When my name first started appearing at the top of this page each month, I promised myself there was one topic that I would strenuously avoid. Eighteen months in, I'm about to break that promise...
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Along, it seemed, with half the UK's wine press, I was at the launch of Les 110 de Taillevent in London's Cavendish Square last week. My verdict? Go - and be sure to order the crab ravioli. What was most notable about the night, though, was not the guest list or the menu, but that here was a major restaurant being launched off the back of its wine offering.
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In recent years, Chile's winemakers have started to show greater ingenuity and initiative in the vineyard and the winery. That sense of risk and personality needs to carry over to the way the wines are promoted.
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Guy Woodward asks whether the wine trade needs to loosen up a bit.
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Among the defining wine trends of recent years, one of the most welcome is the smaller restaurant list. The new "less-is-more" approach means that every listing has to count.
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There I was, happily pontificating at one of the many excellent Industry Briefings at this year's London Wine Fair...
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The outcome of - and the polls leading up to - this year's general election provided yet further evidence, were it required, of the vagaries of the Great British public and, indeed, of opinion polls themselves.
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Being one step removed from the wine industry these days - and a little slow on the uptake generally - it took me a while to work out why my diary was suddenly so full last month.
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I can count on the fingers of one hand the number of times I've ordered Cognac. Like crystal meth and Bikram yoga, it's simply not something by which I've ever been tempted.
Read more...How do you choose a hotel? Or a film for the flight? A book for the pool? If you're anything like my wife, you check the user ratings on TripAdvisor, Rotten Tomatoes or Amazon, where peer-to-peer reviews carry far more weight than those of any critic. And what weight.
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How do you choose a hotel? Or a film for the flight? A book for the pool? If you're anything like my wife, you check the user ratings on TripAdvisor, Rotten Tomatoes or Amazon, where peer-to-peer reviews carry far more weight than those of any critic.
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I saw a headline the other day that grabbed my attention. "Hopes rise for Bordeaux prices in 2015". Ah, I thought, that's good - they're coming down at last.
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There are few things in business as unattractive as bullying - a practice with which, regrettably, I am only too familiar.
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Harpers columnist Guy Woodward is the latest in our line-up of key industry figures to share their thoughts on 2014 and their predictions for 2015 with you.
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On the face of it, Waitrose's commitment to making its beer, wine and spirits departments "destinations" in their own right is a no-brainer.
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Comedian and writer David Mitchell is among the more perceptive columnists for the once great Observer, so it was with interest that I read his piece on how the taste of Champagne doesn't matter. When it comes to serving sparkling wine, he claimed, so long as it has bubbles, and says Champagne and not Cava on the label, any further qualities are immaterial.
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It didn't come as a huge surprise when Sir John Hegarty used his WSTA conference key note speech to deliver a withering assessment of the wine trade's relationship with its audience. One of the foremost marketing exponents of his generation, Hegarty knows a thing or two about generating headlines. 'Appalling', 'pathetic' and 'mad' were among the politer descriptions aimed at his audience. 'Confusing' and 'impenetrable' were daggers to the heart - a stinging critique of the public's perception of the world of wine. Why so stinging? Because the words ring so true...
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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 wine as in life, one of the most common mistakes people make is to assume other people know what they're talking about. Enthusiasts, in particular, are wont to believe that everyone else is as interested in a subject as they are. In most cases, I'm afraid to say, they're not.
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Harpers is pleased to announce it has signed up Guy Woodward, former editor of Decanter, as a regular columnist and contributor.This month he tips his cap to the creative minds at Naked Wines and other innovative retail sites that are genuinely communicating to consumers in a way they can understand and says there are so many lessons to be learnt from the old school wine trade still stuck in its ivory tower.
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