traded in the same fashion as high-yield stocks and bonds. But today, investment houses like Cult Wines, run by father-and-son team Philip and Tom Gearing, are making fine-wine investments more accessible to all types of investors as another way to simply round out a financially sound portfolio of assets and investments, with the opportunity to celebrate profits by drinking the very commodity traded - fine wine.

Wine retailing: turning stores into entertainment destinations to compete with online

To stop losing sales to the internet, high-street outlets must become destinations, offering as much theatre as wine, reports Glynn Davis

Country report: re-inventing Australia

Despite a difficult few years, Australia's winegrowers have been finding more and more reasons to be cheerful - even before the Ashes.

?Interview: Dan Townsend on building fine wine brands at Treasury Wine Estates

The pressure on wine brands to succeed in the UK is nowhere more intense than at Treasury Wine Estates. Richard Siddle asks its UK head, Dan Townsend, how it can succeed with both mainstream and fine-wine brands

?All hail the craftsmen of British cider

At last year's Glastonbury festival, the Cider Bus turned out to be as big an attraction as some of the bands on stage. Music fans queued up throughout the three days of the festival to buy bottles of sparkling Cider Bus, hot and spicy Somerset cider or draught cider served straight from oak barrels.

Place your bets on Ascot wines

Known as the sport of kings, horse racing has long been the chosen pastime of the British monarchy. While Ascot hosts more than 10 race meetings every year, the vast majority of people associate the renowned Berkshire course with Royal Ascot, the blue-ribbon event which attracts over 300,000 people.

Tanners: a national treasure

As Tanners Wine Merchants celebrates 170 years, Bernadette Costello talks to fourth generation James Tanner about its growth from regional merchant to national treasure

It all comes down to brands

How major wine companies develop their brands is pivotal to the future of the industry, November's Wine Vision conference was told.