Concha y Toro has announced the renewal of the Casillero del Diablo sponsorship of Sky Movies.

Sogrape appoints new MD for UK

02 February, 2016

The Sogrape Group has announced the appointment of Gonçalo Sousa Machado as its new Sogrape UK managing director.

Conviviality has announced revenues were up 38% to £252m for the half-year ending November 1, despite a company restructuing following the acquisition of Matthew Clark.

The Consejo Regulador Jerez-Xérès-Sherry and Manzanilla-Sanlúcar de Barrameda, has announced the retirement of its Sherry Wines UK director, Graham Hines.

Unearth Wines Unearthed

01 February, 2016

Organisers of the Wines Unearthed initiative is calling for participants at this year’s London Wine Fair.

The AfrAsia Bank Cape Wine Auction organisers say there are 40 extraordinary once-off lots, the selling of which will benefit youth education in the South African winelands.

Cape Wine Auction dates

28 January, 2016

The organisers of the Cape Wine Auction, described as South Africa’s most successful charity fundraiser, has announced that it will take place on February 12 and 13 at Klein Constantia.

New Zealand wine exports have reached a new record high of $1.54 billion for the 2015 year, up 14% on 2014, according to New Zealand Winegrowers.

Wine Australia has announced that its exports have jumped 14% to AUS$2.1 billion in 2015, the highest growth in value since October 2007.

Napa wineries drop port

21 January, 2016

Three winery members of the Napa Valley Vintners (NVV) have announced that they are giving up voluntarily the use of port on their fortified dessert wine labels.

The Bourgogne Wine Board (BIVB) has approved unanimously its Plan Bourgogne 2020 for managing sustainably the wine region’s production potential.

New Zealand Winegrowers has announced that Gisborne will play host to New Zealand’s first Chardonnay and Sparkling Wine Symposium next month.

WSET Educator of the Year

19 January, 2016

The Wine & Spirit Education Trust’s Educator of the Year is Chris Powell of the Local Wine School network of 23 wine schools dotted around the UK.

The Napa Valley Vintners has announced that 25 of the lots featured in this year's Premiere Napa Valley Barrel tasting and futures auction will be offered exclusively online.

Jascots Wine Merchants saw calendar-year turnover rise 8.5% in 2015, after closing its online consumer operation to focus on the UK on-trade.

Hambledon announces expansion

21 December, 2015

Managing director of English sparkling wine vineyard, Hambledon, Ian Kellett has announced plans to expand the estate’s facilities in response to growing demand.

There is no clear evidence that craft beer and spirits are taking share from US Millennial wine drinkers, according to Christian Miller of Full Glass Research.

The fruit wine category is a virtually untapped opportunity and producers have a hand in shaping the industry from the ground up, a winemaker tells Wine Vision 2015. 

The potential that is pent up in the wine industry can be released in the pooling of knowledge and resources between competitors, according to Adrian Bridge of Fladgate Partnership.

Targeting Millennials and speaking their language is an essential, long overdue strategy for the wine industry, according to a senior drinks analyst at Wine Vision 2015.

Champagne is waking from its slumber in the vineyards of complacency but more needs to be done to claw back sales from other sparkling wines, according to Spiros Malandrakis of Euromonitor International. 

Kumala, the leading South African wine brand is the official wine sponsor of Sir Ian Botham’s eight day charity walk across South Africa, dubbed ‘Beefy Walking the Rainbow Nation’.

The Consejor Regulador DO Cava, the regulatory board for Spain’s famous sparkling wine, says worldwide sales were up a 1.7% to more than 158 million in the first nine months of the year, compared with the same period in 2014.

The Napa Valley Vintners (NVV) has announced that it has obtained a Certification Mark from the US Patent and Trademark Office for the name ’Napa Valley’.

The Champagne & Sparkling Wine World Championships (CSWWC) is now officially open for 2016 entries.

Accolade unveils Anakena

07 December, 2015

Accolade Wines launched its new Chilean wine brand, Anakena, at the British Tennis Champions Tournament at the Royal Albert Hall on December 4.

Treasury Wine Estates has announced that it is to provide calorific values for its wines online.

Ridgeview Wine Estate’s Roberts family has been awarded the Wine Guild of the United Kingdom’s highest achievement award.

Wine Vision 2015 will challenge ‘old thinking’ with its focus on innovation, new routes to market and sustainability with commercial rewards, organisers said. 

Messe Düsseldorf has announced ProWine China 2015 attracted over 10,000 visitors, a 25% increase on last year.

Sparkling wine supplier Frizzenti has announced it will add nine new reds, whites and rosés to its range of still wines in keg. 

Chapel Down has announced the release of ‘England’s first orange wine’, Chapel Down Orange Bacchus 2014.

Domaine Zind Humbrecht has announced a change in its UK distribution by appointing Gonzalez Byass UK. 

The Rhône Valley has experienced “one of the best harvests in recent years” and the “red wines are showing an incredible level of potential”, according to Côtes du Rhône Wines. 

Tourist figures in Champagne are up 15% on last year as a result of the ‘UNESCO World Heritage effect’, according to the president of the Associations Paysages du Champagne. 

Diageo has sold its major US wine interests, plus Percy Fox in the UK, to Treasury Wine Estates.

Chapel Down sales up a third

25 September, 2015

English wine and beer producer Chapel Down Group saw sales climb 33% to £3.25m, with gross profit up 31% to £1.17m.

New sherry website

10 September, 2015

The Consejo Regulador of the Denominación de Origen Jerez- Xeres-Sherry, the regulatory body for sherry, has marked its 80th anniversary by launching a new website.

Armand de Brignac Champagne has announced that Bernadette Knight is its new chief marketing officer.

Prosecco harvest report

08 September, 2015

Follador, the major premium prosecco producer, is predicting an incredibly satisfying 2015 harvest.

Champagne Roederer’s Cristal Rosé 2004 is the Champagne & Sparkling Wine World Championships’ 2015 Supreme World Champion.

Burgundy harvest is under way

03 September, 2015

The Bureau Interprofessionel des Vins de Bourgogne reports the harvest is under way and its winemakers are smiling.

The Austrian Wine Marketing Board reports that the quality of grapes for the 2015 vintage is high but yields will be average.

Gisela Kirschstein, a journalist based in Mainz, Germany was the winner of the third annual Great Wine Capitals Guest Bloggers’ competition.

The title of the best sommelier in the Baltic States was won last week by Raimonds Tomsons, the head sommelier Vincents restaurant in Latvia.

McKinley Vintners has become UK Agent for Champagne Janisson et Fils.

The champagne house Krug has announced a two-day tasting experience– including one rare bottle of Krug Private Cuvée 1915 – to be auctioned as one lot at Sotheby’s New York on September 25.

Rioja producer Ramón Bilbao has bought what it describes as a “dream parcel” of vines in the region, and the winery’s highest altitude owned vineyard to date.

The US has overtaken Australia to become New Zealand wine’s largest export market by value, according to the 2015 annual report of New Zealand Winegrowers.

Champagne Pol Roger has arranged a cricket match between Champagne and  English sparkling wine.

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