Harpers Wine & Spirit Trade News

Mixed reaction to WOSA tasting

Published: 23 July, 2008

The decision by Wines of South Africa (WOSA) to organise producers by region at last week's Mega Tasting has received a mixed reaction.

Born to buggy at the Benevolent

Published: 23 July, 2008

John Smith, chairman of The Wine and Spirit Trades' Benevolent Society, laid a plaque last week at the charity's Vintry Home in Eastbourne, as a tribute to the hundreds of thousands of pounds raised by the Wine Trade Foundation on behalf of the Benevolent.

WSET Institute of Wines & Spirits' 1,000th member

Published: 23 July, 2008

Toby Knowles, a Wine & Spirit Education Trust (WSET) Diploma student, became the 1,000th member of the Institute of Wines & Spirits (IWS).

Southcorp old boys head to the clouds

Published: 23 July, 2008

Former Southcorp CEO Keith Lambert has ended his three-year exile from the Australian wine industry to join his former employee, Philip Shaw, at Orange-based winery Cumulus Wines.

Blavod claims 137% increase

Published: 23 July, 2008

Blavod Extreme Spirits plc is claiming an increase of approximately 137%' in case sales from July to September on a year-on-year basis, according to its trading update for the six-month interim period to 30 September.

Beadles is new WSTA director

Published: 23 July, 2008

The long wait for the Wine & Spirits Trade Association (WSTA) to name a successor to Quentin Rappoport has ended with the appointment of the 34-year-old managing director of the British Retail Consortium, Jeremy Beadles, as chief executive. He worked as a solicitor for eight years prior to joining the BRC.

Kuehne + Nagel snaps up ACR Logistics

Published: 23 July, 2008

Kuehne + Nagel has acquired contract logistics specialist ACR Logistics for E440 million (300 million). The firm has assumed a net debt of E50 million (34 million).

Golden age

Published: 23 July, 2008

Rewind a few years, and vodka and gin were in the ascendancy in style bars across the country. Cocktails such as the cosmopolitan were de rigueur, and vodka in particular was seen as the base spirit of choice for creative bartenders. Meanwhile, poor old rum had a rough image: a relic from the past century, with the odd pirate gag never too far away. But now, rum is beginning to shake off these connotations and is gaining the respect from bartenders - and more importantly, consumers - that it quite clearly deserves. And it should
be said that while it's easy to poke fun at the maritime connections, these only exist because they played a crucial role in the history of rum itself.

Jukes' boxed jury

Published: 23 July, 2008

Daily Mail wine columnist Matthew Jukes has teamed up with whisky writer Dave Broom for two new tasting games.
The Wine and Whisky Tasting Party packs, from Blue Tree, will be available in Sainsbury's. Both versions contain four miniature bottles plus a CD containing questions plus a tutored tasting.

Mixed results for Australian exports

Published: 23 July, 2008

Australian wine exports are continuing to increase - reaching 676 million litres for the year to the end of August, according to the Australian Wine and Brandy Corporation, although the average price per litre is cotinunig to fall.

New South African Master of Wine

Published: 23 July, 2008

South Africa's Cathy van Zyl has become the third new Master of Wine of 2005 - and the first MW to be resident in South Africa.

Langton's Classification set at 101

Published: 23 July, 2008

The Langton's Classification of Australian Wine, which has recently been published in its fourth edition, has grown to be three times longer than the original 1991 version but will
be fixed at its present total of 101 wines, Langton's auctioneer Andrew Caillard MW has told Harpers.

Janic Robinson opens IWSC centre

Published: 23 July, 2008

Jancis Robinson MW OBE, herself a past WSET student, officially opened the International Wine & Spirit Centre, the new home of the Wine & Spirit Education Trust, on 29 September.

The retail animal

Published: 23 July, 2008

Alex Anson, it seems, didn't have your usual boyhood ambition: there were, for him, no dreams of lifting the World Cup, landing on Mars or saving the world; he never saw the appeal of being a fireman or a train driver. The young Anson had other ideas. What he wanted to be more than anything else in the world was, of all things, a wine retailer.

Cavendish range goes global

Published: 23 July, 2008

Edward Cavendish & Sons, KWV's UK subsidiary, has introduced the Golden Kaan range to the UK.

The Interview: Beppo Buchanan-SmithCo-owner, Isle of Eriska Hotel, Spa and Island, Ledaig, Scotland

Published: 23 July, 2008

How did your family come to own not just a hotel but also an island?
My parents purchased the island in 1973 with the intention of creating a hotel out of the main house. Initially, the idea was to run it as a hotel in summer and a religious retreat in the winter, because my father was a Church of Scotland minister. But at the end of the first year, after running the hotel for four months without a break, they decided the idea of the religious retreat wouldn't work and just kept it as a seasonal hotel. When they opened in 1973, every bedroom had its own bathroom, which was unusual for the time and meant they had a leg up on everyone else.

Films de Bourgogne

Published: 23 July, 2008

Burgundy brand Blason de Bourgogne is to sponsor the 2005 French Film Festival UK, running 4-14 November. The festival takes place in a selection of leading independent cinemas, including the Riverside London, Edinburgh Film House, Glasgow Film Theatre and Cineworlds in Manchester and Birmingham.

Benevolent Diary dates

Published: 23 July, 2008

The Wine and Spirit Trades' Benevolent Society has announced the dates of its forthcoming events in 2006.
The Vintry Ball takes place on Thursday 9 March 2006 at the Dorchester in London, and the Benevolent Banquet will be at the Hilton on Park Lane on Tuesday 9 May 2006. The New Year's lunch has been scheduled for Friday 13 January.