France: The promise of lesser-known regions

“If someone’s wanting a sexy red under 15 quid, that’s hard to do from one of the big regions.” Those are the words of Henry Butler, owner of Butler’s Wine Cellar in Brighton. Off-trade aficionados like Butler, as well as on-trade value hunters, are beginning to look beyond the traditional big boys of Bordeaux and Burgundy for French wines of quality and value.

Greece’s rise from obscurity to omnipresence

Greek wine is experiencing a revolution. Two decades of relentless graft by ex-punk and one-time Mykonos beach bum Steve Daniel, of Hallgarten & Novum, and specialist Mary Pateras, of Eclectic Wines, are finally paying off. They and a whole host of highly educated Greek trade professionals have worked very hard to firmly cement Greek wine in the UK market – the likes of Yannos Hadjiioannou and Stefanos Kokotos of Maltby & Greek, Harry Georgiou of Amathus and Effi Tsournava, aided by Matthew Horsley at The Wine Society, spring to mind.

Navigating the uncertain world of family business succession

Seasoned veterans of the trade know the phenomenon all too well: there are few tasks more daunting – or more critical – than the delicate management of family succession. With persistent inflation, shrinking margins and declining consumption, the long game of generational transfer has never felt more precarious. Some businesses may even face the uncomfortable reality that their children do not want to take over – or that the numbers simply no longer stack up.

The perfect package: Bridging producer with consumer

Don’t judge a book by its cover. But we all do. Even better for the bookworm, you can flick through the book first, read a few paragraphs and check out the reviews on the inside cover. All of this is much harder with a bottle of wine or spirits; you can very rarely sample the product before purchasing, so the extent to which the customer is led by the label design and packaging is significant.

Agave spirits’ winning streak continues

Agave spirits remain something of a bright spot in an otherwise challenging environment for the wider spirits category, with tequila and mezcal continuing to excite an often younger cohort of drinkers, encouraging experimentation and driving excitement of discovery. And thirst for tequila and mezcal remains on the up, albeit with sales growing more slowly in these economically challenging times. But unlike the gin and rum booms, which appear to have run their course, agave drinks are still engaging, with premium and artisanal options increasingly vying with – and being launched by – the bigger established mass-market brands.

Fad or future: The world of alternative fermentation vessels

It seems not a terribly long time ago that the sight of an egg-shaped fermenter, tucked into the ‘experimental’ corner of a winery, dwarfed by oak and stainless steel, was still a relatively novel sight. They were more often spotted, or at least pointed out enthusiastically, at smaller, more artisanal and esoteric operations, despite the modern reintroduction of ‘the egg’ coming from one of wine’s biggest names – the Rhône Valley’s Michel Chapoutier – in 2001.

Wholesalers: Exploring the ownership of the trade’s top suppliers

From family to sovereign wealth fund-owned, the shape of wholesale ownership in the UK is diverse. An examination of the top 10 of the Harpers Top 50 Drinks Wholesalers 2024 highlights this ever-changing picture, showing how ownership has evolved in recent years.

Reviving old Catalan varieties for the future

Chris Losh explores Familia Torres' work with old Catalan varieties which aims to help mitigate climate change.

Celebrating the two souls of Chenin

Le Clos d’Entre les Murs, a walled vineyard in Saumur, looks unremarkable from the outside. But within are 11 further walls, on the south side of which are planted Chenin Blanc vines – an innovative 19th-century technique to maximise sun exposure and therefore ripeness in what was a marginal climate. The climate has changed dramatically since then, but these ‘walls within walls’ could be a metaphor for the entire third edition of the Chenin Blanc Celebration: revelations, innovations and connections abounded during conference sessions, vineyard visits, masterclasses and tastings.

Debunking the Gen Z moderation myth

Readers of the drinks press would be forgiven for thinking that Gen Z is an ascetic generation, avoiding indulgence at any and all costs. But new research highlights that there is far more nuance to this picture.

Charting the challenges facing the British on-trade

The closure of the three M Restaurant sites in London in May is, perhaps, as good a metaphor for the UK’s beleaguered restaurant trade as any. The first venue opened in 2014 as a big steak, big wine bling-fest for flush City workers, expanding with further venues pre and post Covid. It was plush, premium and successful. Now, following a huge rent increase from its landlord, it’s no more.

The indies leveraging tastings to encourage customer loyalty

Tasting events are a mainstay of many wine retailers’ offerings as a way of introducing consumers to different styles and encouraging spend. But beyond this they can be leveraged to foster customer loyalty, which is deemed priceless in the trade.

Indigenous varieties roundtable: The native grapes offering flavour and resilience

Indigenous varieties offer individuality, resilience to climate change, extend the gene pool and are also very much on trend. With this in mind, our cross-sector panel explored how the trade could and should do more to leverage such stories, to help boost consumer engagement, ensure that healthy innovation continues to shape the wine world and, ultimately, build greater sustainability into the viticulture that we all rely on. Following a tasting of indigenous Sicilian varieties and blends, including a focus on the strawberry-ish delight that is Frappato, plus the Frappato/Nero d’Avola blended Cerasuolo, a lively and insightful discussion followed.

Headline Heroes: Prosecco’s commitment to sustainability

The vineyards around the town of Conegliano, in Italy’s Veneto, are among Europe’s most picturesque. In summer, the steep hills are carpeted with vines producing Glera grapes for Prosecco: this is the home of Prosecco Conegliano Valdobbiadene DOCG. It looks idyllic, yet the challenges of sustainability here are real – prompting the authorities of both the DOCG and the bigger Prosecco DOC to act.

Italy Report: The shifting perception of Prosecco

Prosecco has long made life easy for wine drinkers: it hits the right price point, rolls off the tongue and is effortlessly quaffable. Between 2018 and 2019, exports of both DOC and DOCG styles to the UK doubled, and its popularity seemed all but untouchable. Yet, having stolen much of Cava’s thunder, sales of Italy’s flagship sparkler have reportedly stalled in the independent sector. But is Prosecco merely another casualty of the global downturn – or is something more dramatic unfolding?

Italy Report: Future-focused Montalcino's winemaking innovation

My recent trip to the rolling hills of the famous appellation shows that though Montalcino’s history can be an instructive ally, it does not limit wine producers from adapting to the challenges of the present and innovating for the future.

Italy Report: Italian wine’s state of play

The UK’s thirst for Italian wine has proven to be an enduring affair, with the category demonstrating a healthy resilience in a tough market. Among the world’s top seven wine countries, Italy is the only one in growth in terms of hectares under vine, with the country now the largest producer of wine ahead of France and Spain, according to the OIV (International Organisation of Vine & Wine), with exports worth €8.1bn last year – an increase of 5.6% on 2023.

NY roundtable: Exporting the northeastern state’s promise

Headline Heroes: Why Rosé Champagne demands our attention

Rosé Champagne is a style that has been around for more than 200 years, yet its success is a relatively recent phenomenon, as the category has steadily expanded to represent a bigger slice of the market, reaching around 10% of Champagne shipments over the past couple of decades. Produced in a kaleidoscope of different pinks, rosé fizz lends itself to celebrations and has enjoyed a growth in value that has outperformed regular ‘white’ Champagne in a challenging market, but the stylistic differences run far deeper than colour, courtesy of two contrasting approaches to production.

Tech: The start-up aiming to gamify brand training

Many of us spend a decent chunk of the day playing games or fiddling with apps on our phone, but what if you were rewarded for doing so and gained valuable training experience, not to mention kudos from the boss, at the same time?