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    People: Producer
    By on January 24, 2022
    Michel Prunier

    Bourgogne Week Q&A: Tanners & Domaine Michel Prunier et Fille

    “Our aim is to represent the wines of Bourgogne as broadly as possible, lesser-known Village AOCs can often provide more accessible price points than their more famous near neighbours.” So says Simon Jones of family-run and owned Tanners Wine Merchants as he and Estelle Prunier of Auxey-Duresses-based Domaine Michel Prunier et Fille discuss this appellation that sits between Meursault and Volnay and how it has fared in the new 2020 and 2021 vintages. This is the latest Bourgogne Week interview that The Buyer and Bourgogne Wines are posting to highlight how different UK specialist Bourgogne wine importers work with their partners in Bourgogne, particularly for emerging and lesser-known appellations.

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    People: Producer
    By on January 13, 2022
    Grange

    70 years on – how Penfolds’ the Grange almost never happened

    To celebrate its 70th anniversary, Penfolds held a special dinner for the Grange with vintages dating back to 1979. Our man at the tasting, David Kermode, reports back on the event and talks to head winemaker Peter Gago about what makes the wine so special. Kermode also hears a rare recording of Grange creator Max Schubert talking about Grange and about how this most iconic of Australian wines could have been a stillborn project from the outset.

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    People: Producer
    By on January 12, 2022
    Gutter&Stars 2022

    Making English wine in 2021: how Wilson’s Gutter&Stars coped

    A vintage that ended on December 30… welcome to winemaking in England and one of the most challenging vintages in history. For Chris Wilson, wine scribe turned winemaker and owner of Cambridge’s first urban winery Gutter&Stars, 2021 was a vintage which threw everything possible at winemakers; he did, however, get some decent juice out of the year along with plaudits for his inaugural wines, including from Roger Jones who made Gutter&Stars’ first Chardonnay his Christmas pour.

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    People People: Producer
    By on December 23, 2021
    bec hardy bec and richard

    Bec Hardy on Australia’s new wine producer generation

    The Hardy name is as synonymous with Australian wine as the Bradman family is with its cricket. So for Bec Hardy a career in wine was mapped out for her from birth. But when in 2020 she took over the Pertaringa wine brand business from her parents, Geoff and Fiona Hardy, she notched up a first even in her esteemed wine family by becoming the first female vineyard owner and wine producer in six generations. Here she is joined by her husband, and business partner, Richard Dolan, as they explain how they plan to bring new generation thinking to their Bec Hardy Wines and Pertaringa range of premium wines.

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    People: Producer
    By on December 21, 2021
    bairrada adega cantehede

    The Magnificent Seven: our pick of Bairrada producers for your list

    If you are an ambitious, adventurous wine buyer you would do well to concentrate your efforts on what some of the lesser known regions of Portugal are up to – a constant hive of new wines often made from native, indigenous grapes with unique styles. Which is very much what Bairrada, in the Beiras region of northern Portugal, nestled in just below Porto has to offer. As part of our link up with the region The Buyer today shines the light on seven producers that are already in the UK and makes the case for why they might be worth putting on your shopping list for the new year.

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    People People: Producer
    By on December 14, 2021
    ginbey screen

    Faouzi Issa on GinBey – Lebanon’s first premium exported gin

    “I don’t see myself as a normal citizen in Lebanon,” says Faouzi Issa, winemaker and owner of the award-winning Domaine des Tourelles. “I see myself as more of a pioneer.” It’s certainly a philosophy and objective that helps Issa look outside of Lebanon for his inspiration and has helped him build a successful export business, first for his wines and now, he hopes, for a new focus on artisan spirits, starting with one of the country’s first premium gins – GinBey.  He talks to Richard Siddle about the new lease of life distilling gin has given him.

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    People People: Producer
    By on December 2, 2021
    meda human adam feldheim

    Medahuman’s Adam Feldheim: Why CBDs are good for business

    Regulars at The Birley Group, The Ivy Collection, Chiltern Firehouse, Park Chinois and Aqua Shard are amongst the growing number of premium on-trade customers turning to CBDs and other wellbeing products that offer just a little something more than an average glass of Sauvignon Blanc or gin and tonic. Adam Feldheim is one of a number of new players in the drinks market that are bringing business and finance skills, as well as the ability to create new health and wellness products, to a fast growing community of consumers, as he explains to Richard Siddle.

