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The sad loss of Denis Clark, former editor of Off Licence News, came as a bitter personal blow at the end of last year. Besides being the leading trade press journalist of his generation, he was great fun to work with.
Under the hard-man exterior was a warm, generous heart, and while he never suffered fools gladly, he was ever loyal to his staff, had a wicked sense of humour and at times showed great courage in his defence of the trade against the unscrupulous.
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Welsh wine estate Parva Farm Vineyard has hit back at two European prime ministers who were unimpressed with the English and Welsh wines served at an EU summit in Brussels.
Italian PM Silvio Berlusconi sent two cases of wine to his Swedish counterpart Goran Persson, who, the Italian PM claimed, was so aghast at the wines at the summit that I promised to send him some of our wines'.
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The picture emerging from Britain's high streets is of a mixed Christmas and New Year. While some companies are reporting better-than-expected like-for-like sales compared with 2004, others have issued profits warnings, and there are fears that business in the first few days of the New Year have been very slow. Majestic Wine, however, did better than most by increasing its like-for-like sales by 5.2% in the nine weeks from 1 November to 2 January.
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Shareholders in Boizel Chanoine Champagne will vote on 30 January on whether the company should issue e22.7m (15.7m) of bonds as part of the financing package for the agreed purchase of troubled Lanson International for about e520m, including e400m of debt. They will do so against the increasingly hostile attitude of the CGT union, one of France's largest, which opposes the deal.
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Most of your wine knowledge is self-taught; has this been difficult?
Not really. I started learning about the different Italian labels and grape varieties when I was in Sicily. The turning point came when I moved over here and had a look at the brochure for Enotria Winecellars. There were so many wines, it was just incredible: 25 or 30 different kinds of Barolo. So I started reading books about the whole subject - not just the labels but about the people behind the wines, the regions, the different grapes and so on. Since opening the restaurant, I have also started to visit the vineyards. Although, unfortunately, I don't have much time to travel around Italy; otherwise I'd be over there a lot more. I'm very lucky because I have good wine friends and they bring their wines over to me.
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Italian specialist Enotria Winecellars has sold a majority stake of its business to private equity firm ISIS for 8.2 million.
Founded in 1972 by Remo Nardone, Enotria now has more than 1,200 wines in its portfolio, and it supplies restaurants such as Fifteen and Gordon Ramsay eateries. Nardone, 70, will stay on in a consultancy role but will take a step back from the day-to-day running of the firm.
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Paul Henry, general manager of Wine Australia, introduces the 2006 Australia Day Tastings, Authentic Australia': It is every country's desire to populate the wine market with democratising brands, as well as compelling reasons to trial and trade up. The search for a profitable mix that uniquely balances accessibility with interest is a challenge, and one that Australia seeks to deliver above all other categories. It
can do so by representing itself as a broad and inclusive producer that seeks to champion quality and excitement, whatever the price point. That is what is meant by Authentic Australia.
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New Zealand may still produce only 0.3% of the world's wine - a percentage that is unlikely to alter radically - but with
NZ$1.5 billion (584.7 million) sales forecast by 2010, growth looks set to characterise its future as well as its recent past.
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The New Zealand Screwcap Initiative has decided to encompass the world and form the International Screwcap Initiative (ISI).
Chablis producer Michel Laroche, who, controversially, bottled some of his grand cru wines under screwcap, has been enlisted as European representative of the ISI, while Lorraine Carrigan has been appointed ISI coordinator.
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Multiple specialist Oddbins is to sell olives throughout its UK stores. More than 3,000 jars - containing a mix of green and kalamata olives marinated in extra virgin olive oil with lemon, coriander, garlic and chilli - will be supplied by Olives Et Al.
Jars of The Oddbins Olive will retail for 3.75 each.
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BrandPhoenix is gearing up to embark on a nationwide tour of Thresher and Wine Rack stores.
The Drive Team Concept will see a team of sales executives touring the country, visiting stores. They will meet Thresher staff and advise on wine education, POS management, pricing and marketing. They will also run consumer wine tastings.
BrandPhoenix director Steve Barton said: We are very excited with the launch of this initiative. Thresher stores offer us a great opportunity to interact with the consumer, enabling them to taste wines from around the world in one place.'
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Wine wholesaler House of Townend has celebrated its centenary with a special lunch. The company was established in 1906 by Jack Townend, who bought his first wine shop in Hull.
The lunch was held at the Willerby Manor hotel in Hull, and current chairman John Townend invited the heads of the 23 family firms in east Yorkshire that are more than 100 years old.
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Robert Joseph has resigned as chairman of the International Wine Challenge (IWC), and former Harpers editor Tim Atkin MW and former Marks & Spencer buyer Sam Harrop MW are joining the Challenge.
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It's like a word-association game: we link certain wine regions with particular grape varieties. For example, Sancerre suggests Sauvignon Blanc; Rioja implies Tempranillo; the Barossa Valley connotes Shiraz; Oregon means Pinot Noir.
Actually, that last pair might provoke an academic response. Many people in the trade have little or no experience of Oregon wine beyond a quick tasting during their WSET qualifications. If pressed to define this US wine region further, vague references to boutique producers', expensive' and inconsistent' may be all that come to mind.
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Footsteps, the around the world' wine range from on-trade giant Matthew Clark, has sold more than 25,000 9-litre cases in its first nine months.
Graham Donald, marketing director at Matthew Clark, said: While advertising has played its role, the growth of this wine has largely been on its own merit. With sales growing by
up to 50% a month, the figures speak for themselves.'
The range features distinctive stepped labels with large type. Future plans for the range include the addition of Cabernet Sauvignon in a 175ml format early next year.
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The Pernod Ricard-owned Wyndham Estate is launching
a new Bin 222 Sparkling Chardonnay in the UK, following the success of the Bin 555 Sparkling Shiraz. The new sparkling wine has been launched to meet a growing demand from consumers for premium sparkling wines', a sector currently growing at
8.5% a year.
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Penfolds has claimed a new Australian record for the
price of a new-release wine.
A six-pack of 2004 Penfolds Bin 60A Coonawarra Cabernet Sauvignon Kalimna Shiraz set the record when it was sold
for US$4,935 at the recent Christie's Fine and Rare Wines auction in New York.
According to Stewart Langton, managing director of Langton's Fine Wine Auctions, the price of US$822 (A$1,084) per bottle (including buyer's premium of 17.5%) is an Australian record for a new-release wine. He says that up until that point no new-release wine had achieved more than A$1,000 for a 75cl bottle.
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A new online auction site that aims to sell wine along the lines of eBay hit the Net last month.
Twickenham-based Cellar 21 aims to match up consumer buyers with mostly trade sellers (who must comply with the new Licensing Act).
Cellar 21's Michael Phelps commented: For a small fee, you can list any item for other auction users to bid on. You may want to dispose of bin ends or stock that you are finding hard to sell through your usual channels, or you may want to create a new, inexpensive sales channel for all of your products.'
Visit www.cellar21.com for more details.
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Despite the margin and oversupply pressures gripping the industry, Australia will bounce back and reach a 30% share of the UK wine market by value in five years and then keep going and going', according to John Phillips, UK managing director of Australia's largest wine company, FGL Wine Estates.
I'm a Californian, but I think that Australia will reach 30% of the UK market five years from now. It's already on around 24% by value, and I can see it getting more than 1% growth year on year,' said Phillips.
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The Russian tsar of petrol is set to spend a fortune buying his way into the world of Brunello. Having been turned down by Castello Banfi, he has entered into negotiations with Argiano, Col d'Orcia and Il Poggione.
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