London Wine Fair: Live News Blog

Wine must connect emotionally with consumers hears Harpers debate

Making an emotional connection with consumers, and creating personalised, shareable and useful content is vital to selling wine, heard Harpers debate at London Wine Fair.

Co-op's major wine revamp yields strong results

The Co-operative has seen sparkling wine, smaller serve bottles and Argentinian wine sales soar since it revamped its range in recent months.

London Wine Fair opens its doors

The wine trade is looking forward to a re-energised London Wine Fair, which returns to its roots today from Kensington Olympia, with 20% more exhibitors on site.

Top Spanish wines tipped for growth in Asia

Antique Wine Company predicts that Spanish wines are heading for major growth in the Asian fine wine market, driven by the rapidly expanding Philippine market.

Penfolds' chief winemaker says 2014 vintage 'surprisingly good'

Penfolds' chief winemaker says Australia's 2014 vintage is "surprisingly good for something that was looking a bit ordinary".

Sam Neill and Nigel Greening on what makes a great Pinot Noir producer

Two of New Zealand's leading Pinot Noir producers, Sam Neill of Two Paddocks and film star fame, and Nigel Greening of Felton Road, set out at a special tasting last week in London what it is that has drawn them in to trying to create award Pinot Noir from the Central Otago.

Meet the Winemakers at London Wine Fair

Ultimately the success of any trade event rests in the quality of wines and winemakers exhibiting. Here we pick out some of the more interesting winemakers who will be on hand in London in June

Rioja Tapas Fantasticas returns to London's South Bank for seventh year

Rioja Tapas Fantasticas, the award-winning Spanish food and wine festival, is to return to London's South Bank for the seventh year running between June 14 and 15.

The week that was: top news, Q&As and opinion on Harpers.co.uk

In case you missed some of the headlines this week (and a bit of last week due to the long weekend) on harpers.co.uk, we have done a review of the top online news, Q&As, and opinion stories.

MPs get through £750k of wines, beers and spirits a year in House of Commons

MPs manage to get through £750,000 worth of alcohol a year whilst working at the House of Commons, according to media reports this week.

Comic Relief to stop investing in alcohol companies following independent review

Comic Relief has taken the decision to stop investing fundraising money in alcoholic drinks companies in a move that could lose the charity £1 million a year.

Buckingham Schenk adds Saint Emilion's Malet Roquefort to portfolio

Bibendum boosts Australian range with Rathbone Wine Group

Bibendum Wine has beefed up its Australian portfolio with the addition of three new Australian wineries  following a partnership with Rathbone Wine Group.

Generation Y confused by wine category

Young people aged 18 - 34 - the so-called Generation Y -  may consider themselves to be tech savvy and confident, but when it comes to choosing and buying wine they remain confused and intimidated by the category.

Bulk wine prices rocked by Chilean frosts, Californian droughts and a taste for French fruity wines

Frosts in Chile, droughts in California and the Languedoc and the boom in fruit-flavoured wines in France is having a knock-on effect on bulk wine prices, according to the latest data from Murphy Wine Company.

Heather Dougherty to be chairman of the Association of Wine Educators

Heather Dougherty has been appointed as the new chairman of the Association of Wine Educators.

Chris Porter's "Around the Grounds" challenge raises £30,000 for The Benevolent

Chris Porter, chairman of the Benevolent, hopes to have raised £30,000 for the drinks charity by successfully completing his "Around the Grounds" challenge to visit every one of the 91 football league grounds in the country across a two week period.

Vinexpo Asia-Pacific 2014 expecting record breaking visitors

The eighth Vinexpo Asia-Pacific kicked off yesterday with 1,300 exhibitors - making it the largest exhibition of its kind in Asia, say organisers - who hope to welcome more than 17,000 visitors to the three-day show.

Berry Bros & Rudd revamps Basingstoke wine store

Wine and spirit merchant Berry Bros & Rudd has revamped its Basingstoke Warehouse shop which will officially open later this week.