Vincor International officially rejected Constellation brands C$31-per-share offer for the Canadian drinks company last week, leading to a potential war of words after a stinging rebuke from Constellation chairman Richard Sands.
Drinks Industry 2005
23-25 November
Crocus Expo
Moscow, Russia
Organisers: Asti Group Exhibition Company
Smolensky Passage, 3 Smolenskaya Square, Moscow, Russia
Tel: +7 (095) 797 6914
info@drinksindustry.ru
www.drinksindustry.ru
The lifeblood of any industry - especially one where the product is made overseas - is those who sell its products. As a role, sales may not have the glamour of the marketer or the importance of the buyer, but good salespeople are arguably the most coveted (and hardest to retain) employees in any business, in any sector.
Read more...A South African events company is launching a new three-day consumer food and drink show at London's ExCeL centre in June 2006.
Read more...Fine weather greeted the participants at the annual wine-trade regatta, which took place in Seaview on 2 September. Thirteen teams battled it out for the Seaview Bucket, which was eventually won by Justin Waples crewed by Will Gemell and Ian Bailey. The Whittington's Salver for runners-up went to Nigel Clift, Paul Gardiner and Marcus Little.
HwCg has launched a new specialist independent division, headed up by sales director Richard Berrington.
The new division aims to offer exclusive labels from its existing suppliers, as well as wines from new agencies sourced for the portfolio.
Super-premium Polish vodka Belvedere has decided to expand from its style-bar base and into the off-trade.
China is in the middle of a Scotch boom, with sales up 124% in the last six months due to drinkers mixing the whisky with locally produced green tea.
A series of four 15-minute infomercials' will hit the small screen this week, entitled Fine Wine TV, with four different cases on offer.
What made you choose The Connaught?
I spent a few months as the head sommelier for Aurora, but I didn't like the feeling of the City. They don't want sommeliers, they just want to order Sancerre or Chablis and have a quick lunch so they can go back to work and do their business again. I prefer Mayfair. People are traditional but more open to trying Riesling, say, or something like Amarone La Marega from Salette.
Exhibitors and consumers alike gave the thumbs-up to the inaugural Wine Show London - which took place in Islington last weekend - with the calibre of attendee and the organisation of the show particularly praised.
Winchester-based German wine specialist The Winebarn has added top Mosel-Saar-Ruwer producer St Urbanshof to its agency roster. Owner Nik Weis will be in London this week to launch his association with The Winebarn in a tasting at The Capital Hotel, Basil Street, Knightsbridge (7 November, 3-5pm).
Read more...The Conseil Interprofessionnel du Vin de Bordeaux has appointed Douglas Morton as a consultant in the UK. A former MD of Baron Philippe de Rothschild UK, Morton will be charged with opening lines of communication between the CIVB and opinion formers and decision makers' in the UK trade.
ProWein, the major German wine and spirits show that is held in Dsseldorf in March, wants to attract more UK visitors.
With 2,773 exhibitors (Vinitaly, 4,064; Vinexpo, 2,500; and London International Wine & Spirits Fair (LIWSF), 1,300), ProWein claims the largest number of Italian and French exhibitors outside of their respective countries' own shows and also showcases the German wine industry with 700 producers exhibiting. The UK remains Germany's number-one export market, bringing in 971,315 hectolitres in 2004, compared to the number-two Netherlands with 380,870hl.
South Africa is the priority for Waitrose's new wine buyer Justin Howard-Sneyd MW, who has replaced Simon Thorpe MW.
Howard-Sneyd did three vintages in the Rainbow Nation in the mid-1990s at the time of the regime change, but he has not been back since, except for a week's honeymoon when it rained throughout.
A group of top wine writers, communicators and retailers have put together a case of top wines in a bid to raise money for drinks-trade charity The Benevolent.
Read more...Adrian McKeon, the former head of Allied Domecq's wine arm, has been appointed managing director at Jim Beam UK, the new UK division of Fortune Brands, Pernod Ricard's partner in the break-up of Allied Domecq.
Read more...Author and occasional Harpers contributor Andrew Jefford has been named the world's best drink journalist at an awards ceremony in Adelaide.
Next year (21-22 April) will see Edinburgh host the inaugural World Whiskies Conference, which aims to provide a forum for the global whisky-distilling industry'.
Western Wines MD and Wine & Spirit Trade Association (WSTA) board member Mike Paul has defended the association against accusations that it has lost its way in the wake of its protracted hunt for a new chief executive.
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