Analysis and data to help you buy and sell better
Faced with 16 tempting glasses of fizz of a morning is just what wine blogger Mike Turner kicked his job in the City of London for, all those years ago. Turns out, however, that these glasses are full of wine as ‘rough as a badger’s arse’. Welcome to WineSkills, a course aimed at winemakers needing to extend their learning and have a refresher’s course in what to do, and what not to do when making a good bottle of wine.
Outside of the natural wine debate is there a more contentious issue than the one that surrounds the type of closure you have in your bottle of wine? To assess what leading on-trade buyers and sommeliers now think about closures we teamed up with Vinventions, one of the biggest suppliers of all types of closure from cork to screwcap, to make the issue of closures the latest topic in our Buyer Debate series.
Now there is much more to do than just 10 things at next week’s Vinexpo Bordeaux but with one less day to do all it in then here’s a useful guide to what we think are the most interesting seminars, debates, themes and producers at the show. From conferences covering climate change, Brexit, Big Data and e-commerce, through to new discoveries in Ningxia in China or the chance to taste award winning wines from the top competitions, Vinexpo is back.
As the global wine industry gets ready to pack its bags to descend on Bordeaux and the 19th incarnation of Vinexpo, The Buyer visits upcoming estates, talks to a new generation of winemakers, and witnesses the giant leaps the region is making in terms of winemaking styles, sustainable viticulture and wine tourism.
Another week and seemingly another Brexit debate. But this time round it is not the UK wine industry that is putting Brexit top of the agenda but rather the world’s spotlight in the shape of international wine fair, Vinexpo, which has made the issue one of its set piece debates at this month’s show. But noticeably it is turning mainly to UK wine experts to explain what it might mean for European and New World wine producers.
Has the premium on-trade ever been better served by its drinks suppliers? Buyers might grumble about availability and delivery times, but they are effectively nit picking when you consider they can rely on finding a specialist supplier from almost every wine producing country in the world.The Buyer helped chair a panel debate of leading small wine importers at last month’s London Wine Fair to discuss whether when it comes to getting the wines you want, small can be perfect.
We live in a world of fact-based decision making. The only snag for the casual dining sector of the on-trade that when it comes to wine there are few facts, figures around to base those decisions on. The Buyer is hoping to play its part in addressing that issue by teaming up with on-trade consultancy, CGA Strategy, to produce a series of reports based on consumer dining data and the direct feedback from the sector’s leading operators, suppliers and distributors.
With the day-to-day pressures facing the wine world it can be easy to push long term concerns about climate change to the back burner. But with bad weather, frosts and floods occurring more frequently around the world it is not surprising that Vinexpo has decided to make climate change and how the wine industry is responding one of its central themes at this month’s exhibition in Bordeaux.
Every wine as soon as it is made puts its self up for judgement. Be it the end consumer who wants to drink it with their dinner, or the trade buyers and wine critics looking to score, assess and adjudicate on whether it is suitable for listing in the first place. But nothing ventured, nothing gained and Castelnau Wine Agencies was happy to put its range of wines from producers all over the world up to the test in our latest Buyer’s Case project with leading on-trade buyers and influencers in the trade.
January may seem a long way away, but if you want to book your place and take advantage of early bird registrations at the inaugural International Bulk Wine & Spirits Show taking place in London then now is the time to do so. The two day event promises to not only highlight the latests trends in bulk wine but will feature leading figures in the trade taking part in both conference debates and seminars.
