Hotelier of the Year

Richard Bell, of Calcot Manor in Gloucestershire, has won the Caterer and Hotelkeeper's Hotelier of the Year award.

Pol Roger director dies

David Rhodes, an associate director and sales manager for Pol Roger, died last month, aged 65.

Promotion worth a try

Australian producer McGuigan Simeon is to use the Rugby World Cup in France next year to promote its Gold range in the UK.

Champagne boss warns growers on grape stocks

by Giles Fallowfield
Yves Bnard, president of the Union des Maisons de Champagne (UMC), has warned growers and cooperatives in Champagne that their action in holding onto 50% more grapes than they need to replace their annual sales is threatening the stability of the market.

Wines of Argentina recruits

Tim Johns has been appointed Wines of Argentina UK's campaign coordinator. Johns will be based at the generic body's office in the Argentine consulate in Mayfair.

Tesco head to present WSET Excellence awards

Dan Jago of Tesco is to join Ian Harris in presenting the WSET's Awards of Excellence, continuing the tradition of using the wine world's more high-profile speakers for the evening.

Oz yields likely to be down 20%

The 2007 vintage in Australia is likely to produce 20% lower yields than average - a reduction of half a million tonnes of grapes on 2006.

Argento engages the commuter

Argento has appointed The Drinks Sampling Company (DSC) to take on the sampling campaign of its Malbec and Chardonnay wines over the next six months.

New Argentina awards

The inaugural Argentina Wine Awards (AWA) are to take place in two months' time in Mendoza. The event will comprise a blind tasting, which will last for three days, followed by a seminar and then an awards ceremony.

LIWSF spirits zone doubles in size

For the second year in a row, the area devoted to spirits at the London International Wine & Spirits Fair is to double in size.

Changes to Roederer awards

Announcement of the winners at the wine writers' awards sponsored by Louis Roederer have been moved to early September. The move has been instigated in order to have publication of the results in wine magazines before the Christmas shopping period.

Screwcaps are now a mainstream' closure

Screwcap closures are now considered part of mainstream wine packaging, according to new research from Wine Intelligence.

Fitou producers may quit CIVL

A number of Fitou producers in southern France have expressed a desire to leave the CIVL (Conseil Interprofessionnel des Vins du Languedoc). The news broke at the CIVL's general meeting.

Sainsbury's new wine good for the heart'

Sainsbury's has launched a new wine that claims to have 32% more antioxidants than the average red wine.

Cut out the middle man

David Campbell, publisher of France's Le Guide Hachette des Vins, and Esme Johnstone, a founder of Majestic Wine, have launched a website that will replicate book website Amazon's bargains on a range of products.

Appointments

NZ winery cleared of sample wrongdoing

by Jo Burzynska
Marlborough winery Wither Hills has been cleared of any malpractice in the wake of one of its wines being disqualified from a key wine competition in New Zealand.

Own-label fizz beats big Champagne brands

Sainsbury's and Somerfield own-label Champagnes have taken top spot in a Which? magazine sparkling wine tasting.

Phylloxera strikes in Yarra Valley

By Max Allen
For the first time in its 170-year viticultural history, phylloxera has arrived slap bang in the centre of the Yarra Valley, one of Australia's leading cool-climate wine regions. And it's the last thing the Yarra's grape growers and winemakers needed to hear.

Moldovan wine set for return to Russian market

President Voronin of Moldova and Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin have announced that Moldovan wine will be allowed to return to the Russian market, subject to new controls over quality.