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    Anne Krebiehl MW
    People People: Producer
    Rioja Alta, Badaran, San Lorenzo

    What to expect at the first UK Rioja Residency tasting event

    Rioja Wine UK invites the UK trade and press to the first Rioja Residency – an immersive, educational journey around Rioja without leaving London. It all takes place on June 21 at London’s five-star boutique hotel, The Ned, which will be Rioja’s home for the day where guests can enjoy the region’s rich culture and heritage including the chance to taste wines from 20 visiting winemakers. The day will also include masterclasses from Spanish wine experts and masters of wine. Here’s what is in store.

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    Tasting: Wine
    Château Haut Gléon

    Pairing the wines of Château Haut Gléon with 3-star Michelin cuisine

    In order to prove the food-matching potential of its wines, Languedoc estate Château Haut Gléon took the brave decision to set up a wine-pairing dinner of its range with 3-Michelin starred food. The cuisine of Gilles Goujon at Auberge du Vieux Puits is notoriously complex with one dish involving an oversize oyster that’s sealed in a smoke-filled bubble that you can only reach with a hammer. How was the meal and how did the wines match up? The Buyer’s Victor Smart needed no encouragement to jump on a plane to Languedoc to find out

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    Opinion
    older people

    Daniel Hooper: Does the UK wine industry have an old people problem?

    The older we get the more likely it is we are going to turn to a corkscrew and a bottle of wine to enjoy at the end of a day. Or at least that is what the current and previous generations have done. But what about the next generations? Are millennials and Gen Xs and Zs going to follow their parents into the wine category? The jury is well and truly out on that warn, warns Daniel Hooper, co-founder and chief creative officer at YesMore Creative, the specialist drinks marketing agency.

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    Insight
    Rioja Piece Part 1 - Photo 1

    Inside Rioja Part 1: Rioja’s terroir revolution and its 100kms of diversity

    For many consumers, and even for many within the wine industry, 2017’s introduction of geographically specific categories within Rioja’s production laws might have gone under the radar. Fresh from his trip to participate in the Rioja Academy’s new educator programme, The Buyer’s Mike Turner explains why the laws allowing wines to be promoted as coming from a specific zone, village, or even single vineyard, could be one of the biggest revolutions to hit this wine region and has the possibility of catapulting Rioja’s already famed wines and winemakers to even more impressive heights. Part 1 of a 4-part series.

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    Conference
    imw chap

    Why IMW’s 10th symposium is ‘Olympics of wine events’ 

    Ahead of the Institute of Masters of Wine’s 10th International Symposium to be held in Wiesbaden, Germany this summer, Richard Siddle speaks to IMW executive director, Julian Gore-Booth, about the institute’s flagship event – which it calls the ‘Olympics of wine events’ held, appropriately enough once every four years, about what it hopes to achieve and what the key issues are that will be up for discussion. He also looks at the institute’s  targets and ambitions and its role in the wider wine industry.

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    People: Producer
    Harsányi

    Understanding Tokaj terroirs through the wines of Harsányi

    Understanding terroir and how it can be expressed in wine is one of the key priorities at family-owned, Tokaj-based winery Harsányi, as the trend towards dry wine continues in this region of Hungary. Robert Mason talks to head of the estate, Gábor Harsányi, tastes through the range and discovers how key the conversion to organic winemaking is as it embraces the new, as well as endorsing its historic past.

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    Insight
    santorini good picture

    Andrew Johnson on his love for Assyrtiko the jewel of Santorini

    It’s not just tourists that pack the streets of Santorini, but grape growers, winemakers and wine producers also make up and contribute so much to this beguiling Greek island. In fact, an astonishing one in 10 people on the island belong to grape growing families and out of a population of 15,500, over 1,500 are grape growers all providing much sought after grapes to the 20 plus wineries that are fast making their names across Santorini. Here Andrew Johnson, managing director of Woodwinters, shares his love not just for the wines being produced, but also singles out Assyrtiko as being the driving force behind the surge in popularity for its wines.

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    Insight
    irish whiskey general

    Martin Moran MW on what’s driving the Irish whiskey boom

    How many Irish whiskeys do you list? Jameson, Bushmills, maybe relative new boys Teeling? You’re only scratching the surface. New distilleries have been sprouting up like mushrooms after rain in recent years as global sales rocket. In 2010 there were four distilleries and sales were about 5 million cases and in 2022 it was 15 million cases from over 40 distilleries. Martin Moran MW picks out the key trends he believes are driving the booming Irish whiskey market. 

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    Tasting: Wine
    Beaujolais

    Lisse Garnett on being carried away by Bien Boire en Beaujolais

    Bien Boire en Beaujolais is a wine fair like few others – a cool meeting of minds and vignerons, where the Gamay has an undertow and the brass band plays the hits of Radiohead. Most of what happens in Bien Boire en Beaujolais stays there – because participants have little or no recollection of ever having been. The Buyer’s Lisse Garnett bought a ticket and reports back (remarkably well) on 15 of the standout wines, and points out that, contrary to the wine fair, what happened in Beaujolais does not stay in Beaujolais – in fact a good deal of the whole swerve of contemporary winemaking, it could be argued, from natural wine to crunchy quaffers, was born and migrated from this very special part of Burgundy.

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    Tasting: Spirit
    Rum punch

    Marina Ray on St Kitts in search for the perfect Rum Punch 

    A basic rum punch recipe involves: one part sour, two parts sweet, three parts strong and four parts weak, but how else can we pimp this Caribbean cocktail and make it stand out from the next bar? To find out, Marina Ray travelled to St Kitts & Nevis to take a two-day Kittian RumMaster course, then sampled a wide range of differing rum punches from bars by the road, on the beach, in the bush and in the swankiest of hotels. Rum punch is served everywhere here, 24/7, which does mean… rum punch for breakfast.

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