Uber’s buyout of US-based third-party alcohol delivery platform Drizly was finalised in October 2021. Following her recent appearance at Vinexpo America, Drizly COO Cathy Lewenberg spoke to Jo Gilbert about what the future of drinks delivery looks like and whether the model could translate to the UK.
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New research from KAM sheds new light on the changing habits of wine drinkers, with younger demographics a catalyst for growth.
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The popularity of lighter and longer serves is unlikely to be a passing fad. For one thing, who doesn’t want their drink to last longer? But more importantly, these drinks also tap into the ongoing trend of moderating alcohol consumption. Oliver Winters, global communications director at Fever-Tree, says consumers have “opened their eyes” to the world of premium spirits and during the lockdown months they learnt how easy it is to make different long mixed drinks at home.
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Stephen Dell, senior client lead at market analyst Kantar, argues that brand strength – not price cutting – is the best weapon against inflation.
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It is a wine category often overlooked by keen officiants as being too delicate and perfume-y, lacking the panache and complexity of its rivals. However, multiples prefer profit margins over pretentiousness and have helped make rosé the fastest-growing wine category for over a decade.
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The UK’s spirits industry is flourishing. The UK Spirits Alliance claims the number of British distilleries has tripled in the past five years alone, sitting today at about 710. While the wide array of homemade spirits available to British consumers makes for a dynamic, vibrant and diverse market, it also means that standing out from the crowd is for brands an increasingly challenging endeavour.
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For 20 years, graphic warnings have been emblazoned on cigarette packets in the UK, warning consumers of the health risks associated with tobacco. A couple of decades later and alcohol might be subjected to similar labelling, potentially dissuading young people from buying beer, wine and spirits in the future.
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Is glass creating a bottleneck in the drive to greater sustainability and can we change consumer perception of it as a strong indicator of quality? Andrew Catchpole reports back from Harpers’ recent Sustainability of Glass webinar.
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One of the biggest challenges facing wine producers worldwide is the shortage of glass bottles – but that’s not the only problem that will dog 2022, as James Bayley reports.
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Restaurants across the country are still suffering the devastating effects of Covid and face a tidal wave of soaring costs, including a return to 20% VAT.
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On 17 March, P&O Ferries terminated the contracts of thousands of long-standing UK employees, rehiring staff on lower wages. The move, which has been fiercely condemned by a variety of stakeholders, was a sad reminder that corporate ethics can still take a back seat to the worship of Mammon, even in a progressive age.
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Jason Millar looks at how the long tail of Brexit and Covid have impacted merchants looking to buy direct.
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Sparkling wine has been stealing a march for some time. Established in quality terms long ago by the Champenois and rocketed into the mainstream via Prosecco’s global volume domination during the 2010s, the way is increasingly widening to allow alternative bubbles to rise to the top of the glass. This has certainly been the case over the past year. Following years of predictions that Crémant could carve out a niche in the ‘in-between’ price segment, it and others have seen tangible change after many years of waiting in the wings.
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Sonya Hook catches up with two indie wine merchants committed to doing greener business that have reinforced their ethical stance by signing up to Harpers’ Sustainability Charter.
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If you still think that ‘bulk wine’ is in some way a negative phrase, then you are in danger of being seriously behind the curve. Shipping in volume for in-market bottling has many benefits, ranging from the environmental and economic to the underpinning of dynamic innovation. And, with technology improving all the time, there are many who now believe the quality preservation of bulk-to-bott le can exceed that of many wineries’ own bottling lines.
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With an impressive calibre of companies from all quarters of the trade signed up to Harpers Sustainability Charter, we highlight just some of the activities and advances made by our Champions, Partners and Founding Signatories.
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Sustainability isn’t an optional extra for the wine trade. It’s a moral choice in that we can’t expect the next generation to pick up our tab. I had a friend at university who regularly used to come out to drink with us at the student union with just a single pound coin in his pocket. (Those were the days when one pound was enough to buy a pint of beer at discounted student prices). So he’d go and buy his pint and then rely on the rest of us to fund his drinking for the rest of the evening. He was always apologetic, and there was always an excuse. But I don’t think I can remember him ever paying his way.
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Overleaf you’ll find the full wording of our Sustainability Charter, launched as part of a new Harpers campaign to drive sustainability in the UK drinks trade and to which we heartily encourage you to subscribe. Those that already have, including our initial headlining Sustainability Champions such as Enotria & Coe and North South Wines, our Sustainability Partners, Lanchester Group and Bodega Argento, plus our early bird signatories, are also listed here. Moreover, there are focuses on the sustainable progress of many of those companies throughout this report.
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California is certainly a force to be reckoned with in the wine world, whether that be judged by size, value or quality. Accounting for some 90% of the US’s wine, considered alone the state comes up behind France, Spain and Italy as the fourth-largest producer in the world. What is more, California has carved out a high-end reputation, with investable ‘blue chip’ labels and other top quality wines to rival the best from Europe’s headlining regions, both in terms of status and the price tags to match. It is fair to say, though, that this has been achieved with more of a focus on America’s own wine-thirsty and deep-pocketed buyers.
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The past two years have been tough for everyone and Britain’s gin distillers are no exception. The various lockdowns and general uncertainty hit the industry hard and, while retailers and direct sales helped alleviate the shortfall, “the on-trade could never be replaced by home consumption”, according to Nick Cook, director-general of the Gin Guild.
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