People & Opinion - Harpers Wine & Spirit Trade News

Five minutes with Alex Brogan, Plumpton student

Published: 30 August, 2022

Jo Gilbert catches up with Alex Brogan about his collective winemaking venture, where customers can vote on every step of the winemaking process.

Producer Q&A: Gabriel Asseily, Château Biac

Published: 25 August, 2022

Gabriel Asseily, co-owner and head of production at Château Biac, talks Andrew Catchpole through the challenges and triumphs of swapping a cosmopolitan life in London to head up a family-bought estate in Côtes de Bordeaux.

Talking heads: Oz is back in style

Published: 23 August, 2022

Producers and importers share with James Bayley their thoughts on the hot trends with Oz wines shaping Australia’s present and future offer in the UK market.

All change for Yalumba

Published: 18 August, 2022

Andrew Catchpole caught up with outgoing Yalumba MD Nick Waterman and his successor-to-be Karl Martin.

Jerry Lockspeiser: Thrills and spills with Veseth’s wine economics

Published: 16 August, 2022

Mike Veseth doesn’t just make wine economics understandable; he makes it thrilling.

Soapbox: Stop romanticising copper stills

Published: 11 August, 2022

Joff Curtoys, founder and creative director of Sloemotion Distillery, explains why copper stills are the spirit industry’s dirty little climate secret.

Profile: Jascots back with a vengeance

Published: 09 August, 2022

Against all odds, on-trade focused Jascots survived the pandemic and administration to emerge stronger than ever. Andrew Catchpole reports.

Tim Atkin MW: Women score in wine, too

Published: 05 August, 2022

You’ve come a long way, baby. Watching the final of the Euro 2022 women’s football tournament, I was reminded of this advertising slogan for Virginia Slims cigarettes, of all things, from the late 1960s. The brand tapped into the zeitgeist at a time when feminism and women’s rights were finally attracting the attention and wider support they deserved. The importance of sport should not be overstated, but England’s victory felt significant, not just as a one-off game, but in a wider social context.

Five minutes with Patrice Piveteau, Cognac Frapin

Published: 02 August, 2022

Jo Gilbert talks to cellarmaster Patrice Piveteau about the newest launch of Cognac Frapin’s Cigar Blend, made in its humid cellars in Grande Champagne.

Producer Q&A: Andrés Valero, Grupo Avinea, talks organic

Published: 26 July, 2022

Eighteen months into his role as head of sustainability for Grupo Avinea (Argento), Andrés Valero explains to Andrew Catchpole how organic provides a pathway into sustainability.

Jerry Lockspeiser: Lessons from the Tory leadership – are we heading into disaster?

Published: 21 July, 2022

Oh dear, perhaps it was always too much to hope for. The embarrassment of the country being led by a self-serving clown has finally timed out, but the opportunity for serious politics to be rehabilitated looks certain to be missed.

Profile: Following on from FMV

Published: 19 July, 2022

Two years on from the dismemberment of FMV, Bancroft Wines is focusing on initiating its new producers into the ‘family’ in a post-Covid world. Jo Gilbert reports.

Soapbox: Can the wine industry survive desertification?

Published: 14 July, 2022

Nenad Trifunovic, director of business development at Wine & More, reflects on the future of a sector that is already feeling the heat.

Guy Woodward: Next-level wine tastings are aiming to for the A-list

Published: 12 July, 2022

Drinks writer and editor @guyawoodward

Jerry Lockspeiser: Does the Bank of England know what it is doing?

Published: 06 July, 2022

Way back when I studied economics at university, I also studied sociology. It struck me then that the way economics is taught is deeply flawed. To call it a science, even a social science, doesn’t make any sense. Unlike scientific study of the cosmos or gravity discovering immutable laws, economics seeks to explain how and why humans do certain things.

Five minutes with Teresa Heuzenroeder, Petaluma Wines

Published: 28 June, 2022

Teresa Heuzenroeder, senior winemaker at Petaluma Wines, talks to Andrew Catchpole about the marked differences on dealing with the world’s most celebrated whites – Riesling and Chardonnay – as a winemaker.

Producer Q&A: Charles Perez, Mas Bécha

Published: 21 June, 2022

Charles Perez of Mas Bécha is passionate about his local Roussillon climate and soils, but talks up the human touch in the trilogy that constitutes terroir. Andrew Catchpole tunes in among his vines

Profile: Vineyard Productions grows a head for wine

Published: 14 June, 2022

Home to ‘creative and collaborative winemaking’, Liam Steevenson’s company Vineyard Productions takes a novel approach to its portfolio. Andrew Catchpole dropped by to discover more.

Tim Atkin MW: Albariño under a cloud

Published: 07 June, 2022

In English, it’s just drizzle. In Spanish, it’s more graphic. The literal translation of ‘calabobos’ is something that soaks fools. Rather than a downpour – the sort of weather that sends you scurrying for a doorway – it’s the kind of rain you barely notice, the stuff that drenches your clothes, drip by drip by drip.