Harpers Wine & Spirit Trade News

Paper cap and bottle from Absolut

Published: 25 June, 2025

Absolut Vodka has unveiled a paper-based cap and bottle duo as part of its Future Packaging Programme to create a fully biobased bottle.

Climate action funding extended for South Downs vineyards

Published: 18 June, 2025

Climate action grants are already benefiting seven vineyards in and around the South Downs and, as English Wine Week approaches (21-29 June), extra funding is being made available to help others get involved in climate action.

Californian wine shows sustainability is good for business and planet

Published: 17 June, 2025

California doesn’t do things by halves. Having recently leapfrogged Japan to become the fourth-largest economy in the world, this Pacific state is indisputably at the cutting edge of technology and innovation. On a recent trip to the Central Coast vineyards, which took in rides in the autonomous Waymos that ply the street of LA and San Francisco, and witnessed the earth-rumbling launch of a SpaceX rocket Starlink satellite launch – which completely upstaged a winemaker in his vineyards in the Santa Barbara Hills – this was pressed home time and again.

González Byass joins Harpers Sustainability Charter

Published: 16 June, 2025

González Byass UK is the latest signatory to the Harpers Sustainability Charter, which is building a network of sustainably minded businesses and is a reference for companies looking to work with sustainable partners.

Bordeaux sustainability webinar focuses in on environmental progress

Published: 06 June, 2025

Harpers most recent sustainability-themed webinar, Bordeaux – A Case Study for Sustainable Winemaking, is now live and free to watch on our YouTube channel.

Wine GB launches Sustainable Packaging Toolkit

Published: 02 June, 2025

Wine GB has launched a Sustainability Packaging Toolkit as part of World Environment Day on 5 June, to support sustainable action in vineyards and wineries.

5 minutes with Kate Venugopal, Wine Institute of California

Published: 27 May, 2025

We’ve spent a lot of time trying to figure out how we talk about these methodologies – organic, biodynamic, regenerative and sustainable. There’s a desire for people to rank them in an order, create some sort of a hierarchy.

Harpers announces Bordeaux Sustainable Winemaking webinar

Published: 07 May, 2025

Harpers Wine & Spirit is delving into the secrets of sustainability success in one of France’s best-known wine regions with an unmissable webinar on Friday 23 May from 10.30-11.30.

Our 30 Under 30 winners have their say on the indie sector

Published: 07 May, 2025

The spring weather finally bounced into view at the end of last month, coinciding with a less-than-sunny outlook for UK businesses via Chancellor Rachel Reeves’ Spring Statement. In the lead up to Reeves’ address, there was hope that businesses would be given a reprieve from the tax hikes announced in the last Autumn Budget. In the end, the 26 March statement was labelled a missed opportunity for failing to reduce, or even scrap, the increases announced in October 2024.

The frustrating spectre of greenwashing

Published: 06 May, 2025

Ever been greenwashed? It’s not always as obvious as you might think. Some companies’ use of “greenwashing” – hyping their record to make it sound greener than it is – is blatant. In 2022 the Advertising Standards Authority ruled against fruit drinks company Innocent over an ad that strongly linked its products to protecting the environment. The message ran: “Innocent. Little drinks with big dreams for a healthier planet.” Complainants pointed out that the company’s products come in single-use plastic bottles and that it’s owned by Coca-Cola (which generated an estimated 3.22 million tonnes of plastic waste in 2021).

Denbies gains King’s Award for sustainability credentials

Published: 06 May, 2025

Surrey-based Denbies Wine Estate has been awarded a King’s Award for Enterprise in the Sustainable Development category. The award reflects the producer’s commitment to the environment which has seen it gain a number of green accreditations in recent years.

Sustainability Report: on the ground in France

Published: 02 May, 2025

France has become one of the leaders in sustainability protocols in the 21st century, with its myriad regions now producing a network of best-practice roadmaps which can be used in the wine world’s global fight against climate change.

Europe shows innovation in green winemaking

Published: 30 April, 2025

When Véronique Cochran first converted Château Falfas to biodynamic agriculture in 1989, it looked unconventional. Fast-forward to today and many of the methods she uses at her vineyard in Bordeaux’s Côtes de Bourg – not using chemical pesticides, growing cover crops between vines – seem mainstream. Such is the march of organics and biodynamics in Europe in recent decades. But today those shifts are part of a wider sea change towards more sustainable production.

Buying local: a boost but no panacea

Published: 28 April, 2025

To describe the current macroeconomic environment as challenging would be a distillery-sized understatement. Yet the growing ethos on buying local, a natural corollary of the gradual shift towards sustainably produced wines and spirits, has given stakeholders cause for (tentative) optimism in 2025. The question is: can a movement transform into a stampede?

Robin Copestick joins Packamama board

Published: 28 April, 2025

Climate-friendly packaging company Packamama has appointed I Heart wine brand founder and Friexenet Copestick MD Robin Copestick as a non-executive director to its board.

2024 sees Domaine Bousquet cut carbon footprint by 20%

Published: 23 April, 2025

Argentinian estate Domaine Bousquet has released its 2025 sustainability report, highlighting encouraging progress made at the organic wine producer during 2024. The Mendoza winery, a long-time advocate of organic and biodynamic viticulture, has redoubled its sustainability efforts in recent years.

Sustainable producer Q&A: Andrés Valero, Grupo Avinea/Argento

Published: 22 April, 2025

Mendoza-based Andrés Valero, sustainability and CSR leader at Grupo Avinea/Argento, explains the benefits of rooting sustainability in both vineyard and community, while Andrew Catchpole listens in.

Wiltshire-based Witchmark latest distiller to become B Corp

Published: 17 April, 2025

Wiltshire spirits producer Witchmark has become part of the B Corp community, joining a growing list of British distillers which have earned the certification.

Soapbox: Celebrating the eco-margin

Published: 17 April, 2025

Rosie Davenport, founder of specialist sustainability and communications agency Impact Focus, stresses that wine brands should find a competitive advantage in sustainability – if it’s well communicated.

OIV: ‘Generational’ change in drinking habits as production and consumption fall to 60-year low

Published: 16 April, 2025

World wine consumption and production have plummeted to their lowest levels in over 60 years as the wine industry grapples with the intersection of climate-related challenges and generational changes in drinking habits.