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Naked Wines has warned its investor-consumers that prices will rise in the aftermath of Brexit, amid a weak sterling and growing unease Britain’s EU exit strategy. Naked Wines, which is owned by Majestic Wine, has said that it will raise prices by 5% on half of its range from next month. It blamed the weak […]

ᵜ      Ministers cut consumption ahead of general election ᵜ      Bottles of Latour 1961 sold to cover costs ᵜ      Xi Jinping banquet ate into stocks of Haut-Brion 1989 Officials sold six bottles of the lauded Château Latour 1961 from the UK government wine cellar to private clients, including Farr Vintners, the British […]

Jane Anson gets a rare chance to taste eight Bordeaux 1982 wines from top Left Bank estates and hands out three 100-point scores. Read her report below… It was one of those tastings when you can feel the emotions rising in the room; a horizontal of eight Bordeaux 1982 wines. The full line up of […]

Visitors to a town in Italy’s Abruzzo region can drink red wine from a free fountain set up by a local winery… The Dora Sarchese winery said on its Facebook page that it had installed the free, 24-hour red wine fountain in the commune of Caldari di Ortona. Anybody can drink from the wine fountain, but […]

Cristal 2009 has a lot in common with vintages of the 1960s and represents an early example of how biodynamics can subtly affect its style, according to the man responsible for making it at Louis Roederer. Cristal 2009 is the first time that Louis Roederer has skipped ahead to launch a vintage of its top […]

Bordeaux’s ‘driest summer since 1893’ means concerns about water stress but producers are feeling good compared to their cousins in Burgundy as the 2016 red harvest gets underway. The harvest for Bordeaux 2016 reds is now fully underway with Merlot grapes arriving in cellars across the region. But, with no rain forecast for the next […]

Does a new law in France have the potential to disrupt the English wine trade? Jane Anson reports… New rule opens possibility of more fine wine being stored in France UK merchants question viability Bordeaux merchants gear up to seize any opportunity Wine warehouses tend to be housed in all manner of romantic, dusty and […]

UK officials are planning to demand a share of the European Union’s 42,000 bottle wine cellar as part of Brexit talks, according to a report. British officials reportedly eye share of 42k bottle EU wine cellar Government to invoke Article 50 before end of March 2017 British prime minister Theresa May effectively fired the starting […]

Angelina Jolie has filed for divorce from Brad Pitt, leaving the future of the couple’s award-winning Château Miraval rosé wine uncertain. Angelina Jolie’s lawyer confirmed that the actress has filed for divorce from Brad Pitt, the BBC and other publications reported today (20 September). News that the ‘Brangelina’ era was nearing its end spread across […]

Shares in Majestic Wine plummeted by more than 25% this morning after the company issued a profit warning, highlighting disappointing performances for Naked Wines in the US and for Majestic’s Commercial division. Majestic shares in sharp fall following profit warning In an announcement to the London Stock Exchange, the business said trading conditions for its […]

LVMH owner Bernard Arnault is around four billion euros poorer in 2016 versus 2015, but he’s still the second richest person in France, according to the new French rich list by Challenges magazine. See which other château and vineyard owners made the list. This list has been expanded and updated from Jane Anson’s original story […]

You might remember that not so long ago, Chateaux Angélus and Pape Clement were putting on demonstrations for groups of journalists of de-stemming grapes by hand. Lines of women in gleaming white gloves with violet-stained fingertips stood around tables in quiet corners of the vineyards, heads bent with frowns of concentration. It was pitched as […]

Wine geekery knows few limits and innovators have long been keen to take bog standard wine paraphernalia and update it. The bottle (interactive), the barrel (intelligent), the cork (air-sucking), and now the ice bucket, which, in one fell swoop it has been rendered void – that is to say iceless. ‘Kaelo’ used cold, dry air […]

China’s president, Xi Jinping, greeted world leaders at the G20 summit with a banquet of local cuisine and Chinese wines. A Cabernet Sauvignon 2011 and a Chardonnay 2012 from the Beijing-based Chateau Changyu AFIP Global were the wines paired with the traditional Hangzhou cuisine. ‘Sweet and sour mandarin fish’ and ‘orange-flavoured crab meat’ were among the […]

In brief: Thomas Sullivan buys 30 hectares including Château Gaby in AOC Fronsac, Château Moya in AOC Castillon Côtes de Bordeaux and Château du Parc in AOC St-Emilion Grand Cru Price not released but expected to be between €8 million and €12 million   Thomas Sullivan, billionaire founder of Lumber Liquidators and Cabinets to Go […]

The industry benchmark – the Liv-ex Fine Wine 100 index – increased for the ninth consecutive month in August. It gained 2.9% to close on 276.83. It is now at its highest level since March 2013. The First Growths led the charge with the Liv-ex Fine Wine 50 Index closing on 317.38, up 3.1%. Wines […]

The Liv-ex 1000 Index – the broadest measure of the fine wine market – closed August 2016 at record high of 281.62. This is an increase of 3.04% on the July’s close. The index previously reached a high of 279.69 in July 2011 at the peak of the China-led bull market. It then fell 13.3% […]

How the Bordeaux 2016 white harvest is shaping up Château Haut-Brion in Pessac Léognan brought in Sauvignon Blanc grapes at 7am on 1 September, from a plot called Pinson Sapinette. The estate reported potential alcohols on this first plot of 13.5%abv, with pHs of 3.25, and expect to bring in the first Merlots on 15 […]

Liv-ex’s Fine Wine 50 Index is up 19.3% so far in 2016. It tracks the price movements of the 10 most recent physical vintages of the five first growth Bordeaux châteaux. The index recorded its ninth highest monthly rise – 6.8% – following the UK’s Brexit vote. As prevously reported on Decanter.com, a drop in […]

The Confrérie du Sabre d’Or is the elite club for Champagne sabring. It was inspired by French cavalry officers, who would simply pick up their Champagne and sabre off the top, rather than opening the cage and foil. How to rise through the ranks ‘We have, like most military organisations, ranks,’ said Nathan Evans, a […]

The Liv-ex Fine Wine 50 Index – tracking the price movements of the ten most recently physical vintages of the Bordeaux First Growths – is currently up 19.3% year to date after seeing some of the strongest upward movements in its history. It has outpaced stocks over this period: FTSE is up 9.2%; the S&P […]

  The Tuscan Village winery and community complex in Lake County was reduced to ashes by a California wildfire last weekend. Fire crews fought to control the Clayton Fire but were unable to prevent it burning through several buildings owned by Terrill Cellars. Local media said police have charged a man with arson in relation […]

Wine investment is likely to become more attractive in post-Brexit Britain, according to 27% of 101 wealth managers and independent financial advisors (IFAs) surveyed by Cult Wines. It said those advisors highlighted two main reasons for a possible rise in wine investment: the fall in the value of sterling greater demand diverse investment assets and […]

The growing season is the most complicated Champagne has known since the very difficult season of 1956, said Eric Rodez, winemaker at the family-owned Champagne Rodez in Ambonnay. In spring, late frosts hit the Côte des Bar region, where a quarter of the Champagne vineyards are. Jean Pierre Fleury, winemaker at Champagne Fleury in Courteron […]