“This time last year alcohol inflation was 3.5%. We told the HM Treasury that its plans for the duty system would push up inflation. Now alcohol inflation is almost three times the rate a year ago.” That’s how Miles Beale, chief executive of the Wine & Spirits Trade Association, kick starts a campaign starting today to get the government, the Treasury and the Chancellor to think again about its new damaging alcohol duty regime that is, as warned, sparking inflation with spirits up 8.9% on a year ago, wine up 7.8% and fortified wine up 18.7%. Here he sets out what the industry can do together to get the government to change tack.
We’ve all seen the power of the stand-up comedian that can have an arena full of thousands of people enthralled just by talking about the simple, everyday things we do in our lives. But there is a scientific reason why we love them so much. We can see ourselves in the stories they tell, visualise ourselves doing the very same. That’s the power of using simple, storytelling techniques copied by brands and marketing teams all over the world. Here behaviour scientist expert, Richard Shotton, explains the other powerful steps drinks brands and businesses can take to tell their stories and connect with their customers.
The 2023 British harvest was enormous with 20-22 million bottles predicted, but are the celebrations premature? Indie winemaker Chris Wilson from Gutter&Stars thinks so as he believes the all-crucial benchmark of quality of wines has not been fully determined. In a fascinating insight into 2023 British wines, Wilson explores why there was a glut of fruit in 2023, why over-cropping became an issue and how he has had to deal with the 2023 fruit in order to make the wines he wants to.
Meeting demand and stabilising prices are two possible outcomes of Burgundy 2022 being followed by another plentiful harvest in 2023, writes Nicolas Clerc MS, portfolio director for Armit Wines. In this thought-provoking analysis of the 2022 vintage, Clerc givens an inside track on the wines, where the real value for money lies and which producers to keep an eye on. In general though Burgundy 2022 is solid and moreish in both colours, approachable, expressing terroir, underscored by purity of fruit and freshness. No wonder the Burgundians are smiling again.
Burgundy season has begun in London as we all get a chance to taste Burgundy 2022 first hand. A major generic tasting is happening on Wednesday, the first by the Bourgogne wine board for some time, while from 15th January Burgundy Week proper starts with every day packed with importer tastings. So what is the vintage like and what are the prices looking like? In a fascinating in-depth analysis of Burgundy 2022, Corney & Barrow’s head of fine wine buying, Guy Seddon tries to answer both questions. He looks at this ‘solar vintage’ in detail, at the increased volumes, whether it’s worth buying back vintages or not and also how he sees Burgundy coping with warmer weather moving forwards.
“The rise of the professional drinks buyer in place of the all powerful, ‘just fuck’n do it’ buyer of the past is one of the most significant developments the drinks, hospitality and retail industries have seen in recent years.” Which is why Richard Siddle believes we should start the year by taking a moment to collectively praise what he sees as being our sector’s most important and influential individuals. They are the people we all rely on to do their jobs as professionally as possible so that supermarkets, wine merchants, bars, pubs and restaurants have the right beers, wines and spirits to sell to their customers. He also explains what a professional drinks buyer is and why they are crucially very different to the ones that used to dominate the drinks agenda before and why the industry as a whole is so much better off as a result.
As we brush ourselves down from festive celebrations and move into a new year it’s time to revisit this challenge set last year by The Buyer’s Richard Siddle for our business leaders to stand up and make a real difference for the companies and industries they represent. He fears too often our business leaders are more comfortable staying below the radar and are unwilling to speak out on the big issues that matter and risk opening themselves up to public scrutiny. But there are huge opportunities for those individuals, companies and organisations that are willing to put their necks on the line for the sectors they represent.
The Rioja wine board took its 100kms of Diversity tasting tour around the UK this month to help educate the trade about new developments within the Rioja region but also as part of a ‘levelling up’ process. Janet Harrison, founder of the People’s Choice Wine Awards, caught up with the Rioja tour on its Manchester leg, talked to importers, producers and wine buyers there, and discovered that there is an increasing need to tap into a wider wine-buying community – not just one that is centred around London. Top of the agenda was taking the focus away from ageing (Crianza, Reserva, Gran Reserva etc) and being able to discuss Rioja’s ‘terroir driven wines’.
There are all types of managers, chief executives and business owners. If they are successful and well liked then their unique personality and way of working will be a large reason for their success. But there are also great swathes of business leaders who are not good managers and even worse at looking after their most important asset – their people. It’s why every book store in the land is packed with management support books and advice on how to be a better boss. Ade McKeon is well placed to know what it takes to be a good boss – having held senior roles right across the drinks and retail sector including Cobra Beer, Asda, Mumm Champagne, Courvoisier, Jim Beam and Accolade Wines. He is now looking to share his experiences of what it takes to be a not just a good business leader, but how to get the most of your teams, through his executive coach business, Triade Consultancy. Here are his 12 rules that will give the business framework for your staff to shine.
