Hatch Mansfield chairman Patrick McGrath MW describes the present challenges facing the drinks industry as a ‘shit show’. With stock stuck in ports all around the world, the climate affecting yields and more, it was impressive that the importer’s autumn showcase was a well-tempered affair full of blisteringly good wines. Held at the Tower of London, David Kermode, aka Mr Vinosaurus also managed to keep his cool at the tasting and picks a Top 10 of wines that really turned his head.
Another year another new vintage – Cloudy Bay 2021 was launched in the UK yesterday, sadly by Zoom again, with technical director Jim White stepping in for winemaker Daniel Sorrell who has handled the previous run of releases. With newly-appointed senior winemaker Nikolai St George joining last September from 2021’s New Zealand winery of the year, Giesen Wines, there are clearly changes underway. How much of that is down to the new hierarchy is too soon to tell but White does reveal that Te Koko is undergoing an overhaul and the style of Cloudy Bay 2021 is different to the 2020. There is also the considerable issues of a 30% drop in yield and getting the wine onto a ship – anytime, anywhere would be nice. Peter Dean reports.
Ahead of this week’s One Step Beyond webinar on October 13 Richard Siddle talks to Robert Chin, chief executive of leading US and Canadian drinks company, Aquilini Beverage Group, about how, in just over two years, he has transformed it from being largely a bulk supplier of alcoholic drinks to a leading drinks brands producer in its own right with a number of fast growing lines across North America. Here he looks at what he thinks it takes to be a successful drinks brand.
There is so much talk about the so-called changes that consumers have been through during the pandemic, but what are they in reality and how relevant are they for the drinks, retail and hospitality sectors? That is what the third in our series of One Step Beyond webinars, organised in partnership with Sophie Jump, will look to tackle with experts from the fields of consumers behaviour, innovation, technology as well as leading figures in the drinks industry. Here’s what to expect and how to sign up to the free webinar being held on October 13.
You can have the highest scoring, most awarded wine list in the country, but if you don’t have the sales team with the skills to build relationships and understand which wines are best suited to which restaurants and bars then it’s going to gather dust in your warehouse. Here we talk to Maria Proshuta, part of the London on-trade sales team for Corney & Barrow, about the skills she thinks you need to sell wine to the on-trade.
The clock is ticking for beers, wines and spirits producers to enter the 2022 London Drinks Competitions and take advantage of special pricing that ends on October 15. There will still be time to enter the competitions up to the end of February but at the full entry fee for each of the three awards. The London Wine, Beer, and Spirits competitions pride themselves on judging every product entered for its quality, price, value for money and what they look like with their packaging and design. Here’s how you can enter the 2022 awards.
Found in Cocchi’s archives, the recipe for Cocchi Barolo Chinato tipo Esportazione was brought back to life in a limited edition to celebrate the great Italian company’s 130th anniversary. Such a special Barolo Chinato deserved a special send-off which it got at Hide in London’s Mayfair – mixologist Oskar Kinberg had devised a series of bespoke cocktails to celebrate Cocchi’s vermouths and Americano while chef Ollie Dabbous was at the controls in the kitchen – devising the menu and in particular a warm ‘acorn’ cake with smoked caramel and liqueur to pair with the Chinato. Victor Smart reports.
There are no tyre kickers and time wasters at the World Bulk Wine Exhibition. This is not a trade show where you can merrily wander around and expect a producer to give you a taste of their full range. No, the WBWE is all about doing business. Samples are offered for buyers to taste that might result in orders of hundreds of thousands of litres of wine. As the show’s chief executive, Otilia Romero de Condés, says the WBWE has three main objectives for its delegates: business, networking and results. Here she explains what we can expect from this November’s show.
In just over 40 years Joseph Helfrich has turned Les Grands Chais de France from a 5,000 franc loan into one of the world’s most important wine producing groups – currently worth €1.14bn and accounting for over a fifth of all France’s wine exports. Famille Helfrich is the group’s exclusive on-trade and independent retail arm that is showing over 200 of its wines at two UK tastings. The London event is next Tuesday while the Manchester one just happened with Mike Turner suitably impressed with what was on offer – especially a wine from Gascogne that is £3.68 DPD.
If you had a spare few hundred pounds and wanted to invest in some bottles of whisky then Nick Morgan is the man to call. With over 30 years experience of working in the whisky industry – the last 20 plus years at Diageo – he has now branched out on his own to offer his whisky, brand and strategic insights in a new consultancy role. He has also looked to capture his whisky know-how in a new book – simply called Everything You Need to Know About Whisky. Here he explains how it came together.
