Harpers Wine & Spirit Trade News

Diageo collaborates on sustainable glass bottle trial

Published: 08 April, 2021

Diageo has collaborated in a pilot project to pioneer the lowest carbon footprint glass bottles ever produced for a Scotch whisky brand.

UK glass manufacturer creates 'world’s most sustainable glass bottle'

Published: 09 February, 2021

Glass container manufacturer Encirc has create what it claims to be the world’s most sustainable glass bottle.

First roll out of Absolut’s paper bottle launches in the UK

Published: 25 January, 2021

Pernod Ricard’s flagship vodka brand, Absolut, will be rolling out its prototype “paper” bottle from today (25 January), initially in both the UK and Sweden.

Embracing sustainable thinking

Published: 07 January, 2021

Bacardi’s new plant-based, entirely biodegradable bottle marks a new era for packaging and design ambition, which aims to push sustainably crafted products to the front of the mass-market shelf.

Innovation showcase

Published: 15 December, 2020

James Lawrence rounds up the biggest launches from a tumultuous, yet ever-creative, year

The winners: Harpers Design Awards 2020

Published: 07 December, 2020

Each year the entries for Harpers Design Awards deliver much to delight, with the bar raised time and again, and so it proved once more with our 2020 judging. This year delivered many exemplary category winners, along with a host of worthy gold, silver and bronze medals.

Banrock Station launches first flat-bottled wines

Published: 03 November, 2020

Banrock Station, the Accolade Wines brand, is to release two of its wines in flat bottles made from 100% recycled plastic for the first time.

Lindeman's goes carbon neutral in Europe

Published: 07 October, 2020

The Lindeman’s wine brand is set to be certified carbon neutral in Europe, thanks to a new partnership between brand-owner Treasury Wine Estates (TWE) and the Carbon Trust.

Brand and packaging rethink needed as convenience and sustainability trends accelerate

Published: 15 July, 2020

A major shift in the way alcoholic drinks are packaged, dispensed and branded may well be here to stay in the wake of the pandemic.

Q&A: Rowena Curlewis, CEO & co-founder, Denomination

Published: 21 May, 2020

Designer Rowena Curlewis talks trends and packaging design in a post-pandemic world. Andrew Catchpole tunes in.

Change of pace: How Covid/climate pressures are accelerating innovation of packaging and design

Published: 20 May, 2020

With drinks fast evolving to meet consumer trends, design and packaging has an ever more important role in communicating change, writes Andrew Catchpole

Drinks trade ranks poorly on new sustainability index

Published: 10 February, 2020

The drinks industry is lagging behind other business sectors in its approach to sustainability, according to a new report published today.

Wine’s darker materials: glass vs the alternatives

Published: 06 January, 2020

A rising clamour over packaging and sustainability is leading many parts of the industry to go back to the drawing board on glass and look at alternative materials. Does plastic deserve its bad reputation?

Serving up sustainability

Published: 21 August, 2019

Sustainability encompasses myriad aspects of business and production. These range from the big-ticket environmental and carbon-emission concerns – seeking to mitigate and adapt in the face of now-rapid climate change – to the socio-economic, whereby workers and employees are offered a fairer deal, including aspects of pay, work conditions, education and advancement.

Trade should stop bottling it on carbon emissions

Published: 28 June, 2019

Bottling and packaging play by far the largest role in the green house gas (GHG) emissions generated by the production and distribution of a wine, contributing 42% of the total carbon footprint, delivering a clear ‘innovation challenge’ for the trade if it is to fully join the march towards greater sustainability.

Jerry Lockspeiser: Your wine probably does not exist

Published: 23 May, 2019

“If a tree falls in a forest and no one is there to hear it, does it make a sound?”

Gap in recycling offers huge opportunity for brand owners and retailers

Published: 26 March, 2019

Concerns over health and safety are hampering the use of recycled materials in food in drink, new research has suggested.

Portman group tackles ‘offensive marketing’ in sixth code of practice

Published: 05 March, 2019

UK alcohol regulator the Portman Group has updated its packaging and promotional guidance for society’s evolving standards, including a new rule around ‘offence’.

Harpers Design Awards 2018: The winners

Published: 10 December, 2018

Good design may only sell the one, first bottle if the liquid inside is discovered to be below par. But present the most sublime booze in a mediocre or off-putting package and the painstaking craft of the distiller or winemaker is likely to be left collecting dust.

Premium and new formats offer big opportunities for bulk wine market

Published: 28 November, 2018

With the global 2018 harvests bringing the world’s wine supply back into greater balance, the market is evolving to allow greater fluidity in supply, to the benefit of premium bulk players and smaller volume buyers, with differing formats cited as key to future consumer engagement and sales.