Chinese wine market to overtake UK by 2020

China’s thriving wine market will be worth more than the UK by 2020, VINEXPO has forecast. The UK will be pushed into third place among the world’s biggest wine markets when sales of still and sparkling wine reach $21 billion in China compared to $16 billion in the UK. The data reveals changes in the behaviour of drinkers of still wines over the next five years as UK imports fall from 120.9 million 9-litre cases in 2015 to 117.4 million...

Is pairing wine and food all it’s cracked up to be?

Wine has long been seen as the stuff of connoisseurs, a beverage which comes with its own arcane mythology, only slurped and understood by an insufferable few. Films like Sideways and Somm have only served to deepen the mystery around the hallowed grape, and most sensible-thinking people are put off by anything breaking the dreaded £10 barrier. “Sometimes,” as the great cultural critic Alan Partridge once said, “you just want to say, sod all this wine, just give me a...

Wine of the Week: The King’s Wrath Pinot Noir 2012

I always love a wine with a story. And so steeped in historical significance is The King’s Wrath Pinot Noir that this bottle may just take the biscuit. Most of us are familiar with the term ‘hanged, drawn and quartered’ which became synonymous with the Elizabethan era. But to trace its origins you have to go back to Henry III. During the High Middle Ages those in England guilty of treason were punished in a variety of ways, including drawing...

Wine of the Week: Masi Campofiorin 2012

There is something gloriously refined about drinking Venetian wine on a warm summer’s evening. Located in the best vineyard sites in foothill and hillsides near the Italian Austrian border, winemakers Masi has been at the forefront of Venetian wine for several decades, working to identify the historic "cru" vineyard sites for Amarone. They produce modern, attractive and well-balanced wines credited for “revolutionising the art of wine-making in the Venetian region”, defined as a “touchstone” of the area by Hugh Johnson....

Rioja: It’s Time To Start Exploring Outside Red

Is White Rioja an underrated classic? That’s the question Quentin Sadler posted on his wine pages recently, and one I set out to explore on a warm mid-week evening drinking al fresco in central London. Bold red wines are as synonymous with the Rioja region as light clarets are to Beaujolais. But there is a notion that we risk seriously underestimating the region by narrowing our focus on just red. Brits have traditionally eschewed Spanish white wines because they have...

Sham-pagne: Why Brits Are Ditching France For Home-Made Bubbles

Earlier this year British wine growers toasted a rather iconic achievement. At a tasting in the prestigious Juveniles restaurant in Paris an elite group of experts rated English sparkling wine as being better than Champagne, with many pointing to the 'sham' nature of the contest. For the first time ever, they couldn't spot the difference! English wine has been on an upwards trajectory for over a decade now, each year being pulled closer to our neighbours across the Channel who are now cautiously looking over...

Blue Wine Set To Hit European Markets

Blue Wine is set to hit European markets and expected to be on shelves within the next two months in the UK. GIK has been created in collaboration with the University of the Basque Country and Azti Tecnalia and is expected to be a big hit in the UK, where drinkers prefer sweeter styles of wine. The wine is created using a blend of red and white grapes predominantly sourced from vineyards in La Rioja, Zaragoza, Leon and Castilla-La Mancha, and is hued...

Winemaking in the UK

Winemaking has exploded in Britain over the past two decades, with around 3.15 million bottles now produced every year. To celebrate this renaissance, Sykes Cottages has compiled an infographic to celebrate the industry's illustrious rebirth.

Are English Wine Drinkers Developing an Identity?

By Jack Peat, TLE Editor England is among the only prominent wine drinking regions in the World that is completely devoid of an identity. Black and Blue, a classic steak house with outlets in Borough Market, Covent Garden and Waterloo amongst others, lists no fewer than ten wine-growing countries on its red wine list alone. Their varietal smorgasbord of robust clarets is typical of British consumers who have enjoyed trade from across the New and Old Worlds for centuries leaving...

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