Back in the early days of making spirits, the price and availability of grain was the critical factor facing any distiller. In Scotland, for example, the size of the local harvest had a direct effect on how much whisky was produced at the local distillery – whether legally or not. Whenever the harvest failed, the government of the time was apt to ban distilling altogether…

There are 303 million people in the U S and each year four million will turn 21, enabling them to legally consume alcoholic drinks. Thirty per cent of 25 year olds will gain a bachelor of arts degree and, despite the weak dollar at the moment, real income is 50 per cent higher than it was in 1970. This is the mother of all consumer…

For aficionados of Italian wine, the Antinori dynasty is royalty. In fact, Piero is a marchese – the equivalent of a marquess or marquis and the family can trace its roots back to Florence in the 13th century. But more currently and pertinently, these brothers are responsible for two of Italy’s most famous and  expensive wines – Piero’s Tignanello and Lodovico’s Tenuta dell’Ornellaia – both IGT super…

Insoglio del Cinghiale (“place of the wild boar”) 2006 is a blend of 30 per cent Syrah, 25 per cent Merlot, 25 per cent Cabernet Franc, 15 per cent Cabernet Sauvignon and 5 per cent Petit Verdot Il Pino di Biserno (“pine trees of Biserno”) 2005 is: 35 per cent Cabernet Franc 30 per cent Cabernet Sauvignon, 30 per cent Merlot and 15 per…

Rising costs and low retail prices are putting the squeeze on drinks suppliers’ margins like never before. Prices of the stuff drinks come in, as well as the raw materials they’re made of, are in many cases in double-digit growth across Europe . Such costs are generally invisible to consumers who have become used to getting more for less, making it hard for…

It was an ambitious project : gather some of the world’s top winemakers to discuss “the latest and future trends in the winemaking industry”, and then try to reach a consensus on whether increasing quality control in wine production is the enemy of wine diversity. The simple answer is yes . As winemakers trot the globe to learn techniques and share technological improvements with…

Prior to establishing a global business unit, Bacardi operated on a market-by-market basis. Good things were achieved, but the company was missing significant opportunities, according to Maurice Doyle. “So we set ourselves four objectives,” he says. “The first is to, over time, become the leading premium spirits supplier in the travel retail sector. The second is to have a shop window effect in travel retail…