There has been a shift at the top of the UK’s hotly contested wine rankings, with the combined sales of South American heavyweights Chile and Argentina overtaking Italy, the UK’s second most quaffed region, in terms of value.
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Temperatures were unseasonably mild over Christmas, and from the latest results, it looks like things were unexpectedly cosy for UK retail.
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Wines from Germany, Brazil, and at home in the UK are being tipped as some of the breakthrough trends to open the door to success for the trade in 2019.
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Buoyed by October’s encouraging interim results, Tesco is heading into the festive season with a hand in the on-trade for the first time, thanks to its merger with cash-and-carry group Booker. Jo Gilbert speaks to BWS director Robert Cooke about what the deal means for alcoholic drinks sales at the UK’s biggest grocer
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“Suppliers effectively operate in a climate of fear as Sainsbury’s and Asda act as gatekeepers to the market”, the Food and Drinks Federation (FDF) has said in the latest round of consultations on the proposed supermarket merger.
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Tesco shone a spotlight on its growing list of low and no alcohol options at its tasting yesterday, giving further credence to moderation trends.
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“Functional booze is not our game. We need to tell a story,” says Pierpaolo Petrassi, head of buying, beers, wines and spirits at Waitrose.
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The Co- op’s most visible point of difference has always been Fairtrade and its autumn tasting on 4 October showed that the buyers have convinced further suppliers to convert to Fairtrade for several key wines.
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The UK is at the forefront of selling wine online thanks to well-established specialist wine retailers such as Majestic and The Wine Society, new research has revealed.
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Angela Mount investigates how distributors and producers are shaping up to meet buyer demands as routes to market narrow.
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Jo Gilbert connects with the businesses aiming to bring the convenience, value and focus of online shopping to bricks-and-mortar stores
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Online sales of beer, wines and spirits were up 27.3% YoY in March 2018, new data has revealed.
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Store closures and profit warnings have become death knells for retailers on struggling high streets, and there was concern last week when Waitrose announced it is shutting five of its 353 stores.
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Retailers are being urged to adapt their strategies around the “evolution of channels” in light of research which showed that in 2017, 76% of fast-moving consumer goods’ (FMCG) value growth came from channels outside traditional supermarkets.
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The sweltering bank holiday temperatures, higher than average winter sales and poor French harvests could mean a “potential draught” for rosé wines from Provence, according to Majestic.
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Two months ago, I wrote a column on Majestic that was less than effusive in its appraisal of the UK’s biggest drinks retailer. The day after it was published, I received a phone call from the firm’s chief executive Rowan Gormley. It’s funny how our reliance on electronic forms of communication means that an unsolicited call now has added impact – a fact which I’m sure Gormley had in mind as he opened the call with a jokey threat of legal action.
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The Co-op’s new conversion of its major own-label range will boost the UK’s Fairtrade wine volumes by 20%.
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An increasingly competitive retail environment has led to yet another mega-merger, this time between Asda and Sainsbury’s. We ask what this new giant force could have in store for wine
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Does anyone remember Safeway? In its day, it had one of the best supermarket wine ranges in the UK – diverse, daring and invariably well selected.
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The quality of private label wines are on the up – and Europe is leading the pack.
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