News - Harpers Wine & Spirit Trade News

Port family sues over stolen' land

Published: 23 July, 2008

The British Government is being sued for 14 million by a British family which made its name in the Port trade.

Festival-goers prefer English fizz to Champagne'

Published: 23 July, 2008

The organiser of the English Wine and Regional Food Festival claims that top English sparklers like RidgeView and Nyetimber are equal to if not better than the best Champagnes.

Hungary like the wolf

Published: 23 July, 2008

Hungary is the most significant producer of wine among both new EU states and the next-round hopefuls, Bulgaria and Romania. Even though the country has only 87,000 hectares (ha) of vineyards, compared to just under 90,000ha of Vitis vinifera in Romania and a similar area in Bulgaria, its wine production dwarfs that of its neighbours at some 4.8 million hectolitres in 2004 (Romania produced around 3.4 million hl and Bulgaria just 1.4 million hl in the same year). In spite of this, Hungary's reputation as a wine-producing nation has fallen off most consumers' radar (if it was ever really there).

UK is the most sophisticated' market for Pinot Noir

Published: 23 July, 2008

Top German red producer August Kesseler called the UK the most sophisticated' market for Pinot Noir last week but said it would be a long time' before German producers of the noble grape could gain a significant foothold. Kesseler, of Weingut August Kesseler, was speaking at what was billed as the first ever German red wine symposium', organised by German wine specialist Wine Barn at London's Capital Hotel on 19 August.

Export boom for New Zealand

Published: 23 July, 2008

Exports of New Zealand wines have surpassed domestic sales for the first time in the industry's history, according to the 2005 Annual Report from New Zealand Wine Growers, with wine destined for foreign markets now accounting for 53% of production.

Go West

Published: 23 July, 2008

The 2005 Napa Valley Vintners tour rolls into London next week. Stuart Peskett profiles the headline acts

Croser leaves Petaluma

Published: 23 July, 2008

Brian Croser, one of Australia's most prominent and outspoken wine-industry figures, has finally severed his ties with Petaluma, the winery he set up three decades ago in the Adelaide Hills

Australia faces worst crisis in a decade'

Published: 23 July, 2008

Sam Tolley, chief executive of industry body the Australian Wine and Brandy Corporation (AWBC), said last week during a speech in Melbourne that there is no doubt that the wine sector is facing its toughest challenges in over a decade'.

Off the community chest

Published: 23 July, 2008

So what to make of the whole Allied Domecq-Pernod-Fortune Brands mnage trois? Reminds me of playing Monopoly when I was 10. No strategy at all - just furiously buying all the property in sight until the money was gone or you had driven all the other players into bankruptcy.

Mot's poet

Published: 23 July, 2008

On your appointment as president and CEO of Mot & Chandon in January 2004, Christophe Navarre, chairman and CEO of Mot Hennessy, described your mission as to strengthen Mot & Chandon's leadership and to continue both its growth and that of Dom Prignon. How are you doing?

La vie en ROSA

Published: 23 July, 2008

The Portuguese Cork Association (APCOR) has unveiled plans to set up a government-run cork-processing park with a state-of-the-art pay-as-you-go' communal cork-boiling unit. According to APCOR president Antnio Rios de Amorim, who is also chairman of the world's largest cork producer, Amorim & Irmos, the idea is to give small producers shared access to the latest technology for reducing TCA to avoid the financial burden of investing in expensive new equipment.

Maori umbrella brand unites wine and seafood

Published: 23 July, 2008

White wine and seafood have long been comfortable partners, but a new initiative from Tohu Wines will see the relationship brought even closer.

New NZ boss: We can be the premium New World region

Published: 23 July, 2008

The new head of New Zealand Winegrowers (NZWG) believes that New Zealand can be the premium New World wine region for the UK'.

Harpers Alcohol Survey

Published: 23 July, 2008

To do this we need your help. Harpers is offering two free subscriptions, worth 145 each, to UK readers, selected at random, who answer the following questionnaire. Pull out these centre pages, fill in the blanks and return them to:
Trade Questionnaire, Harpers, Media House,
Azalea Drive, Swanley, Kent BR8 8HU.
If you wish to be entered into the prize draw, please print out these pages and fill in your name and details in the space provided at the bottom of the page. To guarantee your confidentiality, the name will be removed and placed into the draw by a member of staff not connected to the wine trade BEFORE the questionnaire is passed on to the Harpers editorial team.

Deadline: 1 September 2005

Balnaves wins wine award

Published: 23 July, 2008

The winemaker at top Coonawarra estate Balnaves, Pete Bissel, has won the Qantas/Gourmet Traveller WINE Winemaker of the Year Award.

Read takes over at Villa Maria UK

Published: 23 July, 2008

Villa Maria has announced that Charlotte Read is to be its new European wine manager.

When takeovers raise value

Published: 23 July, 2008

Many studies have revealed that takeovers destroy value for the shareholders of the purchasing company. The mooted savings through rationalisation and size rarely deliver the benefits promised by the acquiring directors and their highly rewarded City advisers.

From Douro drought to glut

Published: 23 July, 2008

The Port trade is suffering at both ends of the river Douro.

Tim JohnstonJuveniles Wine Bar, Paris, France

Published: 23 July, 2008

Tim Johnston was educated
at a very second-rate public school, from which I escaped aged 17'. He worked for Findlaters for a few months, before eight months in slavery' at Chteau Cantenac-Brown.
He apprenticed with Hedges & Butler, and in 1969 he moved to France, where he has been involved with several wine bars, including Willi's and Juveniles with Mark Williamson, The Blue Fox with Steven Spurrier, and Tournon in Bordeaux with Alex Herbage. He has written for Wine International, Wine Spectator and Saveur. He has vinified in France (Bordeaux, Hermitage and Provence), America (Chateau Montelena, Jordan Winery and Bill Wheeler's winery on Dry Creek Road) and Australia (Cullen). Juveniles sells wine for off- as well as on-premise consumption, and Johnston is available to source French wines.

Dunn manages Chile's Via Valdivieso

Published: 23 July, 2008

Connect Wine, the new business venture set up by former International Wine Services commercial director Paul Dunn, has signed up the Chilean winery Via Valdivieso as a client.