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    People: Producer
    By on December 1, 2021
    IXSIR

    How IXSIR is rolling with the punches in devastated Lebanon

    Eighteen months since the devastating blast in Beirut harbour, Lebanon is still reeling from crisis after crisis. That hasn’t dampened enthusiasm within the country’s wine industry, however, argues Etienne Debbane, head of IXSIR, the company whose winery was named as one of the greenest buildings in the world – in fact wine is one of the few industries that is helping people make ends meet. In a revealing interview with Justin Keay, Debbane explains why he has halved the price of his wines to the domestic market and has focussed his energies on planting more hectares of vines including Pinot Noir and Assyrtiko. Keay also picks out three IXSIR wines that he recommends for quality and value.

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    People People: Producer
    By on November 29, 2021
    gayda en passant poster good Long Read

    Tim Ford: building brands is key to Domaine Gayda’s success

    A wine producer is nothing without great quality wines. That’s a given. But having great wines is not going to make you a successful wine producer. For that you need brands. But what comes first? Here Tim Ford, co-owner of Domaine Gayda, the independent winery in the heart of the Languedoc Roussillon, talks to Richard Siddle about how having a carefully thought-through brand strategy has allowed it to make wines that reflect and tell stories of the land it makes wine from – spread across four distinct terroirs in this diverse, wine-producing region.

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    People: Producer
    By on November 29, 2021
    Cabernet Collective

    South Africa’s Cabernet Collective sets out its mission  

    At a tasting to highlight top end Stellenbosch Cabernet Sauvignon, Christo Le Riche, chair of the Cabernet Collective explains how the historical wine producers of the Cape are trying to focus worldwide media attention on South African Cabernet Sauvignon in order to underline the region’s ability to make premium and ultra-premium red wine. Le Riche and his fellow members of the Cabernet Collective believe that Cabernet is the grape for South Africa to hang its hat on – that the message from the industry should be specialisation rather than diversification, and that big brands should carry this message to the outside world to allow South Africa to ride bumps in the road more smoothly.

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    People: Producer
    By on November 25, 2021
    PICTURE 4

    Why Gianni Doglia is Gambero Rosso’s winemaker of 2022

    When Italian wine ‘Bible’ Gambero Rosso announced Gianni Doglia as its winemaker of the year for 2022, there were many in the wine trade who were delighted that this visionary winemaker from Piemonte was finally getting the critical acclaim he has deserved. Doglia’s wines, including the game-changing Moscato D’Asti Casa Di Bianca, have won the prestigious Tre Bicchieri awards in the past, but being made Italy’s winemaker of the year also takes into account his commitment to sustainability as both a founding member of The Green Experience and as a follower of Italy’s SQNPI protocol. For wine expert Mike Turner it was an added bonus – Doglia was the person who converted him from drinking ‘snakebite’ into appreciating great wine, and is now a personal friend.

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    People People: Producer
    By on November 23, 2021
    Tim Adams Wines Clare Valley, South Australia Photo: John Krüger

    Why Mr. Mick could be the next big Australian wine brand

    Tim Adams is not the only Australian wine producer to be chomping at the bit. Stuck in Australia, unable to travel for months on end, but keener than ever to do business and open up new markets around the world. He is particularly keen to widen his existing business in the UK, a market he loves and knows well, particularly for the new Mr. Mick wine brand that has done so well in Australia and other key export markets around the world. Here he is joined by his business development director, Andrew De Zolt, as they talk about their international plans and in particular the opportunities for its Mr. Mick brand.

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    People People: Producer
    By on November 21, 2021
    cronk gin Long Read

    How Mirabeau wants to redefine pink gin category in the on-trade

    Mirabeau Gin started with a Eureka moment in a car park after de-alcoholising a low abv rosé, and it has gone on to become one of the fastest-growing premium gins on the planet. Now the focus is on expanding into the premium on-trade with ex-Seedlip COO Emma Wykes leading the charge. Co-owner, Stephen Cronk, explains how his Provence-based rosé winery has managed to find a gap in the market and why the world actually does need another gin… just don’t call it ‘pink’ OK.

