An Independent View on the supermarkets dodgy discounts.

Having watched Oz Clarke quite rightly inform the nation of the nonsensical 'half price' wine offers in supermarkets on the recent BBC programme Watchdog, I asked myself a couple of questions; 'Who actually buys these 'half price' wines?' and 'Do they really think they are getting a bargain?'

Karl Walton | Hennings Wine Merchants

Richard Saxton | The Graped Crusader

Understanding Burgundy: Hospices de Beaune

Baffled by Burgundy? Tips on understanding the region.

Visiting Priorat

Marisa D'Vari | A Wine Story

Mike Paul on why New Zealand faces a critical year ahead

The next 12 months will be a critical period for New Zealand's wine producers.

Michael Karam: Getting behind Lebanese winemakers

Harpers' clarion call to support Lebanese wines in September was heeded by at least one retailer. Slurp in Banbury is promoting 30 Lebanese wines from five producers: Massaya, Chateau Ksara, Domaines des Tourelles, the EU-backed Coteaux Heliopolis and of course the mighty Chateau Musar.

Islay - Queen of the Hebrides

It all started at the beginning of August. My parents were coming to visit me from Brazil after five long years and we had a hectic schedule ahead of us: Edinburgh, Tarbert, Islay, London,Bratislava, Vienna, Salzburg, Paris and then back to London again. And that was all to happen squeezed into a 2-weeks program that me and my wife put together. At the end of the day, it was only their second visit to Europe, they might as well see lots of it.

Mark Fiddes: what to do with those "Undrinkable" bottles you bring back from holiday

Lisa Johnston | Wine Muse

Lisa Johnston is a wine educator, writer and wine business consultant who has a fascination for wine - in the vineyard, in the bottle and in the glass. An avid traveller, her plan is to visit every wine region in the world. On her blog, she shares the best finds and thanks to the ever changing nature of the subject at hand - this may take a very very long time. See more of Lisa's work on www.winemuse.com.au

Going for Broke!

The Hunter Valley, or 'the Hunter' as it is known is a major tourist destination being an easy drive from Sydney and providing world class accommodation and dining experiences as well as its iconic wines. However, visitors all too often take the turn at Hermitage Road rather than continuing the extra fifteen kilometres to the township of Broke.

Athila Roos | Head Sommelier

Carol Emmas: Is Booths changing the face of multiple wine retailing?

I imagine there are a fair few supermarkets currently feeling a bit hot under the collar after Booths moved the goalposts to install a By The Glass 64-bottle wine-dispensing system in its Knutsford store.

Jerry Lockspeiser: let's show consumers the true cost of a bottle of wine

Jonathan Cahill's recent opinion piece about wine value, duty and consumer perception got me thinking. The central point of Jonathan's piece is that because alcohol duty is fixed it takes up a much bigger percentage of the retail price when the wine is cheap than when it is more expensive. Ergo we should be telling consumers that the higher the price they pay for a bottle of wine the more their money is buying wine rather than tax, so the better the value, and exponentially so.

Jerry Lockspeiser: No Sex Please - We're British!

Back in the days when Apples and Blackberries were still fruits I came across the wines of Larry Mawby. Larry produces high quality fizz in the USA.  Not in California, nor Washington State or even Oregon, but in Michigan. 

Calling all writers!

Got a lot to say about the world of wine and spirits? Would you like the opportunity to write and get your thoughts heard?

Editors comment

Mike Paul: was The Beautiful South the way forward for generic wine tastings?

I have always been a firm supporter of generic marketing. I've chaired importer committees and worked on developing regional strategies. I know how difficult it is to secure an appropriate level of agreement, across the producer and distributor base, to plans with real cut through, and I know how powerful a well coordinated generic effort can be. I also appreciate that coming up with innovative plans is particularly difficult currently when budgets are severely constrained. Given all this and given that generic marketers have no direct control over the producers and wines they represent, I tend to believe that they have one of the most difficult roles in our industry. All this  makes me loth to criticise any generic activity.

Mark Fiddes: what happens when you try and re-enact that Southern Comfort commercial

Does advertising really work? I decided to find out last week by re-enacting the Southern Comfort commercial. My audience was several hundred innocent Catalans on the Costa Dorada. Temperature: 32 degrees celsius.