Harpers Wine & Spirit Trade News

Ethical Bordeaux wine distributor sets sights on UK

Published: 24 March, 2021

An ethical Bordeaux wine distribution start-up has announced its ambition to launch in the UK.

Calls for UK trade to help crippled SA by freeing up tank space

Published: 25 January, 2021

Richard Bampfield MW has issued a call to the UK trade to support the beleaguered South African wine industry as producers continue to suffer crippling government restriction and oversupply issues.

Wine industry falling behind other sectors on creating a global sustainable standard

Published: 26 November, 2020

A global framework used by other sectors like palm oil, mining, textiles and even golfing is needed to build best practice for the wine industry, some of the world’s leading experts in environmental management have said.

IXSIR powers through Lebanon challenges to declare healthy vintage

Published: 16 November, 2020

Leading Lebanese winery IXSIR is reporting a “healthy” 2020 vintage, despite the harvest beginning within days of the deadly explosion that rocked Beirut and increasing Covid-19 restrictions.

Diversity talk urges wine industry to own up to its privilege

Published: 22 October, 2020

Wine education to diploma level costs upwards of £10,000 – a number which has been used to highlight the issues involved in making the wine industry a more diverse and inclusive place.

Majestic unveils ‘Diversity In Wine’ Scholarship

Published: 17 September, 2020

Majestic is launching a new, all expenses paid scholarship to put up to 50 candidates from BAME or diverse backgrounds through their WSET Level 2 qualification.

Bid for Beirut auction organises relief for Lebanon

Published: 24 August, 2020

A new auction to provide much-needed relief for Lebanon’s struggling wine sector has drawn support from the UK wine trade, after a massive explosion decimated the country’s main port on 4 August.

Vinpro: “Still a long road to recovery”

Published: 17 August, 2020

Vinpro has “acknowledged” the announcement it can resume local trade and distribution of alcohol under alert level 2 from midnight 17 August 2020, but said the industry still has “a long road to recovery”.

Soapbox: Five steps toward wine industry diversity

Published: 05 August, 2020

Black wine professional Magnavai Janjo urges the trade to swap discomfort for progressive conversation and sustainable steps towards greater inclusivity.

Equality in the SA wine industry takes leap forward

Published: 20 July, 2020

Equality in the South African wine industry has taken a leap forward with 94 students from disadvantaged backgrounds having passed their exams to become qualified sommeliers.

Southern hemisphere winemakers share lessons from crisis harvesting

Published: 03 June, 2020

Producers from across the southern hemisphere have shared their experiences of what it was like to complete their 2020 harvests while infrastructure closed down around them and the movement of people became restricted.

Coronavirus could kickstart "radical change in stagnant" wine trade, tech entrepreneur predicts

Published: 01 April, 2020

The coronavirus (Covid-19) crisis could kickstart radical change in the wine trade, a Silicon Valley entrepreneur has predicted.

Friday Read: UK wineries battle coronavirus crisis with British determination

Published: 20 March, 2020

Rapidly slowing exports, a pivoting to direct to consumer sales as on-trade sales stall and vineyards on lock down – such is the picture of the UK wine industry today as it grapples with the ongoing disruption from the spread of the coronavirus (Covid-19).

Nyetimber and Plumpton join forces to develop winemakers of the future

Published: 09 March, 2020

Nyetimber is looking to help develop the next generation of wine industry leaders via a new placement scheme in conjunction with Plumpton College’s wine division.

NZ research winery to open

Published: 24 February, 2020

The Bragato Research Institute (BRI), New Zealand winegrowers’s new research winery, is to open on 27 February.

BIVB becomes WSET patron

Published: 09 January, 2020

Educator to the wine industry, The Wine & Spirit Education Trust (WSET), has new backing in the form of Burgundy’s official wine board.

Spotlight on 2020: Simon Doyle, Concha y Toro UK

Published: 16 December, 2019

As we prepare for the new decade, Harpers will be taking the month of December to look back over 2019 and ahead to what the coming year will bring – hopefully full of revived optimism for both politics and the trade.

Government backs down on VI-1 forms

Published: 21 October, 2019

The government has agreed to temporarily suspend the introduction of forms which were feared to create an extra layer of red tape for the wine industry in what is shaping up to be an increasingly disorderly Brexit.

Friday read: How top end Prosecco can stay relevant in the face of ever changing consumer demands

Published: 11 October, 2019

Harpers sets out on the Prosecco trail to look at the region’s industrial expansion and to work out what a sustainable future looks like for the chronically popular Italian fizz