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1 week ago | 
thedrinksbusiness.com | Sarah Neish
Wild Idol has teamed up with The Pig hotel group to launch an exclusive alcohol-free pairing menu for spring. Wild Idol, the premium, naturally alcohol-free sparkling wine alternative, is continuing its partnership with The Pig Hotel Group this spring through expertly curated pairings designed to step up the alcohol-free dining experience.
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1 week ago | 
thedrinksbusiness.com | Sarah Neish
Rob Symington speaks to Sarah Neish about Douro politics and ramping up the company’s interests in still Portuguese and English Sparkling wines as he becomes joint CEO at Symington Family Estates. In a plot twist worthy of HBO television drama Succession, Rob Symington donned the CEO cap at Port house Symington Family Estates (SFE) in February, when previous CEO Rupert Symington replaced Johnny Symington as chairman on the latter’s retirement.
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1 week ago | 
news.wine.co.za | Sarah Neish
A wine fraud expert claims that the average consumer “is pretty screwed” as a result of increasingly sophisticated wine fraud taking place in the UK. The step-up in the quality of fake bottles comes as counterfeiters employ identical digital printing specs as a wine’s authentic producer, making it harder to spot the difference between the genuine item and a fake.
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1 month ago | 
news.wine.co.za | Sarah Neish
First came glass, then cans, followed by paper, and now aluminium. No, we’re not talking about wedding anniversary gifts, but about the evolution of wine packaging. In 2023, hit Netflix show Bodies predicted that in 30 years' time glass wine bottles would be extinct, usurped by paper designs.
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1 month ago | 
thedrinksbusiness.com | Sarah Neish
After weeks of speculation, Trump has announced his global roll-out of tariffs. db distills the latest from the President's executive order.
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1 month ago | 
thedrinksbusiness.com | Sarah Neish
Winemakers in New Zealand’s Hawke’s Bay are fizzing with excitement as they say the region’s 2025 vintage could be “the one”. Last month db reported that two years on from the devastation caused to Hawke’s Bay by Cyclone Gabrielle, the region was looking at what had the potential to be an “exceptional vintage”.
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1 month ago | 
thedrinksbusiness.com | Sarah Neish
A Chilean Pinot Noir made from grapes grown by indigenous Mapuche communities is launching in the UK after 10 years of hard graft, lost vintages and cultural differences, writes Sarah Neish. But can it sell? Changing entrenched beliefs held by a community following generations of exploitation and land theft was never going to be quick or easy work.
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2 months ago | 
thedrinksbusiness.com | Sarah Neish
The Liquor Control Board of Ontario has denied a store altered labels to say that a wine from Trump supporter and ice hockey star Wayne Gretzky is “as weak as its namesake’s moral fibre” and “should be paired with boiled racoon”. Former ice hockey sensation Wayne Gretzky played 20 seasons in the National Hockey League (NHL) for teams including the Los Angeles Kings, New York Rangers and St Louis Blues.
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2 months ago | 
thedrinksbusiness.com | Sarah Neish
The Portuguese wine business wants to “reinvent the traditional members’ club” with a three-storey townhouse in the heart of Porto, and a vibe that’s anything but conventional, Rob Symington tells Sarah Neish. In October 2023, leading Port and Douro wine producer Symington Family Estates (SFE) created a wine club in honour of the family’s original matriarch, the Portuguese/British powerhouse Beatriz Leitão Carvalhosa Atkinson.
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2 months ago | 
thedrinksbusiness.com | Sarah Neish
Two years ago, Villa Maria founder Sir George Fistonich launched new winery project Čuvar, now run by his eldest daughter. Sarah Neish finds out why this boutique operation is world’s apart from the global wine giant. Sir George Fistonich was just 21 years old when he founded eponymous New Zealand wine brand Villa Maria in 1961.
