Harpers Wine & Spirit Trade News

Profile: A family affair at JKS

Published: 10 September, 2024

Seamus Sharkey gives Andrew Catchpole a taste of his role at the colourful restaurant group that is JKS.

Celeb backed brands aren’t failsafe for success

Published: 06 September, 2024

New data has revealed the precarious business of investing in celebrity backed brands; for while they tend to outperform their total category, celebrity involvement doesn’t always guarantee success.

Jamie Avenell: ‘Looking Back, Forging Ahead’

Published: 04 September, 2024

We conclude our summer Q&A series with Jamie Avenell, wine buying director, Bibendum Wine (C&C Group).

Four leading South Africa estates join Hallgarten

Published: 02 September, 2024

Hallgarten & Novum Wines is significantly expanding its South African portfolio with the exclusive addition of four premium suppliers from across the country.

Pernod Ricard forecasts return to growth in 2025 following wine sale

Published: 29 August, 2024

Spirits giant Pernod Ricard has forecasted that its sales will grow again next year after suffering a post-pandemic slump.

Jerry Lockspeiser: What do you do when it is all over? Lessons for business from sport

Published: 29 August, 2024

It has been a great summer for sports enthusiasts. The football Euros in Germany were followed by a captivating Olympics in Paris. Footballers and Olympians were razor focused on achieving their best and produced amazing displays. The winners went home with a medal. But what does life hold for them afterwards?

Naked’s losses widen as group seeks return to growth

Published: 28 August, 2024

Troubled online retailer Naked Wines has announced a further fall in sales, with its full year results showing total sales down 18% year-on-year to £290m (52 weeks to 1 April 2024) against £345.0m in FY23.

Oriole

Published: 19 August, 2024

Oriole reopens on 28 August in Covent Garden, offering innovative cocktails and Latin American-inspired cuisine. The downstairs restaurant, designed as a speakeasy, features dishes like hamachi tiradito and lamb rump with huacatay. The Bamboo Bar upstairs offers aperitivo-style cocktails and bar snacks.

Margo

Published: 16 August, 2024

Margo, a new dining and drinking destination by Scoop restaurant group, opens this September in Glasgow. Headed by chef Robin Aitken, the menu focuses on seasonal produce, Scottish seafood and in-house crafted bread and pasta. Highlights include smoked haddock churros with manchego and saffron and Margo focaccia with prawn head butter. Desserts like baked rice pudding crème caramel offer a sweet finish.

Lolo

Published: 14 August, 2024

Chef José Pizarro’s new venture, Lolo, opens this month on Bermondsey Street. This all-day dining concept features a menu divided into breakfast and lunch/dinner offerings. Breakfast highlights include eggs with PX sherry-cured salmon, while lunch and dinner feature octopus salad with roast tomato and blackeye beans. The drinks menu includes Bloody Marys and Mediterranean wines.

Joshua Castle: ‘Looking Back, Forging Ahead’

Published: 12 August, 2024

We continue our series with Joshua Castle, group head buyer, Keeling Andrew, Noble Rot and Shrine to the Vine.

Jerry Lockspeiser: Is a key marketing tool hiding in plain sight?

Published: 17 July, 2024

During the 1990’s my business sold millions of bottles of great value Hungarian wines to the UK’s supermarkets. The wines were made under the guidance of a young Australian winemaker whose hands on approach ensured they bristled with ripe fruit flavours. Retailing at the equivalent of £6-£8 at today’s prices they went down a storm in the high-volume part of the burgeoning wine market.

Pernod Ricard wines to join Accolade at Holdco

Published: 17 July, 2024

Pernod Ricard has confirmed the signing of the much anticipated agreement to sell a majority of its wine brands to Australian Wine Holdco (AWL), the consortium which owns Accolade.

Jerry Lockspeiser: Are we getting the most from our marketing spend?

Published: 24 June, 2024

I like to consider myself an open minded, flexible kind of guy. But when I ran businesses I could sense the shutters coming down every time we had a management discussion about how much to spend on marketing.

H&K Wine Agencies to land Palestine wine

Published: 17 June, 2024

New UK-based wine agency business H&K Wine Agencies is set to represent Cremisan Winery as its broker in the UK in what is believed to currently be the only Palestine producer to be offered here from the Middle-Eastern territories.

Tim Akin MW: Playing for laughs

Published: 13 June, 2024

At first sight, it looked like a PR disaster. Sir Ed Davey, leader of the Liberal Democrats, was filmed falling off a paddleboard into Lake Windermere five times. He’s a middle-aged bloke with a paunch and no sense of balance. Politicians do all sorts of silly things by mistake – members of the public can ambush them too – but Sir Ed’s aquatic pratfall was deliberate. He’s done a number of similar things campaigning for July’s general election.

‘Moderate recovery’ predicted for global alcohol market in 2025

Published: 06 June, 2024

Following a decline in global beverage alcohol sales in 2023 and tough trading conditions so far in 2024, IWSR has predicted a gradual recovery from 2025.

Yapp hops county for new home

Published: 31 May, 2024

Yapp Brothers is to leave it’s Wiltshire HQ this month for new premises in Somerset, marking a milestone in the company’s 55-year history,

Roussillon ‘Coup de Coeur’ dozen unveiled

Published: 02 May, 2024

Roussillon may be a tenth the size of its sprawling Languedoc neighbour, but this diverse corner of France has increasingly been pushing its own credentials as a vibrant and innovative source of wines.

Jerry Lockspeiser: Could this be the next big trend in wine?

Published: 30 April, 2024

On trend Londoners or visitors to the capital may be lucky enough to experience the culinary and vinous delights of a Noble Rot restaurant, of which there are now three. They were birthed from the eponymous Noble Rot Magazine, a pandoras box of wine and food articles that somehow manages to be smoothly accessible, irreverently funny, and slightly nerdy at the same time.