2015 March

Treasury Wine Estates is merging a number of US operations, putting several Australian wineries up for sales and closing a warehouse in Australia in a cost-cutting drive designed to save £26 million a year.

Shoppers at Tesco will learn about beer styles and food matching when they browse the BWS aisles throughout April via a range of POS from trade campaign There’s a Beer for That.

Camra said it is “very concerned” at the news that Blackburn brewer Thwaites has been taken over by Marston’s.

Marston’s has bought the main beer business of Lancashire’s Thwaites in a £25.1 million deal.

The UK is experiencing a surge in sales of American craft beer.

Kingsland has carried out research it says goes beyond existing studies into wine shopping to look at why consumers buy wines when they do.

William Grant has launched a £1.2 million TV campaign for blended whisky Grant’s Signature, which is targeted at younger drinkers.

Suffolk brewer Adnams says it has returned its retail business to profit after announcing 9.1% sales growth in 2014.

Fourteen million people have been reached by a Twitter campaign funded by the beer industry, according to the organisers.

English sparkling wine producer Hambledon Vineyard aims to raise £3 million in a crowdfunding retail bond to increase production as it bids to sell 200,000 bottles a year by 2020.

Rising prices have forced the Languedoc – the engine room of France’s bulk wine production – to look at more premium offers and establish itself as a top-quality wine region, not a bargain basement.

Pimm’s is targeting the burgeoning fruit cider market with a new spirit cider – or “spider” – that blends the brand’s strawberry and cucumber flavours with British cider.

It’s generally accepted in the wine business that the current rebirth of Oddbins is a force for good. When people are expressing that opinion they’re prone to refer to a “golden age”, starting some time in the early 1980s and running well into the following decade. And when they do the name of Steve Daniel isn’t usually very far away.

Over the past decade German wine has shed its excess baggage like a celebrity on a fad diet, leaving behind the frumpy hausfrau image of the Liebfraumilch and Hock generation.

Ales By Mail is a family business set up by Paul Kruzycki, his wife Karen and their daughters Millie and Abbie in a bid to help the burgeoning number of craft beers from the UK and around the world reach a wider audience.

Cheshire chain Corks Out is set to open a sixth store as founder Ruth Yates focuses on a concept combining a shop and wine bar.

The Llanelli & County Guardian was the unlikely chronicler of a landmark moment in brewing history. On December 3, 1935, it reported the first successful commercial packaging of a beer in cans in the UK, by the town’s Felinfoel brewery.

Juniper is the main flavour component in gin. It has to be – that’s the rule. “It’s like licking a Christmas tree”, says Nick Dymoke-Marr, co-founder of Langton’s No 1 gin, describing the taste of the berries in their raw state. “It’s really rather unpleasant,” he adds. “The pulp inside the berries has got a nasty, greasy character to it.”

Green Valley Cyder is concession in the Darts Farm shop near Exeter,  where owners Nick Pring (pictured right) and Chris Coles make and sell cider. Beyond an impressive range of bottled ciders and beers, customers can watch cider being made in the company’s own press. Green Valley also sells draught cider with plenty of opportunities for tasting – both of its own range and for suppliers to show off their wares in the farm shop’s main food hall.

The head of the Portman Group says a partnership approach to issues around alcohol misuse between the industry and government has helped bring more lower-in-alcohol drinks to the market.

Waitrose and the discounters have been the biggest winners in still wine over the past year, significantly outpacing rivals’ sales and snatching their customers.

Diageo is aiming to breathe life into its beer division by launching Guinness golden ale and backing the new brew with a £4.5 million ad campaign.

Tesco’s recently reinstated global wine boss, Dan Jago, has questioned the commercial value of Germany’s Prowein trade show and urged producers to focus on more innovation.

The boss of the Scotch Whisky Association has called on health campaigners to show “a little less disdain” for workers in the drinks industry.

Australia is on the brink of a renaissance as it “bounces back” and is boosted by increasingly favourable exchange rates and “the best premium wines the country has ever made”, according to the trade.

Aldi has upped the ante in the aisles by releasing a set of £9.99 wines to trade its customers into higher price points.

The UK’s second largest cider producer has hit back after a homeless charity said its flagship Frosty Jack’s should be withdrawn from sale on public health grounds.

A wine merchant’s portfolio has to speak for itself. There’s no point having eye-catching merchandising or an integrated social media strategy if the wines themselves aren’t good enough. Here are seven wines that tell me whether a wine shop is worth its salt. How many are on your shelves?

Wines of Portugal said it has increased exports to the UK by 23% in the past year after targeting independent wine merchants.

Sopexa has added the first non-French brand to its portfolio after becoming a private agency that can represent estates from across the world.