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The week that was

Top Stories: This week’s top stories took ranged far and wide, from Bordeaux to Greece and back to London and the UK’s home-grown vineyards.

Among our top stories was the announcement from the newly bought out Matthew Clark, which has added a stonking 200 wines to its portfolio.

Wines range from Spain, with producer Marques de Riscal to Australia, to New Zealand and Argentina, and included a notable move to expand the supplier’s English wine range with the addition of Surrey winery, Denbies.

In Greece, the establishment of a new winery and vineyards on the Santorini sub-island of Thirassia looks set to mark a new chapter in the production of Santorini Assyrtiko.

And talk about a new London wine festival, less than a week after the London Wine Fair cleaned out glasses and packed away stalls for another year, got tongues wagging.

The event, slated to launch in August, is to be hosted by The Wine Show presenters Joe Fattorini and Amelia Singer.

• Bordeaux hailstorms disastrous for some but for others compared to recent frost
• Bordeaux and Adelaide join forces to launch high-end business course
• Matthew Clark unveils 2018 wine list
• Barney Davis joins Bancroft as buying director
• Greek wineries join forces to deliver island Assyrtiko
• The Wine Show partners with Oval Space to launch London wine festival

Analysis and Insights: With Jones Family Kitchen bringing a flavour of Shoreditch to Belgravia, Harpers editor Andrew Catchpole got a taste of the ethos of the drinks team.

And contributor Chris Wilson looked at how independents are broadening into craft beer.

In 2018, visitors to an indie merchant are just as likely to find a kaleidoscopic display of beers and ciders in bottles, cans, growlers and kegs as they are to be faced with rows of wine, he says.

• List with a twist
• The indies tapping into craft beer

People and Opinion: In this month’s column, Tim Atkin MW debates the consumer importance of terroir or “somewhereness”, in the words of wine writer Ma Kramer who famously translated the French term.

Appellations, sub-regions and single vineyard undoubtedly matter to the trade.

But according to recent research from Copestick Murray, where origin finished eighth out of ten on respondents’ list of priorities, Atkin argues the trade is “missing the point” when it comes to selling to the 87^th percentile.

And we rounded up our regional brewers focus for the latest Meet the Buyers series with Noel Reid of Robinsons Brewery.

• Tim Atkin MW: Where wines really come from doesn’t matter to many
• Meet The Buyers: Noel Reid, Robinsons Brewery