Coravin wine preservation system to open a wine bar in London
Coravin's pop up winery in Mayfair will offer the largest range of 50 sparkling wines in London as well as super premium wines, all served by the glass.
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Wine News Archive
Napa and Sancerre harvest, both have big falls in volume but for very different reasons
Napa has a 25-30% drop in volume at harvest due to drought, while Sancerre harvest is down 50% due to frost and rain causing mildew.
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Prince Charles claims he runs his Aston Martin sports car on English wine & cheese
The fuel that powers his Aston Martin DB6 is mainly ethanol, loved by racing car drivers for its performance and can be created using waste food including English wine & cheese
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Huge winery that supplied the Mediterranean 1500 years ago discovered in Israel
The newly found winery from the Byzantine period could supply up to 2 million litres of wine a year.
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Scientist shows that “no safe level of drinking” claim is incorrect
The incorrect claim made in 2019 purported to show that any drinking was harmful, overturning decades to research showing moderate consumption was actually protective.
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Prices set to rise in the drinks industry
Drinks research company CGA has predicted that prices are set to rise in the drinks industry, with three-quarters of hospitality businesses admitting that they are likely to raise prices.
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Decanter announces award results with Wine Society winning Outstanding Retailer of the year
The Wine Society picked up 6 awards and won Outstanding Retailer, with Waitrose winning Supermarket of the year.
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Vaccine passports for the hospitality sector in Scotland are live while Wales will follow soon.
Scotland’s Vaccine passport started off with a rocky start on the 1st October with problems downloading the app, while Wales announced it will require vaccine passports from the 11th October.
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UK chef James Martin launches own wines
James Martin, best known in the UK for the Saturday Kitchen TV show, has teamed up with Wine and Brands to launch a new range of wines.
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2021 Northern Harvest drawing to a close, Port is a bright star
The cooler frosty weather that has caused so much pain for northern France and Champagne in particular, has resulted in fresher, more balanced grapes in the Port producing regions compared to 2020.
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Owners of two top producers in St Emilion face 5 years in jail
Château Angélus and Château Trotte Vieille’s owners face accusations of manipulating the 2012 St Emilion Appelation rankings for themselves and companies they consulted for.
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Majestic announce a cork recycling scheme
Majestic announced this week that it plans to collect corks at its 190 stores, to be used as trial mulch for Cornwall's Eden project.
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USA’s three tier system is under threat as Biden reviews threats to competition in wine
In July Biden signed an executive order requiring the Treasury Secretary, Attorney General and the Federal Trade Commission to assess threats to competition and barriers to a range of industries including wine.
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WSET student numbers recover to the highest level ever despite Covid-19 and Chinese government ban
The latest WSET academic year for 2020/21 has seen 108,584 students undertake WSET courses, a new record despite Covid 19 and the Chinese government's blanket ban on all courses run in their country.
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Profits at Australian wine giant Treasury hold up after China’s punitive tariffs on Australia
Profits at Treasury Wine Estates, owners of Penfolds, Wolf Blass, 19-Crimes and Lindemans, held up in the face up Covid-19 and punitive tariffs by the Chinese government to record only a small drop in profits of 0.4%
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Jancis Robinson MW sells her website to US media company to focus on the US
Leading wine writer Jancis Robinson MW has sold her www.jancisrobinson.com website to US based start-up Recurrent Ventures, for an undisclosed sum.
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Champagne 2021 vintage looks tough
The weather in 2021 has simply not played ball with French producers. The Champagne region was hit badly by frost, hail and persistent mildew as well as spring rain which has resulted in yields expected to be down by 45%.
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Experienced UK wine drinkers prefer screw caps
Older drinkers prefer screw caps while younger drinkers are more inclined to prefer cork in the UK.
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UK government is considering a 25% tariff on imported US wine
The proposed tariff is a belated escalation of the trade dispute started when Donald Trump slapped 25% tariffs on steel imports into the US.
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Government will drop red tape for all wine imports
VI-1 forms which were set to be expanded to all EU wines following Brexit, will now be dropped for all wine saving an estimated £130 million in red tape.
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Australian wine exports to the UK leapt by 16% by volume in the 2020-21 financial year
Australia has seen a surge in UK wine sales over the Covid lockdown, with wine exports to the UK leaping by 16% by volume in the 2020-21 financial year.
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Penfolds Grange breaks record for any Australian wine sold at auction
Penfolds Grange, the iconic Australian wine, has broken all records for any Australian wine sold at auction. A bottle of the 1951 vintage sold at A$142,131 (£76,750) and was the first Penfolds wine ever to sport the Grange label.
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Germany’s Ahr region suffers extreme floods
Terrifying floods damage Germany's wine producers in the far North West region of Ahr.