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    People People: Producer
    By on November 10, 2021
    lyme bay standing by barrels matt austin

    Lyme Bay Winery on leading the way for quality English still wines

    Lyme Bay Winery is one of the emerging number of English wine producers that are making their name making still rather than sparkling wines and by sourcing grapes from five different sites across the south of England it is well placed to provide a consistent, quality supply to the premium on-trade and specialist retail sectors. Here we talk to managing director and winemaker, James Lambert, and head of sales and marketing, Paul Sullivan, about their growth plans and how they hope a new distribution deal with Bancroft Wines will help take them to the next level.

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    People People: Producer
    By on November 9, 2021
    lenz markus with grapes

    “Grüner for the world” by Lenz Moser & Markus Huber

    For his latest wine project the award-winning winemaker, Lenz Moser has returned to Austria to team up with one of the country’s fastest rising stars, Markus Huber, to create a new wine they believe will help re-invent Grüner Veltliner, one of Austria’s most important grape varieties, and potentially introduce it to new drinkers all over the world. Richard Siddle caught up with Moser to understand just why he is so excited about New Chapter Grüner Veltliner and what makes it so different.

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    People People: Producer
    By on November 5, 2021
    vilafonte three founders

    South Africa’s Vilafonté: IWSC’s Outstanding Producer of 2021

    To be named Outstanding Wine Producer in the world is an achievement any producer must aspire to, but for the team behind premium South African wine brand, Vilafonté, it is the culmination of 25 years work that has seen some of the finest talent from two countries – the United States and South Africa – come together with one dream: to make a wine that could stand shoulder to shoulder with the best in the world. Today’s IWSC accolade shows it has gone one step further. Richard Siddle talks to Vilafonté co-founder, Mike Ratcliffe, about why this is an award that is also testimony to the huge advances there have been in South Africa as a whole that have made it an equal to any other world class wine producing country.

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    People People: Producer
    By on November 4, 2021
    bordeaux Chateau-Millerose3

    David Faure & Château Mille Roses on the new Bordeaux

    We continue our series looking at the next generation of winemakers that are taking Bordeaux forward with their own visions and innovations with an interview with David Faure of Château Mille Roses in the Medoc by breakthrough wine writer Sophia Longhi. Here he explains how the decision to go organic has helped him bring his own ideas to the vines and wines and break away from the text book winemaking he was taught at university and how he hopes farming sustainably will leave a healthy winery for his children.

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    People People: Producer
    By on November 3, 2021
    wakefield wines Clinton Taylor inspecting new plant growth on the Wakefield Clare Valley property

    How Wakefield Wines is leading climate change challenge

    If you want to know how to really tackle your carbon impact then spend some time analysing the efforts that Australia’s Wakefield Wines has taken over the last 15 or so years. It claims to have been the first producer back in 2009 to introduce a carbon neutral wine range and is now on course to be what it says will be the first independent Australian winery to commit to the terms laid down in 2015’s Paris Agreement to reduce its emissions by 50% by 2030, and a target to achieve net-zero emissions by 2050. Here Clinton Taylor, general manager, explains why it is so committed to leading the way on climate action and the immediate steps other wineries can take.

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    People: Producer
    By on October 21, 2021
    harvest

    Why ‘Hold your nerve’ is mantra for GB’s November harvest

    Sugar levels are down and acidity levels are up in Britain’s 2021 grape harvest, which is fine if you’re making sparkling wine but not such good news if you are making still wine like Chris Wilson. Wine scribe turned winemaker, Wilson runs Gutter&Stars, Cambridge’s first urban winery and his nerves are jangling as the still wine harvest is running four weeks later than 2020. Will the grapes ripen in time? Will rot set in? And how will this change the style of wines he will be making in 2021? More news from the front in our continuing series on how one wine writer has put his money where his mouth is and started making wine… in a windmill.

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    People: Producer
    By on October 21, 2021
    Hubert de Boüard

    The New Normal with Château Angélus’ Hubert de Boüard

    Hubert de Boüard is best known for being the co-owner of Château Angélus, where he was born and famously given a pair of secateurs on his seventh birthday. Always destined to be a winemaker, de Boüard also runs Château La Fleur de Boüard and Hubert de Boüard Consulting, his company consulting for 80 wineries, primarily in the Bordeaux region, making him a key player there. As part of The Buyer’s ongoing series on bouncing back from the pandemic, Peter Dean hears from him as to how life has changed post-COVID.

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