Constellation Europe made it into the national newspapers for all the wrong reasons late last month after news leaked out that employees of Matthew Clark - Constellation's on-trade distribution arm - were being urged to buy the company's wines while they were being trialled at JD Wetherspoon pubs and claim the cost back on expenses.
Read more...Chilean winery Via Santa Rita has acquired 1,600 hectares (ha) of vineyard land - both virgin and planted - in the areas of Pumanque and Limar.
This purchase has almost doubled the land ownership of Santa Rita, from 2,000 to 3,600ha, making it the second-largest land-owning winery in Chile after Concha y Toro.
Pumanque, around 30km west of Apalta, has no other vineyard plantings at present, and Santa Rita has already installed irrigation, including a reservoir and 10km of pipes. A wide spectrum of grapes will be planted shortly.
Limar, situated 400km north of Santiago, is also a relatively new area, with Via Tabali the most high-profile producer in the area at present. Santa Rita has acquired 470ha in this region, 65 of which are already planted with Chardonnay, Shiraz, Carmnre and Cabernet Sauvignon. The remaining land will be planted over the next five years primarily with Chardonnay and Shiraz.
Outspoken Crystal Palace chairman Simon Jordan is to open a restaurant on the site of the former Sugar Club in Warwick Street.
Read more...South African wine producer Boschendal has introduced a new range of premium wines for the off-trade made up of three single varietals and two dual varietals.
Prestonfield
Priestfield Road
Edinburgh EH16 5UT
Tel: 0131 662 2305
www.prestonfield.com
John Power began his career at the five-star Gleneagles Hotel in Perthshire, where he trained as a sommelier before moving to the Witchery by the Castle in 1998. Earlier this year he took on the new role of central wine buyer for all of James Thompson's Edinburgh restaurants, including the Witchery by the Castle, Tower restaurant in the Museum of Scotland and Rhubarb at the five-star Prestonfield hotel, where he is now based.
Key suppliers: Raeburn Fine Wine, Cheviot Wine, Corney & Barrow, Justerini & Brooks, Fine & Rare Wines.
How did you get started?
I was born in Ashford (Kent) but then
we moved to Cyprus, because my father worked with the army. He became ill and died, so we returned initially to Deal but then moved to Ashford. It was full of London overspill so it was a tough environment. To keep out of trouble, I did two paper rounds, worked in a sweet shop and in a fish and chip shop - I used to have a barrow at Ashford station and served Bill Deedes (the Conservative MP and former editor of the Daily Telegraph).
California wine legend Paul Dolan has been elected as the new chairman of the California Wine Institute.
Read more...Sainsbury's was the big winner at last week's Quality Drinks Awards 2006, scooping five trophies in all.
Read more...By Stuart Peskett
The new director of Wines of Argentina's inaugural UK office plans to double the country's market share in the UK.
James Forbes, senior buyer for Oddbins, will take up his new post at the end of July, and said he hopes that Argentina's UK market share will increase from 1.8% to 3.6% within three years.
What possessed you to buy a shop on a really busy A' road between the two parts of a Kent village?
Read more...The 6 to 7 price band is booming in the UK's multiple grocers - with sales by volume up 27% in the last year.
Read more...A Vergelegen Chardonnay from South Africa (9.49, Majestic) and a French Old Vines Grenache Noir from Marks & Spencer (5.49) are the top scorers and among the best buys in the Consumers' Association's Which? magazine On Test: Wines for Barbecues'.
Read more...The reorganisation of Brown-Forman's corporate structure announced last week - which has seen the wines and spirits divisions combined into one entity in the US and other selected markets - will not affect the UK, according to David Cox, managing director of Brown-Forman Wines Europe.
It's easy to conclude that hiring an external wine list consultant is purely for the restauranteur with more money than sense. How hard can it be to write a wine list after all?
Read more...Patrick Valette has joined Chilean winery Via Santa Rita as wine consultant.
Read more...Errazuriz is relaunching its Caliterra brand with a new global livery, screwcap closures for all white and varietal red wines, and a new premium tier.
Californian producer Fetzer has claimed that there is no significant increase in costs to convert to organic winemaking.
How did you start?
I was a management trainee at the Coconut Grove, then went on to manage the Hampton Court Brasserie, Sweeney Todd's in Northampton and The Golden Pheasant in Oxford. And then I managed a caravan park in the Lake District.
Across many northern hemisphere countries, the 2005 vintage was exceptionally dry, while a few had the opposite problem. Harpers rounds up the most important harvest reports from an already much-hyped year
Read more...Those who feels that the relatively recent ros revolution' represents just a footnote in the history of UK wine consumption need do little more than glimpse at the latest release from publishers Weidenfeld & Nicholson to be convinced otherwise.
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