Indian whiskies dominate world's fastest-growing spirit brands

Officer's Choice, produced by Mumbai's Allied Blenders & Distillers, is the fastest growing brand. Last year it overtook Diageo's Smirnoff to become the world's leading brand by volume, selling 28.4m cases.

William Grant invites London's leading bartenders to Highland fling

Access Uncorked partners with Capital On Tap to unlock cashflow for wineries

Access Uncorked has announced an exclusive global partnership with small-business finance specialists Capital On Tap to provide a range of innovative financial services to wineries.

Majestic finance chief steps down

Nigel Alldritt, group chief financial officer and company secretary of Majestic Wine, is to leave the company in November.

AI better than humans at predicting value of wine, new study finds

Artificial intelligence (AI) can be successfully used to predict fluctuations in the price of fine wines, according to a recent study from researchers at University College, London.

Conviviality Retail invests in perfecting franchise model

L'Avenir to launch Provence-style premium rosé at Cape Wine 2015

Stellenbosch estate, L'Avenir is to launch a new premium rosé at Cape Wine in September. The wine, named Glenrosé, will be 100% Pinotage.

McKinley adds award-winning Cognac ABK6 to portfolio

McKinley Vintners has announced the addition of Cognac ABK6 to its portfolio. The Cognac is made by the father-and-daughter team of Francis and Elodie Abécassis under the name Domaines Francis Abécassis.

Gruppo Campari announces strong half-year sales and margins

Gruppo Campari has posted strong sales and higher margins for the first six months of 2015.

Louis Latour poaches Nightingale from McKinley Vintners

Louis Latour Agencies has announced the appointment of Guy Nightingale as its new key accounts manager.

Majestic launches click-and-collect service for Naked Wine customers

Naked Wines has launched a click-and-collect service for its customers through the Majestic network of stores.

Wines of Chile launches Mercado Chileno event for consumers

Wines of Chile has announced a new consumer event to follow its trade tasting in September. Mercado Chileno will take place at Old Spitalfields Market in London on 11 and 12 September.

Suntory explores space-aged whisky

Leading Japanese distillery Suntory is to send a batch of its whiskies to the International Space Station. The drinks giant wants to study the effect of zero gravity on the drink's maturing process.

WSET welcomes Crown Cellars as latest corporate patron

Crown Cellars, the specialist wine and spirits division of Carlsberg UK, has become the latest business to become a patron of The Wine and Spirit Education Trust.

Cube wins Vinho Verde account

Portuguese wine region Vinho Verde has appointed drinks-sector communications specialists, Cube to handle both consumer- and trade-facing PR.

Copestick Murray announces key promotions and appointments

Copestick Murray has appointed two new members to its sales team after an extensive recruitment campaign earlier in the year.

Oxford Wine Festival confirms 2015 line-up for eagerly awaited event

The final line-up for the Oxford Wine Festival has now been confirmed. The full exhibitor list now includes over 40 of the UK's leading wine merchants and covers 26 wine-producing countries.

Chinese distillers caught lacing drinks with Viagra in police raids

Police in China have seized over 5,000 bottles of popular spirit baiju as part of an investigation into whether distillers are lacing their products with the drug Viagra, which is designed to treat erectile dysfunction.

Gosset and Frapin leave McKinley Vintners for Louis Latour Agencies

Louis Latour Agencies has poached both Champagne Gosset and Cognac Frapin from McKinley Vintners. The two prestigious brands - both owned by family group Renaud Cointreau - joined the Latour portfolio on 1 August 2015.

English winery Giffords Hall aims to crowdfund major expansion drive

East-Anglian vineyard, Giffords Hall, has turned to crowdfunding website crowd2fund.com to raise capital. It is seeking £58,000 in return for a 5% equity share.