Berry Bros & Rudd has announced that Simon Berry is to retire from his role as chairman in December this year. Berry has spent 12 years as chairman of the board and forty years working for the business. He will be replaced by Lizzy Rudd, who is currently serving as deputy chairman. The new coincides with the weekend’s announcement that Berry has been recognized in…

Enotria took over the Saatchi Gallery in London’s Sloane Square for its annual tasting yesterday. A thousand guests including buyers from the likes of Tesco and Majestic flitted between 10 galleries crammed with wines from around the globe. Under the shadow of a monolithic acrylic canvas by Russian artist Valery Koshlyakov guests tasted a range of wines from Portuguese estate Quinta do Crasto. They were…

Simon Baile has done a deal to buy back the bulk of his collapsed Excellar off-licence chain from its administrator. The chain went into administration in late January after an attempt by Baile to buy Excellar in a pre-pack deal, through a new vehicle called Prebinvest, was stymied by a group of creditors. After two weeks of talks with the ex-Odd- bins boss, creditors and…

Former Oddbins owner Simon Baile has been forced to close a number of stores in his Excellar chain and is looking to restructure its ownership. Baile was at the helm of Oddbins when it collapsed in March 2011 with debts of more than £20 million. He subsequently expanded Excellar to six stores. However, last week he was forced to close his Paris outlet after 11…