I hate half-price wines. Of course, there’s nothing new about discounting being used to sell wine. Many wine brands are priced with a view to being promoted. The wine might…
Managing a wine retail brand: comparing Majestic and Berry Bros & Rudd
Yesterday I was contacted by a brand consultant who is doing some work for a wine merchant. He wanted to pick my brains. The conversation got me thinking about brand…
Why most wine blogs fail to thrive
There are lots of wine blogs out there, written by all manner of different people: wine merchants, wine producers, wine writers and, of course, interested amateurs. Most – and even…
The mechanics of the £20 Taittinger offer
This is the time of year when the supermarkets try t0 outdo each other with special offers on well-known fizz. I was surprised when I popped into my local Asda…
Penfolds to price fix Grange?
Interesting article in the Drinks Business today by Patrick Schmitt. He has interviewed David Dearie, who is the new CEO of Treasury Wine Estates, which includes Penfolds, who make Australia’s…
A name for English sparkling wine – the Britagne debate
There has recently been some debate about whether or not English sparkling wine needs a name, prompted by the release of Coates & Seely’s new fizz, for which they have…
Ban alcohol promotions?
Would it be a terrible idea to ban alcohol promotions? I was filming again with the BBC today, on the subject of tactical brands (or trade drivers, or whatever you…
Wine closures in the The Wall Street Journal
Coincidentally, the day after I returned from Planet Zebulon, where I’d been visiting Nomacorc’s headquarters, The Wall Street Journal ran a feature on the way synthetic corks and screwcaps have…
More intelligent analysis from Liv-ex, 2009 Bordeaux and the billionaire index
Interesting blogpost here from Liv-ex in which they show an amazingly close correlation between the number of billionaires (according to Forbes’ rich list) and the Liv-ex 100 index of fine wine…