As the sweeter style of Georgian wine, so popular during Soviet occupation, begins to slowly disappear so the quality of Georgian whites, reds, sparkling and amber gets ever better. The challenge, however, is to maintain the high bar that mindful producers are setting. Justin Keay sees parallels between the flux that the wine industry and Georgian political scene are in, tastes through a range of 300 new wines and picks 10 that need to be on your buying radar.
They say you should not go back to previous roles where you have enjoyed great success before. The conditions that allowed you to thrive first time round can be very different when you return. Martin Williams, chief executive of the Gaucho group of premium Argentine-inspired restaurants, is proving to be an exception to that rule. Since he took over the failing chain as the head of a new private equity-funded hospitality group, Rare Restaurants, that also includes Williams’ own M Restaurants, it is going from strength to strength with new openings in Liverpool, Newcastle and from this month in Covent Garden, with Cardiff waiting in the wings. Richard Siddle catches up with Williams to find out what made him want to go back and to hear more about what he calls his vision for premium, event and occasion driven dining.
With hundreds of thousands of products available the entire wine, beer, spirits and RTDs categories can be extremely challenging to market and sell, particularly as brands come and go all the time. Hundreds of products might appeal to a specific customer at any given moment. But how can drinks businesses, retailers and online players present the right choice of products to the most relevant customer and consumer groups on every occasion – and how do you scale that choice as your business and target audience grows? Be it across web, mobile and intelligent chat. Here Pam Dillon, chief executive and co-founder of Preferabli, explains how it can answer all those questions.
Website:
https://preferabli.com/
Key people
Pam Dillon
Co-founder & CEO
Andrew Sussman
Co-founder & CTO
Sheri Sauter Morano MW
Richard Bampfield MW
Jason Heller MS
Address
New York
Employees around
the world
Telephone
888.746.4480
E-mail
Info@preferabli.com
LinkedIn
Preferabli
France’s Pays d’Oc has long been the go-to region for those in search of ripe, comforting reds at keen prices. But in the last 20 years the gauge has shifted: total wine production has increased, but IGP Pays d’Oc rosé has gradually eaten away at red’s share, now representing 30% of total wines produced here – with giant leaps in both quality and innovation.
In 2021 Languedoc producer, Katie Jones, looked to give her customers and members of the wine trade a unique opportunity to “Adopt an Old Vine” that allowed them to go online and pick out a vine, each given a name and their own back story, and claim it as their own. Now two years later she is re-opening the scheme again and making further vines available on an ongoing basis. Here we re-publish the article with Jones we ran in 2021 where she explains how she came up with the idea and how she hopes it brings her loyal customers even closer not just to her wines, but the actual vines that produce the grapes that go in them.
Rioja was officially split into three zones in 1976 but since then a number of law changes have affected these Vinos de Zona and how they can be produced and marketed. In the second part of this 4-part series, Rioja wine educator Mike Turner explains how a real terroir-led revolution has sprung from the DOCa’s introduction of new geographical wine categories in 2017. Wines can now officially be labelled as being from a specific zone, municipality, or even from a registered single vineyard. Here Turner investigates the idea of wines coming from one of the three specific zones and how robust the ‘borders’ are.
Visit any major wine producer and as well as the chance to buy their flagship wines there is usually a hefty tome all about its history sitting proudly in reception. Some of which, it is fair to say, are better than others. So when, in late 2019, John Stimpfig left his role as the content director of Decanter, he looked to start a fledgling business producing bespoke books that potentially take the quality of producer books to a whole new level. First Press Editions was created the following year, in 2020, with his business partner Ian Mitchell. Here Richard Siddle catches up with Stimpfig to see how it all works and how things are going.
A limited edition 19 year-old English Harbour rum and boutique gin distiller are two major discoveries when Geoffrey Dean visits the Caribbean island of Antigua. The rum is to mark the 90th anniversary of Antigua Distillery, whose Calbert Francis gives the back story to this very special spirit. By contrast Dean also visits the much smaller distiller on the island, Antilles Stillhouse, where David Murphy is producing two gins using local, unique botanicals, a ‘fevergrass’ spirit as well as an Antiguan pastis.
Babylonstoren’s famous garden at its estate tells the story of the people of South Africa’s winelands, their Cape Dutch heritage and the sheer joy of gardening, so what better way to celebrate all three than to showcase not only their historic beautiful farm but also their wines at The RHS Chelsea Flower Show. Our retired Michelin star chef, South African wine explorer and amateur gardener, Roger Jones, spends the day with the team at the show ground.
“We believe that building long term relationships between our producers and customers is the key to success and place a big focus on spending time in market with our producers.” That’s how Andrew Chudley, Davy’s Wine Merchants’ managing director and head wine buyer, describes the company’s strategy that has served the business well for over the last 150 years. He also marks your card on what to expect at its portfolio tasting in London on June 6.
“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 unique properties of old vine wines, how vines manage to survive for over 150 years and what they can tell us about the future of viticulture in the face of climate change, were just some of the topics discussed at the Old Vine Conference 2023 held in Campania. Hosted by Feudi di San Gregorio, leaders in the Italian movement to protect, preserve and make wines from old vines, this second Old Vine Conference brought together leaders in the realm of ancient Italian vineyards to discuss and examine best practices for growing, protecting and promoting old vines and their wines. The Buyer’s Lisse Garnett was there to hear from Professor Attilio Scienza, vine master pruner Pierpaolo Sirch, Feudi di San Gregorio chairman Antonio Capaldo, Sarah Abbott MW and Basilisco winemaker Viviana Malafarina. Garnett also tastes and evaluates 12 old vine wines from across the globe to evaluate their unique properties.
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.
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
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
