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Guy Woodward: The elephant in the room

Published:  17 January, 2023

I don’t know about you, but I drank wine every day over the two-week Christmas dormancy. And I’m not just talking about a glass with dinner. We got into an agreeably unhurried routine: a lazy breakfast over Wordle, the papers and some idle scrolling; the deployment of any necessary chores (mostly either purchasing or preparing food); a long walk with (followed by washing of) the dog; then changing into what I’ll generously describe as loungewear before opening a bottle and getting some snacks going. This generally took us to around 4pm, whereupon the rest of the day was spent in a fug of board games, TV boxsets and eating and drinking.

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Paper bottles break supermarket barrier with Sainsbury’s listing

Published:  05 January, 2023

When in Rome (WiR), one of the UK’s leading alt-format wine brands is set to launch its range of recycled paper wine bottles into Sainsbury’s during the first quarter 2023.

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Soapbox: The need to reuse and refill

Published:  15 December, 2022

Muriel Chatel, CEO of Sustainable Wine Solutions, is conducting a pilot with restaurants to prove that most bottles can be saved from waste and reused or upcycled. Here, she makes the case for large-scale refill and reuse

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Harpers Design Awards 2022: The results

Published:  08 December, 2022

Judging the package, rather than the liquid within, is always an eye-opening and interesting exercise, and this year’s Harpers Design Awards once again delivered some sublime entries worthy of celebration. Andrew Catchpole dips in.

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Amarone has an image problem, says leading producer

Published:  03 October, 2022

The Amarone della Valpolicella category needs to embrace change and restore its former global cachet, according to Stefano Cesari, owner of Brigaldara winery in the Veneto region.

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Friday read: Why bulk is the hot ticket in the face of climate change

Published:  15 July, 2022

In a rapidly warming world the wine industry needs to modernise and that means embracing bulk, argues Richard Lloyd, general manager at The Park, Europe’s largest wine packaging facility.

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Co-founder of sommelier-backed canned wine brand claims “bottles are the past”

Published:  25 May, 2022

A new range of canned wines launched this week (23 May), under the brand name Djuce.

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Innovation Report: The glass debate

Published:  10 May, 2022

Is glass creating a bottleneck in the drive to greater sustainability and can we change consumer perception of it as a strong indicator of quality? Andrew Catchpole reports back from Harpers’ recent Sustainability of Glass webinar.

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Trade finds no easy solution in glass sustainability debate

Published:  21 April, 2022

For the near future, at least, the glass wine bottle is here to stay, albeit with a re-evaluation of how it is used, with consumer perception being a major hurdle to change.

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Paper wine bottle lands in Ocado

Published:  20 April, 2022

Anglo-Italian wine brand, When in Rome, is about to debut its paper bottle via a national listing in Ocado, where it is due to land sometime this month.

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Courvoisier unveils bottle redesign

Published:  15 February, 2022

Cognac house Courvoisier has embraced a striking new look for its range of spirits – a sleek, paired-back bottle design that “rediscovers distinctive codes from centuries past that made Courvoisier iconic during the Belle Époque era”.

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Absolut unveils new bottle design amid brand shakeup

Published:  14 February, 2022

Vodka brand Absolut has revealed a new bottle design and remixed flavoured range in what will be the brand’s biggest shake-up since its launch in 1979.

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Laithwaites launches new Sicilian label packaged in 'wild' glass

Published:  25 January, 2022

Online retailer Laithwaites has enhanced its sustainability credentials with the release of W/O (standing for 'without') Frappato 2020, an organic Sicilian red housed in ‘wild’ glass – claiming a UK first for wine.

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Packaging’s conflicting objectives

Published:  14 January, 2022

After 18 months of escalating online demand and consumers being immersed in “online shopping training”, the packaging industry is being tasked with satisfying supercharged convenience, sustainability and luxury trends, which , finds Jo Gilbert, is quite the challenge.

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Jerry Lockspeiser: Is it time to kill wine’s sacred cows?

Published:  01 December, 2021

It really is hard to know what to believe these days. The digital world enables instant sharing of information across the globe, which seems good and democratic. Just about anyone can participate. But with it comes lower reliability and veracity of what is being communicated, making it easier to seed fake gospels claiming that two plus two equals five, or seven, or even nine. Perhaps what really matters is the extent to which people make decisions and take actions as a result.

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Penfolds ventures into NFTs with Magill Cellar 3

Published:  23 November, 2021

Penfolds has unveiled a new partnership with digital assets trader BlockBar to sell a barrel of its tiny production Magill Cellar 3 wine for USD $130,000.

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Sparkling wine premium could be scrapped in alcohol duty overhaul

Published:  19 October, 2021

Reports from the national press suggest that the premium on sparkling wine duty could be scrapped by chancellor Rishi Sunak in the upcoming Autumn Budget in a move which could bring sparkling wine duty in line with still.

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Long Read: Obsessed with grapes – why wine needs to expand its brand horizons

Published:  26 August, 2021

Neil Bennett is head of strategy at creative agency LOVE, which has recently worked with brands including Laithwaites, Penfolds and Brewdog Distilling.

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Long read: Will this be the decade the wine industry ditches glass?

Published:  24 June, 2021

Émilie Steckenborn, sommelier, education consultant and creator of the Bottled in China podcast, delves into the wine industry’s reliance on often coloured, non-recyclable glass while giving the lowdown on this year’s biggest sustainable launches.

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LWF: Time to bottle it on glass?

Published:  19 May, 2021

As carbon emissions and the broader topic of sustainability climb back up the agenda, one of the more forward-looking sessions at London Wine Fair (LWF) 2021 cut to the heart of the issue.

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