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19 Crimes wine brand launches a seltzer
Treasury, the owner of Penfolds, has used its more experimental brand 19 Crimes to launch a hard seltzer.
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England is leaving lockdown this Monday 19th July
As England comes out of enforced restrictions next week, the change of rules will mean that pubs and bars will be able to freely operate without any restrictions.
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Cheval Blanc and Ausone threaten to leave St Emilion classification
Two of St Emilion’s top ranked wine estates are leaving the appellation over concerns that changes to the ranking system are not in their best interests.
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White Port and Tonic - the refreshing drink for 2021?
Taylor's launched their Chip Dry White Port with Tonic in a Ready to Drink can last month, now available in the UK, USA and Portugal.
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Russia forces Champagnes to be re-labelled Sparkling wine in Russia
The recent Russian law has left Champagne companies flat and banned them from using the term Russian word for Champagne, shampanskoye.
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Research uncovers the truth about how our sense of smell changes with age
The Danish researchers at the University of Copenhagen have been looking at how our sense of smell changes as we age.
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Wine Society the big winner at the IWC Merchant Awards
The Wine Society won a total of six awards last night at the IWC ceremony, including IWC Merchant of the Year, Dynamic Merchant and Wine Club of the Year.
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Australia takes China to the World Trade Organisation
This week Australia formally complained to the World Trade Organisation (WTO) about China's punitive tariffs on Australian wines.
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South Africa bans wine sales again
South Africa is facing a third wave of coronavirus and is banning the sale of alcohol in the on and off trade for the fourth time since the pandemic began.
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75% of UK pubs and restaurants open by the end of May
The number of licensed venues in the UK more than doubled from 32.9% in April to 76.2% in May, but still 25,000 licensed premises remained closed.
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Chianti Classico approves named sub-regions for top wines
The Chianti Classico Consortium has approved the use of village names within the classico sub-region, known as Menzioni Geografiche Aggiuntive
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English wine week finishes this weekend with the Wine GB Awards out today
WineGB Awards for 2021 have been released just in time for English Wine Week.
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Coravin unveils its new sparkling wine preservation system
For some time, Coravin has been a leading method of tasting still wines from the same bottle over a period of months. Now they have launched their new sparkling wine system.
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Trade deals away, UK does free trade deal with Australia
UK trade deal will save up to 9p for a bottle of Aussie wine
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US trade deal with EU paused with 25% punitive tarrifs on EU wine exported to America dropped
The US and EU have paused the trade dispute over airplane subsidised, that had seen punitive taxes on EU wines and spirits.
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ThirtyFifty shortlisted for the IWC Wine Educator of the Year
ThirtyFifty, a leading wine educator in the UK, has been shortlisted for the IWC UK Merchant Awards Wine Educator of the Year.
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Taylor’s Port Golden Vines Diversity Scholarships winners are announced
Two £12,000 scholarships have been awarded to BAME/BIPOC students to assist their studies for the Master of Wine or the Master Sommelier.
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English Wine Week 19-27 June
English Wine Week starts next weekend on Saturday 19th June until the following Sunday 27th June.
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South Africa finally has some cool news
South Africa’s harvest for 2021 is up by 8.9% on 2020, with cooler and wetter weather the vintage was harvested a couple of weeks later.
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40 producers from Rioja Alavesa try to break away from Rioja
Rioja Alavesa producers claim to be disappointed with the Rioja DOCa and plan to great a new Viñedos de Álava DO.
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The truth about the second cheapest bottle on a restaurant being the worst value
A study by the American Association of Wine Economists looked at London restaurants to answer the question of whether they put extra mark up on the second cheapest wine, knowing many people will order it not wanting to look cheap.
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NZ Sauvignon Blanc will be in short supply in 2021
NZ Sauvignon Blanc will be in short supply later this year as two low vintages and buoyant sales reduce supplies.
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Mouton Cadet exclusively lists with Freixenet Copestick
Mouton Cadet, the high volume brand from Bordeaux's Mouton Rothschild, has signed a deal to be exclusively distributed by Freixenet Copestick which owns the Cava brand that's been expanding in many areas.
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Low&no alcohol wines are missing something...sales!
The demand for low and no alcohol beverages while still small, is on the rise, but this week Wine Intelligence said that wine was missing out on the opportunity, compared to beers and spirits.
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London Wine Fair 17-19 May Online
The 2021 London Wine Fair begins on Monday for 3 days, as a virtual event.
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UK lockdown restrictions are easing on the 17th May
The UK, Scotland and Welsh governments all confirmed that restrictions on Hospitality were to ease on Monday the 17th May as planned.
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Bordeaux En Primeur is underway with Cheval Blanc the first to release
The price for the 2020 Cheval Blanc is €380 / btl and is very close to the 2019 vintage of €370 /btl and the quality appears to be at least as good.
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