Jackie Fast, Author at The Buyer

By Sophia Longhi on March 8, 2021

Sophia Longhi on why we need more women working in the wine industry

New employment research has revealed that each of the UK’s top 350 listed companies now have at least one woman on their boards, but if a similar study was done of the country’s top 350 wine businesses would we get anywhere close to that figure? As we mark and celebrate International Women’s Day, wine commentator, Sophia Longhi, who looks to champion women on her Skin & Pulp website, sets out why it is not only right the wine sector takes real positive action on diversity and inclusion in the workplace, it would actually make for a stronger, more secure industry as a whole.

Posted In: International Women's Day, slider, sophia longhi, wine business, wine industry, women in wine

People People: Producer

By Richard Siddle on March 8, 2021

My life in wine with Maud Negrel of Provence’s Mas de Cadenet

Even a successful career working for a top a management consultancy in Paris could not prevent Maud Negrel returning to her spiritual roots in Provence and her family’s Mas de Cadenet estate in Côtes de Provence Sainte Victoire. Here she talks on International Women’s Day about how her new life in wine, and working with her brother, Matthieu, as the seventh generation of this winemaking family.

Posted In: International Women's Day, mas de cadenet, maud negel, provence, slider, wine, winemaker, women wine

Tasting: Wine

By Justin Keay on March 6, 2021

Justin Keay: Getting under the skin of Hungary’s new-style dry Furmint

In the past 20 years dry Furmint from Hungary has been improving in leaps and bounds, not just in Tokaj but right across this underrated wine-producing country, argues Justin Keay. In a fascinating roundup of Furmint February, this former Hungarian foreign correspondent highlights the four styles of dry Furmint, good food-pairings to go with them from Isa Bal MS and which six producers Keay reckons are the ones to start investigating.

Posted In: Dry Furmint, Furmint, furmint february, Hungary, Justin Keay, slider

Insight

By Richard Siddle on March 5, 2021

Wine Future: How Covid has turned our business world upside down

So what sort of business world are we going to return to when we can? Will it mean going back to the office, or will we want to carry on travelling the world via video conference? In part two of our analysis of the Wine Future 2021 event held online at the end of last month, Richard Siddle examines just how different the wine industry is going to be in the months ahead and the positive lessons we have all learnt from the Covid pandemic.

Posted In: drinks industry, on-trade, slider, wine, wine future 2021, wine industry

People: Producer

By Chris Wilson on March 5, 2021

Chris Wilson: things they don’t teach you at wine school

What they teach you at college and what you do in real life are two completely different things – especially when you’re making wine. First-time winemaker Chris Wilson ponders this as he tries to work out how to get a tower of glass bottles into his tiny windmill basement, aka Gutter & Stars, Cambridge’s first ever winery. The excellent course he took at Plumpton College has taught him how to make wine, but what about the physical nuts-and-bolts and the workarounds? Part 6 of our continuing series on how a wine journalist puts his money where his mouth is and actually becomes a winemaker.

Posted In: Chris Wilson, Gutter & Stars, Plumpton College

Opinion

By Richard Siddle on March 4, 2021

Inside Grain to Grape’s new profitable modern wine training

Harry Crowther is ideally placed to know what sort of general wine training works for restaurant and bar staff as he has had to manage and provide training for a wide range of teams during his own time working in senior roles in hospitality. He has now developed his own wine training company and programme – Grain to Grape – that is designed to give staff the confidence to understand and sell the wine lists in their outlet, increase average spend per head and have a direct impact on an operator’s bottom line.

Posted In: grain to grape, harry crowther, on-trade, restaurants, wine training

Tasting: Wine

By Peter Dean on March 4, 2021

Peter Gago: “Welcome to the Penfolds California”

Penfolds has never sat still. Since the mid Nineteenth Century they have moved from the Magill Estate vineyards, from the viticultural region, the domain, the state and now, with the release of Penfolds California, they have left Australia. The bedrock of Penfolds House Style has always been pushing boundaries with an open mind and a top-down approach, but is making a Wine of the World that is £545 a bottle and involves shipping Aussie Shiraz 1000s of miles to Napa a step too far? Peter Dean talks to Penfolds chief winemaker Peter Gago, gets the lowdown and tastes the wines.

Posted In: Bin 600, Bin 704, Cabernet sauvignon, Napa, Penfolds, Penfolds California, Peter Dean, Peter Gago

People People: Producer

By Richard Siddle on March 3, 2021

Laurent Delaunay has made his name in wine with the Badet Clement and

Laurent Delaunay on taking the Hospices de Nuits to next level

The Hospices de Nuits charity auction may not currently have the same status as the Hospices de Beaune, but for fifth generation Burgundy winemaker, Laurent Delaunay, it offers huge potential and opportunity for buyers to access some of the highest quality wines being made in this coveted wine region. Here he explains why he is hoping to promote not just the auction, which takes place on March 14 to a wider international audience, but give potential buyers the chance to buy his own pre-selected cuvées from the auction and age the wine in his Burgundy cellars.

Posted In: burgundy, edourard delaunay, fine wine, hospices de nuits, laurent delaunay, wine, wine auction

People People: Producer

By Richard Siddle on March 3, 2021

women Madeleine Premmereur - Château Barbebelle

Madeleine Premmereur on making her name in Provence

The main theme for this year’s International Women’s Day on March 8 is #ChooseToChallenge and to “help forge a gender equal world” by celebrating women’s achievements, which is very much the spirit The Buyer hopes to capture with a series of profiles of leading female wine producers and winemakers starting here today with Madeleine Premmereur who is now playing her part in helping Château Barbebelle, in Aix-en-Provence be one of the world’s most respected rosé producers.

Posted In: Château Barbebelle, International Women's Day, Madeleine Premmereur, wine, wine producer, winemaker

Insight

By Richard Siddle on March 2, 2021

The closing panel of the day included Lucy Auld from Freixenet Copestick, Robert Joseph, Rollo Gabb and

One Step Beyond 2021: Register for first free webinar on April 14

The One Step Beyond initiative, introduced last year in a joint partnership between The Buyer and Sophie Jump, is back. Its aim is to give the drinks, retail and hospitality sectors insights into the latest trends in technology and innovation and how they impact on consumer behaviour and expectations. This is your chance to keep up to speed through quarterly online webinars starting on April 14. Here’s what to expect.

Posted In: consumer, drinks, hospitality, innovation, insights, sophie jump, technology, the buyer, trends, wine

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