Subscriber login Close [x]
remember me
You are not logged in.

Q&A: Santiago Navarro, CEO and co-founder, Garçon Wines

Published:  02 December, 2020

Harpers has something of a packaging focus in this month’s issue, due to be published this Friday 4 December. As a preview, we caught up with Santiago Navarro, the creative force behind flat bottle innovator, Garçon Wines. Made from 100% recycled plastic, this innovative new format scored a major partnership with Accolades Wines this year, which will see a number of the company’s brands launch with the flat bottle format. Starting with the installation of a ‘flat’ bottling line at the company’s Bristol manufacturing base – the first of its kind in the UK – the company is now looking ahead to its imminent UK supermarket debut with the re-launch of Accolade’s eco brand, Banrock Station, in the Co-op. We spoke to Navarro about his ambition to re-shape the wine aisle.

Read more...

Q&A Javier R de Galarreta, ARAEX Grands Spanish Fine Wines

Published:  01 December, 2020

Javier R de Galarreta, founder and CEO of ARAEX Grands Spanish Fine Wines, explains why Rioja remains the headline hero with the backdrop of Araex’s growing portfolio of estates straddling Spain’s premium winemaking regions

Read more...

Q&A: Elena M Oyagüe, Cuatro Rayas

Published:  25 November, 2020

Winemaker Elena M Oyagüe of Cuatro Rayas explains what makes Rueda Verdejo unique, including the region’s very special old vines, and how on the food-pairing front the wines’ flexibility is akin to the little black dress and fashion

Read more...

Jerry Lockspeiser: Can we plan for the unknown?

Published:  23 November, 2020

“The problem with the world is that the intelligent people are full of doubts, while the stupid ones are full of confidence.” Charles Bukowski

Read more...

5 minutes with Jane MacQuitty MBE

Published:  19 November, 2020

The Times wine critic Jane MacQuitty talks to Andrew Catchpole about her new MBE for services to wine journalism

Read more...

Soapbox: Southern bias leaves a bitter taste

Published:  17 November, 2020

After enduring three months of local restrictions with little help, Sara Saunby, owner of Manchester hybrid Salut, says Whitehall’s belated decision to help the North is too little, too late

Read more...

Guy Woodward: The language of wine needs to change

Published:  12 November, 2020

What’s the point of tasting notes? Who are they actually for? Who reaps the benefit, for example, of reading that a wine has notes of “gentian, elderflower, seaweed, mussels, salt spray, chicken stock, sage, fennel, peach kernel, lemon, alkali and wet stone”, as David Schildknecht’s highly attuned nose detected in the 2004 Riesling Steinriesler of Nikolaihof Wachau?

Read more...

Q&A: Mark Driver, Rathfinny Wine Estate

Published:  10 November, 2020

As the 2020 vintage came in, Rathfinny owner Mark Driver spoke with Andrew Catchpole about the challenges of flexing the business in a remarkable year

Read more...

Tring Winery packs a postable punch

Published:  03 November, 2020

Alex Taylor and Jamie Smith of Urban Craft Wines at Tring Winery are sending innovation out the door, as Andrew Catchpole reports

Read more...

Jerry Lockspeiser: Which wines do Pamela Anderson and Kate Moss remind you of?

Published:  26 October, 2020

About 30 million people in the UK drink wine. For years, producers and marketeers have been trying to grab their attention, hoping to figure out how to successfully communicate their wines through words and images.

Read more...

Q&A: Bernard Fontannaz, Origin Wine

Published:  20 October, 2020

Origin Wines’ Swiss founder talks to Andrew Catchpole about the Cape’s re-emergence post shutdown and his new pan-country range of terroir-focused wines

Read more...

Profile: John Timothy, The Portman Group

Published:  14 October, 2020

Health rose to the top of the agenda at the beginning of 2020 in a way we’ve never seen before. Jo Gilbert speaks to the face of alcohol responsibility in the UK about meeting this challenge

Read more...

Tim Atkin MW: A year that changed wine

Published:  13 October, 2020

‘Never A Dull Moment’ is the title of a wonderful book about what its author, David Hepworth, calls “rock’s golden year”. 1971 was indeed an annus mirabilis for music, witnessing the release of landmark albums by David Bowie, Led Zeppelin, the Rolling Stones, Elton John, Pink Floyd, Marvin Gaye, Carole King, Joni Mitchell, Yes, The Who and Rod Stewart. For Hepworth, 31 December 1970 marked the end of the Sixties – 12 months late, in one sense – and the start of something very different. It was a turning pint, a line in the sand.

Read more...

Jerry Lockspieser: Is there nothing new under the sun?

Published:  01 October, 2020

I love books. I love being surrounded by them. The company of all those stories and thoughts is inspiring. As the number I owned grew over the years, I had to double stack them on the shelves like bottles of wine in a shop. Then finally, there was no more space. A triage and trip to the local Oxfam shop became inevitable.

Read more...

Guy Woodward: Celebrities and their ‘vine-sourced wines’

Published:  22 September, 2020

My favourite part of the nauseating, sadly since-deleted film promoting the new, ‘clean’ Avaline wine comes at the very end. After extolling the virtues of this miraculous cuvée at length – and trashing pretty much every other wine ever made for their use of additives – the duo responsible for its immaculate conception, actress Cameron Diaz and fashion brand-builder Katherine Power, tell us how they like to drink it.

Read more...

Q&A: Stefan Neumann MS, director of wine, Dinner by Heston

Published:  18 September, 2020

Andrew Catchpole catches up with one of the most passionate sommeliers in London to talk wine culture, change and cheese

Read more...

Mentzendorff makes strategic adjustments to a new norm

Published:  18 September, 2020

Andrew Catchpole talks to Mentzendorff boss Andrew Hawes pre and post-lockdown

Read more...

Round Table: Rebooting the on-trade

Published:  17 September, 2020

Prominent restaurateurs joined Andrew Catchpole around a virtual table to discuss rebuilding trade in the new norm.

Read more...

Q&A: Lorraine Copes, BAME in Hospitality founder and head of procurement, Corbin & King

Published:  15 September, 2020

Lorraine Copes talks to Andrew Catchpole about amplifying the voices of people of colour in the UK drinks and hospitality trade.

Read more...

Kate Nicholls, CEO, UK Hospitality

Published:  14 September, 2020

With hospitality one of the hardest hit sectors in the wake of the pandemic, the head of the leading trade organisation has no end of crucial issues to deal with. Kate Nicholls talks strategy to Lisa Riley

Read more...