“What gives me the most satisfaction is seeing the progress of individuals and teams. It’s all too easy to focus on the P&L neither giving the time nor the investment to the needs of the team.” Here’s Ade McKeon’s 12 steps to business success.
“Why do marketers and leaders in wine and spirits businesses so often assume that our consumers are like us?” That’s the view that Lulie Halstead believes holds so many drinks producers back when trying to engage with and market their products to their target audience. In her latest article for The Buyer she sets out why companies need to stop looking at the products they produce through their own eyes, but what they mean to the people they expect to buy them.
Sorry about the clickbait title, but don’t worry you are in the safe hands of respected wine writer Rupert Millar who here shares why he thinks it’s time we all said goodbye to the wine foil, the piece of wine packaging that ends up in the bin before we even get to open the bottle. Yes, it might look nice and help with the overall theatre of bottle opening, but does it really have a place in a world where we are looking to cut back on packaging, be more sustainable and save costs at the same time? Millar makes his case…
You don’t need to be living in the United States to be aware of the fallout to ABInbev and its Bud Light brand after it worked with trans influencer Dylan Mulvaney as part of a recent promotional campaign. Dan Hooper, co-founder of Yes More the drinks brand marketing agency, looks back at what happened, what went wrong and sets out some key lessons to be learnt for major drinks brands – and influencers – on how they can successfully work together.
“Marketing is often not top of mind in many wine organisations and typically is the last cab out off the rank when it comes to budgets and mental resources.” That’s the view of Lulie Halstead, founder of Wine Intelligence, who sets out why she thinks the wine industry needs to take marketing more seriously, or risk falling further behind other drinks categories that do prioritise and invest in marketing themselves to target consumers in ways they want to be spoken to.
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 warns Daniel Hooper, co-founder and chief creative officer at YesMore Creative, the specialist drinks marketing agency.
Are B Corp certifications a sign of genuine commitment to environmental and ethical causes, or are they just the latest corporate fad – an empty promise designed to draw in customers with words but not backed up by any real change? As we look to mark Earth Day 2023 that’s the challenge Dan Hooper, co-founder of the Yesmore Creative marketing agency, has for the drinks industry and the business, brands and celebrities that are now all chasing each other to get B Corp status.
As the Low & No alcohol category continues to grow, drinks inventor David Gluckman – the man who was part of the team that invented Baileys – examines what is happening with Seedlip and the many new entrants to the market that have followed suit. Is the customer being ripped off? And will the bottom fall out of the market? In a fascinating insight, Gluckman thinks both are very real possibilities and suggests some complete (and rather exciting) new directions for Low & No to take. One that the giant manufacturers of soft drinks and mixers would do well to have a think about…
A quiet Monday afternoon at the end of February was transformed yesterday into a full on celebration featuring some of the UK’s top sommelier and restaurant talent who all came together at the Winemakers Club in London to relax, put their daily pressures to one side and raise their glasses and celebrate the finalists and winners in the 2023 Star Wine List of the Year UK with The Buyer.
When it comes to creating content, tasting notes, marketing copy and images or illustrations to be used by businesses across the drinks, retail and hospitality sectors there is a now an increasingly blurred world between what has been created by a human and what has automatically been generated by an artificial intelligence platform. There are now even AI tools out there that are specifically targeted at the wine and drinks industry and many more are expected to follow. For this month’s column Dan Hooper, co-founder of YesMore Creative, analyses just what is the future for AI in our working lives.
“If you go to the town of Setúbal it’s everywhere, and it’s in every thing. It’s in the soap. You name it. They know they have something special.” That’s how wine consultant and broadcaster, Joe Wadsack, explains just how important Moscatel, the fortified, sweet wine is to Portugal’s Setúbal wine region, located just south of Lisbon. In part two of our debate with leading wine importers, merchants and sommeliers on the opportunities for Setúbal in the UK we turn the spotlight on what Moscatel can potentially offer.
When wine writer Lisse Garnett was invited to address an audience of sommeliers in Argentina about what it means to be a woman in wine, she reflected on her own journey and the battles she has had to overcome and still has to face – not only from the opposite sex but from women too. In a deeply personal, and often shocking, piece Garnett asks if female solidarity moves mountains… why are we so rubbish at it?