As we named this platform The Buyer, clearly what goes into being a good drinks buyer is a topic very close to our hearts. Which is why we not only welcomed the new Wine Buyers Awards from the London Wine Fair but were very pleased to be the media partner for its Restaurant and Wine Bar category. Now the judging has been completed it’s time to announce the shortlist in each of the categories. The winners will be announced on May 19 at a special session at the London Wine Fair itself.
Just four years ago it was hard to tell most Japanese Koshu wine apart, writes Peter Dean. Subtle, sublime, delicate and highly uniform, Koshu could easily have become simply a category of curiosity. But this month’s Koshu of Japan trade tasting displayed how the wines are changing for the better. The increase in vine age and improvement in winemaking technique are resulting in seriously good wines – still, sparkling, orange and now reds – which are perhaps the most exciting development of them all.
Famille Helfrich is as well placed as anyone to know what wines are best suited for premium restaurants and bars as it was set up to do exactly that as the dedicated premium on-trade and independent wine merchants’ arm of Les Grands Chais de France (GCF). Next week buyers from all over the country are invited to come to Birmingham and take part in its two-day annual portfolio tasting and the chance to taste over 300 wines from across France, but also GCF’s growing international range. Here Chris Davies, Famille Helfrich’s head of sales in the UK, marks your card for what to expect.
There is so much research and analysis into the opportunities, but also the perils of creating a brand that is aimed directly at appealing to millennials. But it is a tightrope that Ross Sleet has been prepared to walk across by creating the Rascallion wine brand that deliberately looks to not only get millennials on board, but also connect with Generation X. In this fascinating piece he talks openly about the thought process involved and how travelling the world and talking, listening and seeing how people, young and old, connect with wine and brands in general has helped Rascallion become an international success.
It was just under two years ago that Tamra Kelly-Washington, former winemaker at Yealands, took over the reins at Seresin Estate – the Marlborough-based winery run by famed cinematographer Michael Seresin. With the wines now being distributed in the UK by Enotria&Coe, David Kermode aka Mr Vinosaurus, thought it was time to give the new vintages the once-over to see how they have progressed, looking at Leah Pinot Noir 2017, 2014, 2007 and 2004 as well as the 2018 whites.
“It feels like we are working together as one business. Not like they are a supplier or operator working for us.” As compliments go for a national drinks distributor working with a new customer they don’t get much better than that. But that’s how Jayson Perfect, managing director for pubs and inns at the Liberation Group, particularly strong in the Channel Islands and the West Country through the Butcombe Brewing Co, describes its relationship with Bibendum since they first started working together in June last year.
Although the Prime Minister boasts that he has ‘Got Brexit Done’, the hard work has only really just begun as the UK attempts to secure a trade deal with the European Union before its self-imposed deadline of December 31, 2020. As a director and co-owner of Cramele Recas, Romania’s largest exporter of bottled wine, Philip Cox has an unique perspective on these trade negotiations in a post-Brexit world. Given that Romania only joined the European Union in 2007, Cox has first hand practical experience of exporting wine to the UK both as a member of the EU and as a non-member. He is also English, understands the British psyche, and fears that the nation is sleepwalking into a restrictive trading environment that will severely hinder trade. In this insightful piece Cox details the many steps that Brexit will add to wine import and export – with VAT, customs declarations, labelling, Preferential origin certificates, VI1 forms – and which ones he believes the UK wine trade needs to actively lobby against now, or face a nightmare of added administration and costs.
For all those that have travelled to Umbria, either to taste and buy wine or just to go on holiday, cannot have failed to have been captured by its sweeping hills and stunning scenery. The Lungarotti family has been at the heart of its fine wine scene thanks to the quality of the wines it produces at its Torgiano and Montefalco estates. Now the winemaking rests in the hands of Chiara Lungarotti, who works alongside her sister, Teresa, who handles the marketing and PR.
Website:
https://www.washingtonwine.org/
Social media
Twitter & Instagram
@wa_state_wine
Website:
https://www.terlatowines.com/
Key people
Chuck Cramer
UK & European Manager
Social media
Twitter & Instagram
@terlatomedia
@mrcawine
