Producers of high-strength beer and cider need to step up to the mark and show their commitment to behaving resposibly, says Portman Group chief executive John Timothy:

Mike James is moving on after 10 years of heading up Aldi’s wine buying team. As he prepares to take on a new role at the retailer’s global wine team in Salzburg, Austria, he talks about the highlights of his career in the UK trade.

Life’s only certainties are supposed to be death and taxes – but maybe not for much longer. These days, tax evasion has become increasingly normalised, while “amortality” is apparently coming within our lifetime. So to speak. 

Wine makes up just over a third of all off-trade alcohol sales, contributing more value than any other sector. In a fragmented category, Malbec and Sauvignon Blanc have stood out in recent years and remain the fastest growing varieties in a declining category overall.

In any list of the challenges facing the wine world today – once you get past Brexit – you will find mention of millennials.

We recently received a lovely drop of Jameson 18 Year Old Bow Street. It came in a huge box, accompanied with hefty rocks glasses and the added fanfare of a massive bag of cheese. The dairy delights inspired a cheese joke session, which ended with an explosion at a French cheese factory – and all that was left was de brie. Even our dignity had evaporated.